Almost 80 per cent of front seat passenger deaths where a car also contains rear seat passengers could be avoided if the rear seat passengers wore seat belts, according to research published today.
Japanese researchers have discovered that the risk of death to front seat occupants, even when they themselves are wearing seat belts, is raised five-fold if they are travelling in a car with unbelted rear seat passengers.
Prof Denis Cusack, a coroner and forensic physician, said he was not surprised at the finding. "At 30 miles an hour, an unbelted rear seat passenger continues travelling into the front of the car as a 30 mph human missile. Serious traumatic damage to the brain, shearing of major arteries and tearing of organs are some of the typical injuries which the unrestrained cause and suffer" he said.
The latest study, in the medical journal the Lancet, used data from the Institute for Traffic Accident Research and Data Analysis of Japan involving car-to-car crashes between 1995 and 1999.
It found that the risk of death was especially increased in the case of frontal crashes. For belted drivers this risk was increased six- fold and that of rear seat passengers seven-fold when the rear occupant was not wearing a seat belt.
The overall risk of death and severe injury was higher for those involved in frontal crashes rather than side or rear impacts.
Not all developed countries have a legal requirement for rear seat passengers to wear seat belts. The Republic does, although figures for 1999 from the National Roads Authority show that only 20 per cent of rear seat passengers here wear a selt belt. The equivalent figure for drivers and front seat passengers was 57 per cent.
According to a spokesman for the Dept of the Environment, wearing a seat belt is compulsory where a car has been fitted with restraints. However in older models, which do not have factory fitted belts, the obligation is waived. The National Car Test examines seat belt safety and functioning as part of the annual testing of cars which are more than four years old.
In 2000, there were 59,841 on the spot fines for non-wearing of seat belts in the State. The provisional figure for the 10-month period to the end of October 2001 is 53,563 fines.
According to Dr Cusack, the wearing of seat belts is a human factor representing a personal responsibility for road safety. "The unwarranted and unnecessary killing and maiming \in road traffic accidents are due overwhelmingly to human factors, to personal choice. For every driver and road user, road deaths and injuries are a personal responsibility. That responsibility should not, and cannot, be abrogated or shirked."
Gardaí said yesterday there was an almost 27 per cent increase in drink driving incidents in 2001 compared to the previous year. Convictions were up by 1,108 compared with 875.In the Christmas period, from December 19th to December 31st, there were 12 fatal accidents.