Bibliography [1] "25th Anniversary of Seatbelts - 60,000 Lives Saved." Directgov-Public Services All in One Place. 31 Jan. 2008.

Web. 21 Oct. 2011. <http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Nl1/ Newsroom/DG_072333>. [2] "Car Accident Statistics -- Lawcore.com." Find A Lawyer, Law Firm, Or Attorney In Your Area Online With Lawcore.com. Web. 21 Oct. 2011. <http:// www.lawcore.com/car-accident/statistics.html>.

Social impact of seat belt

[3] "Click-It or Ticket." U.S. Department of Transportation, National Highway Trafic Safety Administration. Web. 21 Oct. 201. <http://www.nhtsa.gov/staticfiles/nti/pdf/811295.pdf>

[4] Doyle, Jr., Joseph J., and Steven D. Levitt. "Evaluating the Effectiveness of Child Safety Seats and Seat Belts in Protecting Children from Injury." Pricetheory.uchicago.edu. Aug. 2006. Web. 21 Oct. 2011. <http://pricetheory.uchicago.edu/levitt/Papers/doylelevitt%20car%20seat%20injuries.pdf>.

Seat Belt: It can save your childrens life

[5] Glassbrenne, Donna. "Estimating the Lives Saved by Safety Belts and Airbags." NHTSA - National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Web. 21 Oct. 2011. <http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/pdf/nrd-01/esv/esv18/CD/Files/18ESV-000500.pdf>.

People using seat belts have increased in number. This means that the public awareness on importance of using safety belts has increased. As shown in the diagram above, the seat belt use has increased between 2009 to 2010 on both weekdays and weekends. Various organizations and social groups are working for more seat belt uses and awareness on importance of it. Seat belt has given our society a positive impact by saving many peoples life and helping people to encourage safety. Seat belt is an effective car safety feature to protect your children. But before that, you need to know about a correct way of using safety belt for your children. It is also recommended to make yourself aware of airbag, since it supplements the limitation of seat belt. The most important thing is that you need to be a good model yourself, by following the laws related to traffic safety and using seat belt correctly.

[6] "Inertia." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 21 Oct. 2011. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inertia>.

[7] Orenstein, Beth W. "How Seat Belts Save Lives - Healthy Living Center - EverydayHealth.com." Health Information, Resources, Tools & News Online - EverydayHealth.com. 20 Aug. 2009. Web. 21 Oct. 2011. <http://www.everydayhealth.com/healthy-living/wearing-your-seat-belt.aspx>.

[8] "Seat Belt Entanglement." NHTSA - National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Web. 21 Oct. 2011. <http://www.nhtsa.gov/Driving+Safety/Child+Safety/Keeping+Kids+Safe++Seat+Belt+Entanglement>.

"With up to 15 drivers and front seat passengers killed each year by the impact of an unbelted rear seat passenger it is vital that everyone young or old, travelling in the front or back wears a seatbelt." - Jim Fitzpatrick, Road Safety Minister

[9] "Strengthening Safety Belt Use Laws." NHTSA - National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Mar. 2005. Web. 21 Oct. 2011. <http://www.nhtsa.gov/DOT/NHTSA/Traffic%20Injury%20Control/Articles/Associate d%20Files/SafetyBelts2005.pdf>.

[10] "The Importance of Seatbelts." Physics and Car Safety. Web. 21 Oct. 2011. <http://tristanmac.tripod.com/id9.html>.

By Seo-Young Ghil 11E

[11] Westlake-Kenny, Barbara. "The Benefits of Buckling Up: Seat Belts Save Lives." UAB Publications. 1998. Web. 21 Oct. 2011. <http://main.uab.edu/show.asp?durki=45962>.

There are more than 40,000 deaths, and 3 million serious injuries due to car accidents every year. Every 12 minutes, one person dies because of a car accident. Every 14 seconds, a car accident results in an injured victim. [2] Lives saved by safety belt Increasing seat belt use has tremendous impact on saving lives. NSC has reported in 2006 that motor vehicle crashes in the U.S. result in over 45,000 deaths and an estimated 2.4 million disabling injuries each year.[4] Alabama Department of Public Health survey have also shown that more than 70 per cent of the 1,020 people killed by car crashes on Alabama roads in 1996 werent wearing safety belts.[11] How it works Newtons first law of inertia is applied in how the seat belts protect occupants. Inertia is the resistance of any physical object to a change in its state of motion or rest. [6] Based on the principle of Newtons first law, it is known that an occupants body will try to keep going forward when a running car suddenly stops. If the speed of travelling is high, the body will spring forth, and the seat belt will prevent it by locking itself and holding the body back. Seat belts are designed flexible but when the car crashes, the machinery behind them tightens up the belt to hold the passenger in place.
[10]

Not using the safety belt might result in the body flying forward, breaking the window with its head, penetrating through the window. Benefits of using seat belt Angela Osterhuber, the director of Pennsylvania Traffic Injury Prevention Project in Media stated that seat belts prevent occupants of the vehicle from serious injury by restraining the strongest parts of the body, spreading out any force from the collision, and protecting brain and spinal cord.[7]

As shown in the figure 1 above, safety belts save more lives than air bags by activating their locking mechanism. Limitations of using seat belt When the seat belt locks itself, children may not be able to free themselves. This can happen when children lie down on the seat. They can also be entangled by pulling a seat belt all the way out of the retractor.[8] To prevent this, parents should make sure that their children are using seat belts in proper way. Furthermore, seat belts cannot relieve the impact when accidents happen. Therefore it is highly effective when seat belt is used with airbag.

Political impact of seat belt Seat belt use has become law in worldwide countries. Strengthening safety belt use laws has increased the number of people using seat belts as well as the number of deaths. In U.S., 2004, the average safety belt use rate with primary enforcement an enforcement allowing a law enforcement officer to stop a vehicle and issue a citation when the officer observes an unbelted driver or passenger was 11 percentage points higher than without primary enforcement laws.[9] Other than this, significant increases in safety belt use have been observed in Delaware from 71 per cent in 2002 to 75 per cent in 2003 and Illinois 74 per cent in 2002 to 80 per cent in 2003. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has also launched a campaign called Click-it or ticket, which contains high enforcement of seat belt using. It is shown in the statistics that the political impact of seat belts is positive.