Removing unbelted safety requirements could benefit safety belt users

ANN ARBOR — A new study from the University of Michigan indicates that removing federal requirements which protect unbelted vehicle occupants could increase safety for those wearing their seat belts.

Researchers at the University’s Transportation Research Institute say removing such requirements might encourage deployment of seat belt interlocks and allow optimization of restraints for belted occupants. Researchers found that optimal designs without the unbelted requirements generated the same or lower total injury risks for those wearing safety belts.

They claim that if 95 to 99 percent of occupants wore their safety belts, then total injuries could decrease by ten percent with unbelted requirements removed. Click here for more information about the study.