Does wearing a seat belt even protect you from car accidents?

Question

Are they even safe?

Answer 1

idk i was thinking that too.

because when a car stops really

fast you go flying even with it on a bit.

so i would say no. they arent that safe.

but saf[er] than not having one at all.

Answer 2

they don't protect you FROM car accidents, they protect you IN car accidents. they keep you from being thrown out of the car or about the car.

Answer 3

honestly no . but it is the law . but in fact the seat belts only work on front end impact and if you are doing 70 your going to live just not well . take a look at the child seats . it is held in with a strap and provides no support for the child and if you put the child backwards the child will slide right out . No they are not safe . but they are the law . mostly they are to keep you from sueding the company's . I wear mine because it is the law . and that is the only reason . I had a accident and the car set fire I couldn't get the belt undone but i could slip right out of it . Had i not been wearing it i could have got out in time to save a life . but its the law .

Answer 4

Hello,,Yes,,from the minor ones,,and sometimes the really big rollovers..they just want you to wear one so the rescue teams do not have to look everywhere around the crash for your body.

Answer 5

a friend of my sister was recently in an accident where the car overturned. Her seat belt saved her life.

Answer 6

Yes.  A girl I knew was only 15, she was in a car with no seatbelt.  There was no water on the road and no one was under the influence they were just going to fast, she got ejected from the car, the car rolled, and landed on her.  She died instantly.  If she had a seatbelt she would have lived.

Answer 7

yea there safe

the seat belt protects the strongest parts of ur body - shoulders and hips

the diagonal protects ur shoulders

and the one across protects ur hips

and the seat belt locks when u got foward fast

<33

Answer 8

Picture traveling down the highway at approximately 70 MPH.....

Someone cuts across from the other side and comes head on into you.....! (don't believe me, I witnessed this once 4 cars ahead of me on the interstate at 70MPH!).  The crash speed is now about 140MPH!!!!!!!!!!

Physics states that an object in motion will stay in motion!  You are in motion at 70MPH in your vehicle..  A head on crash in this case will cause your vehicle to go from 70MPH down to 0 in less than 1 second......

So, that object in motion (you) will stay in motion.....basically, you will exit the car through the windshield at 70MPH.  You will likely end up a few hundred feet down the road and probably would have bounced and rolled MANY times.  If the impact with the windshield didn't kill you, the impact with the roadway may just finish you off and I haven't mentioned other vehicles now swerving around your vehicle will catch up to you rather quickly----now you possibly were hit by one or more cars.  You may survive but with serious and life threatening injuries.......this is possibly the BEST thing that could happen if it doesn't kill you in the process, at least you are out of the impact but still traveling through the air at around 70 MPH

If you didn't make it out of the windshield in time, it is likely because the air bag deployed and forced your body downward into the floorpan of the vehicle between the seat and the gas/brake pedals........To get there, the forces involved in the crash will fold a 6 ft person into that 2ft X 2FT area in less than 1 second.  To do so, requires breaking a few major bones so you will fit.....like your legs, ribs and possibly even your neck.

I can go on with things I have seen as a member of a heavy rescue squad.  Most of which were "minor" but quite a few required the victim to be flown out due to the extreme injuries.

I get it, the seat belt is uncomfortable, it may not even be cool......YES, it may have increased injuries on occasion, but seatbelts have saved MORE lives than they have taken since introduced in the late 1950's and early 1960's. You may get bruises, but far better than above!......go ahead and become a statistic because it may not be comfortable or isn't cool.........

Answer 9

well yeah, there have been numerous studies done on this, and it's the law in most States. Why wouldn't they be safe? DUH. My brother and sister in law were in an accident, she was pregnant and wearing her seatbelt, and was safe. He wasn't wearing his seatbelt and was thrown from the car and is blind in one eye now.

Answer 10

If you wear them correctly, it can keep you from slamming into the seat or dash in front of you. You substitute major trauma for some bruising or maybe some broken bones when you wear the seat belt.

Answer 11

yeah they protect you! they save lives! theres always stories about car accidents where people die, and the doctors say they woulkd have ived if they were wearing a seat belt. especially if you are sitting in the front seat, a seatbelt could save you from flying through the windshield.

Answer 12

they protect you from being ejected from the vehicle and/or slung around.  I would say yes, that it lessens your chance of injury.

Answer 13

They will keep your from being ejected from the vehicle, or slammed into the windshield or mashed into the steering wheel if your the driver.  Yes, they do save lives.

Answer 14

Yes, if you are in a 25 mph wreck then it'll keep your mouth from eating steering wheel. If you're going 90mph theres not much to help you.

Now with that said I don't think the cops should be able to pull you over for it.  It should be our choice to be safe.

Answer 15

Yes they are safe 99.9 percent of the time but they can also hurt you more internally if you have a very high speed crash but even so at that speed what they do to you inside you could still be alive......

Answer 16

Wearing a seat belt will not protect you from having a car accident but it will protect while in one.  This website has a table on it that shows you the ratio's of people that got in accidents with and with out seat belts.   Nearly twice as many people died when not wearing seatbelts.

http://img524.imageshack.us/img524/980/t...

Answer 17

It actually doesn't protect you from car accidents.. That's completely on the drivers...  But if you do happen to get into a car accident, they do reduce the risk of death.  In some cases though, the seat belt can actually be the thing that does kill you.  But much more often than not, it saves your life.

Answer 18

is that even a question.  seatbelts will stop you from hitting the steering wheel, dashboard, and launching through the windshield.

Answer 19

Wearing a seatbelt holds you in place securely in the event of a crash or sudden stop.

Wearing a seatbelt prevents you from being thrown through the windshield of your car.

Wearing a seatbelt prevents you from being knocked out in a crash and perhaps drowned or burned as a result of being unconscious.

Wearing a seatbelt is a reminder of your own mortality.

Wearing a seatbelt might make you think about your safety.

Wearing a seatbelt doesn't prevent you from crashing, or being hit by another vehicle, but at least you have protection.

Only YOU can prevent yourself from crashing by following Rules of the Road, developing great observation habits and being very aware that anything can happen at any time.

Answer 20

It can prevent you from being thrown into the windows or dashboards head first and being seriously injured... but there are always negatives, such as the possibility of being trapped by a seatbelt in a burning car...

Answer 21

yes they are very safe if you dont wear them you will go flying out the window or you will be seriously injured by whatever is in front of you if you dont wear them you will most likely die.

Answer 22

It will protect you from getting hurt or mabey even dying!!

Answer 23

Statistics demonstrate the safety and usefulness of seatbelts  beyond any reasonable doubt.

I have been in four accidents (not always the driver) and the only accident where I got injured was the one I wasn't wearing a seatbelt.  Face through the windshield.  Not fun.  Got clocked by a lady that ran a redlight once and totalled my car but only had a bruise on my shoulder from the belt.  There is no question in my mind that belts are extremely useful in reducing injury.

I have a friend of mine that hit a brick wall.  Seatbelt saved his life.

A couple friends in high school were in a wreck at high speed-no seatbelts-both were ejected.  One of them broke his legs 14 times-he said to me later that he heard his legs snapping snap snapsnap as he smashed into trees after he was thrown from the car.

You choose for yourself.  I always wear a seatbelt.

Answer 24

It depends...

If you are wearing it improperly, it can cause injury. For instance, if it is too low, you could break your pelvis. To high, you can damage your internal organs.

If you are wearing it properly, it will protect you immensely. When you crash, your airbags will deploy. Without restraint, you will merely go over them and therefore through the windshield. Once out of the car, you could hit another object such as a tree or you could could be hit by other traffic.

Also, if you should happen to rollover, it will prevent you from rolling around the car and suffering further trauma.

Also, remember that it is illegal to drive without a seat belt. "Clip it or Ticket".

Answer 25

hmm..... i dunno..... do you think wearing a helmet protect your head? or if not smoking protects your lungs? it's all so confusing.

note: i'm kidding. duh it protects you. i mean, it won't stop you from having an acciedents but it will help provent you from dieing once you do.

buckle up!

Answer 26

They can stop you from hurling forward into the window or seat if you are in the back.

The impact can kill some people, particularly younger people.

Also, if you don't wear them you'll get a ticket...so I would advise you do it anyways even if it seems pointless, it has saved lives before.

Answer 27

In about 90% of car wrecks they will save your life, keeping injuries to a minimum.  In the other 10%, not the case.  Same w/ airbags, same w/ everything.  Their engineered for the most common wrecks, fender benders and head on collisions, that would send you over the steering wheel, out the window, or into an exploding airbag.

Answer 28

Seat belts cannot protect you FROM car accidents, but they sure do protect you IN a car accident. Yes, they are safe. Just like wearing a bike helmet keeps your skull safe when you fall off a bike onto cement.

Answer 29

A seat belt does not protect you from car accidents, but does protect you when you are IN a car accident.

In a roll-over accident a seat belt will keep you from being ejected from the car and being run over.

In a head on collision, someone not wearing a seat belt can be partially ejected through the windshield, maybe just his head. As they're jerked back when the car stops, the shattered glass digs into their neck and throat, making further living difficult and messy if not impossible.

Answer 30

They don't protect you from accidents. they protect you in case of an accident

Answer 31

It protects you from being thrown through the windshield.