Seat belts and child restraint : increasing use and optimising performance.

The design and use of car occupant restraint systems have been an important area of crash protection for many years and a wide body of knowledge exists concerning their effectiveness in reducing the severity of a large number of crash injuries. The compulsory use of restraints in front and rear seats for both adults and children in EU countries is covered by Council Directive 91/671/EEC for implementation by 1993. However, to date, usage rates vary considerably between Member States, with low front seat belt wearing rates in some countries and low rear restraint wearing rates in general, resulting in many unnecessary fatal and serious injuries. The effect on safety of low wearing rates may become worse, since the current design of cars assumes a high level of usage. In addition, systems are often incorrectly used resulting in reduced effectiveness. The design of seat belts is covered by Council Directives 76/115/EEC and 77/541/EEC and subsequent amendments. In general, the current restraint systems seem to provide a good level of protection, although an overall crash performance test will only be introduced with the implementation of the new legislative frontal impact test, which is expected to take place in October 1998. Some aspects of restraint design, however, can be improved further based on current knowledge. Section 2 describes how seat belts and child restraint systems work and their effectiveness in reducing fatal and serious injuries. Various aspects of legislation at national and EU level are presented in Section 3 followed by data on wearing rates in Member States and the occurrence of misuse in Section 4. Opinions, attitudes and motivational aspects of seat belt and child restraint use are discussed in Section 5. Sections 6 and 7 consider measures to increase effectiveness further by increasing wearing rates and by improving design of restraint systems respectively. The report results in recommendations for actions targeted at European, national and local traffic safety policymakers dealing with occupant restraint systems and use.