How about drivers who were not wearing seat belts? Table 3 categorizes the number of drivers by degree of injury and by the presence or absence of air bags. Chart 3 compares component ratios by seriousness of injury of drivers not wearing seat belts.   These indicate that the percentages of the fatally or seriously injured are very high among non-seatbelt-wearing drivers compared with those who do, asseen in Chart 1. The percentage of those killed is slightly higher when the cars were equipped with air bags, than when air bags were absent or not confirmed, and is higher than when the cars had no air bags.

Accidents where drivers not wearing seat belts were fatally or seriously injured were analyzed from the viewpoint of injured body parts (Chart 4).   In cars with air bags, a large percentage of injuries were to the chest and abdomen. The percentage of injuries to the head or hips and legs was lower when cars had air bags than when they did not. As can be seen, injury types differ between drivers wearing seat belts and those not wearing them.

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Institute for Traffic Accident Research and Data Analysis (ITARDA)