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Estimating trends in the effectiveness of seat belts in saving lives, 1975–1985
Author(s) -
McGee Daniel L.,
Rhodes Phil
Publication year - 1989
Publication title -
statistics in medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.996
H-Index - 183
eISSN - 1097-0258
pISSN - 0277-6715
DOI - 10.1002/sim.4780080319
Subject(s) - seat belt , odds , poison control , human factors and ergonomics , injury prevention , collision , computer science , aeronautics , statistics , computer security , automotive engineering , engineering , mathematics , medicine , medical emergency , logistic regression
We examine the effectiveness of seat‐belt systems for preventing mortality in automobile crashes. In particular, we examine whether seat‐belt effectiveness has been constant over this period and conclude that there has been a trend toward an increased effectiveness of seat‐belt systems. The relative odds of death associated with wearing seat belts dropped from 0.80 in 1975 to 0.34 in 1985. This trend results from improvements in both the type and design of seat belts and from additional design changes, such as padded dashboards and collapsible steering columns, that protect occupants at the time of collision.