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Seat belts – there for a reason

For too long now, we have been treating the seat belt as if it were a vestigial organ. Confused? A vestigial organ is a rudimentary body part that is not really functional. So high is our disregard for this life saving device, that when our cars have their yearly check over, obliging mechanics neatly tuck away and put under seat covers, this appendage that we’d rather not be dealing with. In most Indian minds, the seat belt is a mere trimming, an optional decoration that is mostly irrelevant. In fact, if we were allowed our way, Indian cars would have only two things – accelerator and horns!

What is so special about this humble device that most parts of the world acknowledge it as one of the greatest life savers in automotive history? In fact, when Princess Diana was killed in that infamous car crash in Paris, Lord Stevens, the ex-Metropolitan Police Commissioner, UK, suggested that she would be alive had she belted up. The then British Road Safety Minister, Jim Fitzpatrick said, ‘“The former security officer wearing a seatbelt lived whereas Henri Paul, Dodi Fayed and Diana all weren’t wearing seatbelts and they paid the ultimate price’. Nearer home, the same was true of the death of Union Minister Gopinath Munde, in June 2014. The truth is, seat belts save lives. Worldwide experience suggests that wearing a seatbelt halves the risk of death.

How can this simple piece of fabric, stretched from shoulder to seat, make the difference between life and death? To understand this, we first need to understand inertia. Inertia, to most ears would mean inactivity, not doing very much. But the law of inertia states that an object, whether moving or otherwise, will continue to do that unless acted upon by an external force. In very simple terms, if you are travelling in your car at 100km/h and your car hits the median, the force exerted by the median becomes the antagonistic force that stops the car – but you (your body) continues moving along at 100km/h as there is as yet, no antagonistic force acting on you. This will continue until you hit something, maybe the windscreen, maybe the road, before you will come to a halt. Now imagine the crunch as body meets windscreen at 100km/h. Ouch.

The seatbelt is designed in such way that a sudden jerky movement (as in the event of a car crash) will stop the mechanism from unwinding. This then provides the opposing force that will stop your body from continuing to move forward. The seatbelt also has some give, in that it does not stop acceleration in the sudden way in which the road or the windscreen on meeting your body will. It also applies its antagonistic force along the pelvis and the rib cage, which are relatively sturdier parts of your body, unlike the road or windscreen which might have stopped you by your head. This, together with an airbag and the crumple zones in the car stop further movement of the body and absorb extra energy, thus saving the fragile human system from feeling the full weight of these universal forces.

The three-point seatbelt design was invented by Nils Bohlin, an engineer at Volvo in 1959. Prior to this, racing car drivers wore a rudimentary two point, waist harness, which was not really effective. In fact, Volvo was so convinced by the significance of their invention that they opened up the patent, allowing any car manufacturer to use it for free. Volvo’s managing director Alan Dessell is quoted as saying: “The decision to release the three-point seat belt patent was visionary and in line with Volvo’s guiding principle of safety.” Since then, the 3-point harness has been the most popular seatbelt design, popular both for its ease of use and its effectiveness. It has been found to be so effective in reducing road fatality and morbidity that, across much of the world, seatbelts are mandatory.

It became the law in India in April 1994 that all motor vehicles must be equipped with front seat belts. But in true Indian fashion, we appear to have passed a law that has done little to alter reality. That clunky little clip dangling diagonally above your head will not save your life, just like a helmet sitting poised on a motorbike’s fuel tank will not save your head in case of a crash.

But we know that India has always had a curious relationship with the law, if we can call a tenuous link a relationship at all. For example, consider that in the UK, seat belts were legislated as mandatory in 1983. Much pre-legislation advertising and education had already raised compliance rates in the UK from 35% to 50%. A survey done a day after the law was passed indicated that compliance had gone up from 50% to 95% where it has stayed ever since! Consider the scenario in India where the law was passed about 20 years ago.

The Motor Vehicles Amendment Bill 2017, tightens it up a bit further by raising the fine for non-compliance to Rs. 1,000. We know though that the law is but a small jot on the landscape of this complex nation. When it does become law, will it or will it not change road behaviour? Only time will tell. But there is no need for responsible road users to wait for punishment and penalties. We know the facts now. Just clip up. It takes but a few seconds of our life, but rewards us with several years added to it.

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