- The use of a seat belt is the most important measure to avoid tragedies in traffic accidents.
- This type of crash causes up to 1.3 deaths worldwide annually.
- The WHO updated its guide with the advice that people and governments should adopt to prevent these incidents.
Traffic accidents are responsible for the loss of 1.3 million lives annually worldwide. Although it is not all because they also generate between 20 and 50 million people with non-fatal injuries that affect their quality of life. Sometimes they even develop disabilities of varying magnitude. For this reason, one of the highest priorities is to reverse this scenario.
With this in mind, the World Health Organization (WHO), the FIA Foundation and other partners have published an updated manual. It contains new guidelines to help the general population encourage the use of restraint devices like seat belts because they really do save lives.
“We are seeing a rising wave of motorization in many low- and middle-income countries. Vehicles are proliferating much faster than the population is growing, so life-saving safety restrictions must be adopted now,” says Dr. Meleckidzedeck Khayesi, WHO road safety specialist.
The best way to avoid tragedies
Seat belts have saved more lives than any other road safety intervention in history. They reduce the deaths of vehicle occupants in traffic accidents by up to 50%. Child restraints have been shown to reduce crash fatalities by up to 71% among the youngest infants.
While the use of seat belts for adults is around 83% and the use of child safety restraint systems is around 77% in the WHO European Region. The problem is that this protection measure has very low levels in other regions such as Africa where less than 40% of the population uses it.
“Much more needs to be done to convince political leaders, law enforcement, drivers and passengers that seat belts provide essential, life-saving protection. The latest guidelines are intended to help leaders establish the comprehensive legislation, enforcement, public education and advertising programs we need to promote the benefits of vehicle occupant restraint systems and ensure full compliance with all relevant laws.” .
What do the new indications say?
The new guidelines are based on the experience of countries that have been successful in achieving and maintaining high levels of use of vehicle occupant restraint systems. It is informed by new evidence and examples from low- and middle-income countries that have taken effective action.
These include setting and enforcing strict laws, working to ensure the proper installation and use of child restraint systems, and setting and enforcing vehicle safety standards. Other promising actions include making loans available to reduce the cost of child restraints and training caregivers to use them correctly.
In the 13 years since the first edition of the manual was published, the world landscape has changed significantly. With the adoption of the United Nations Decade of Action for Global Road Safety 2021-2030 and the Political Declaration adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in July 2022, countries are adopting the Safe Systems approach which recognizes that Road transport is a complex system with interconnected elements that all affect each other.
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