My state doesn't require rear belts but I still wear mine when sitting in the back and encourage others to do the same. My sibling had a classmate in high school who got thrown out of the rear window while the car was in a roll, crushing and killing him.
It's a little crazy to me that people are perfectly comfortable going 80+ down the freeway with no belts on in the back. Like the two seat backs are enough. It reminds me of the "no smoking sections" in restaurant that were sectioned off by a half wall.
In New Zealand, the driver is responsible for ensuring all passengers are wearing seatbelts, and I believe (someone please correct me) that they can be held libel if any passenger is not wearing one.
Are we supposed to believe that the front seat will somehow move forward from the force of the rear passenger hitting it? And this force will be so great that it will crush the front driver’s skull against the steering wheel? Is that really the take-away here?
If so, that’s a PSA about poor engineering and design of the driver seat and less about rear passenger seat belt safety.
> It is estimated that if all rear seat belts were worn, 120 deaths and
> 1,000 serious injuries could be prevented each year. Back seat
> passengers are three times more likely to die in an accident if they
> are not strapped in, according to the AA.
>
> The organisation says each year more than 50 people in the front seats
> of cars are killed after being hit by back seat passengers who were
> not wearing seatbelts.
Kinetic energy increases with the square of the velocity, so in a head-on collision everything not buckled on the back seat becomes a missile heading towards the passenger seats. Even a bag with a laptop is dangerous and you should put it in the foot compartment. And that's like 3kg while an average person will weigh around 70kg.
It's a little crazy to me that people are perfectly comfortable going 80+ down the freeway with no belts on in the back. Like the two seat backs are enough. It reminds me of the "no smoking sections" in restaurant that were sectioned off by a half wall.