FEW WEAR BELTS

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32076, 26 August 1969, Page 15

FEW WEAR BELTS

In Sydney only one driver in 10 bothers to use the seatbelt fitted in his car, Dr M. Henderson, who recently published a book on safety in motor-racing, has said.

The one safety feature which had been proved conclusively to save lives and prevent serious injuries was the seat belt, and yet people would not wear them even when they were installed in their cars, Dr Henderson said. “Consumers scream at manufacturers for safer cars, but protect themseleves only when it is convenient.” Motorists seemed more impressed by features such as

dash padding, he said, yet few realised that soft padding was almost useless, and that on a rigid surface hard padding had to be nine inches thick to protect a person’s

head from injury in a 30 miles an hour crash. Dr Henderson said that a survey conducted by the Swedish Volvo car company bad shown that in crashes at up to 60 miles an hour not one driver had been killed when wearing a seat belt, although drivers not wearing seat belts had been killed in crashes at speeds as low as 12 miles an hour.