Fifty years of 'clunk click' every trip saved millions of car accident victims
Now celebrating its 50th birthday, the seatbelt has been saving car accident victims lives ever since its creation. However an estimated 5-10% of Britons still fail to wear the belt while on the road resulting in 400 people being killed every year in the UK as a direct result.
According to Richard Gifford of the Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety, the seatbelt is likely to have saved over a million lives worldwide since its invention.
The three-point safety belt was invented by a Volvo designer in 1958 but they decided not to patent the idea as they felt that passengers the world over should benefit from its use.
The three point belt became compulsory in 1983 allowing the impact to spread over the body rather than concentrated on the midriff where they can cause internal injuries as the previous lap belts did.
While accident safety is now focused on car crash prevention, the seatbelt still remains a valuable life saver. Passengers involved in serious car accidents that could have been fatal, are able to walk away with barely a scratch thanks to the simple protection of the seatbelt.
24 hour accident advice line
Freephone 0808 143 43 42
*A replacement vehicle can usually be supplied within 4-6 working hours, where there is an admission of liability from the other person’s insurance company. If this person is not known, their insurance details are not known, they are uninsured or there is a potential dispute over who caused the accident, a replacement vehicle cannot be provided.
