Method to evaluate the effect of safety belt use by rear seat passengers on the injury severity of front seat occupants

Occupants in cars with a hood in the case of car-to-car frontal collisions were extracted from the statistical data on accidents in Japan. Among 81,817 cars, where at least one passenger was present, a total of 6847 cars in which all passengers sustained injuries and which had at least one rear seat passenger aboard were analyzed. The number of killed or seriously injured drivers is estimated to decrease by around 25% if rear seat occupants come to wear seat belts. Also, the number of killed or seriously injured passengers in front seats is estimated to decrease by 28% if unbelted rear seat occupants come to wear seat belts. Thus, wearing of seat belts by previously unbelted rear seat passengers is considered effective in reducing not only injuries to the rear seat passengers themselves but also injuries to front seat occupants.