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Motor Vehicle Occupants, Neck Injuries, and Seat Belt Utilization: A 5‐Year Study of Fatalities in New York City
Author(s) -
Sgarlato Anthony,
DeRoux Stephen J
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
journal of forensic sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.715
H-Index - 96
eISSN - 1556-4029
pISSN - 0022-1198
DOI - 10.1111/j.1556-4029.2009.01270.x
Subject(s) - seat belt , poison control , injury prevention , occupational safety and health , medicine , neck injury , human factors and ergonomics , suicide prevention , aeronautics , forensic engineering , medical emergency , engineering , automotive engineering , pathology
Despite the implementation of numerous safety devices in automobiles, vehicular occupant fatalities following collisions remain common. We reviewed all fatalities of vehicular occupants in New York City over a 5‐year period on whom autopsies were performed (437) to determine the incidence of neck injuries and correlate them with seat belt utilization; 26.5% had neck injuries (mild to severe) and only 10.3% of these occupants were confirmed to be wearing seatbelts. Of those that had documentation of seat belt utilization there were twice as many neck injuries in the unbelted group. We highlight two cases of submarining with severe neck injuries that were related to automatic 2‐point shoulder harness restraints without engagement of the lap belt.