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About the Safety Belt
How to Properly Wear Your Safety Belt

To provide optimal protection for any rider, the lap portion of a lap/shoulder belt must be worn low and snug across the hips, and the shoulder portion must be snug across the chest, away from the neck and face. The shoulder portion should NEVER be worn behind the back or under the arm.

So, what can you do if your seat belt doesn't fit comfortably? While there are no easy solutions to this problem, there are several options to consider.

Short people who find that the shoulder portion of a lap/shoulder belt rubs on their face or neck should first try shifting a little to the right or left on the seat, or moving the seat forward or backward. Slight adjustments in the seating position can often relieve uncomfortable rubbing.

If shifting positions doesn't work, an alternative is a "comfort clip." Comfort clips are available from auto parts stores, and a few car dealers may be willing to obtain clips for their customers. Comfort clips attach to the lap/shoulder belt loop near the door and hold the belt away from one's face and neck. These comfort clips do introduce slack into the belt, making it fit less snugly. For this reason, comfort clips are recommended only as a last resort. Wearing a safety belt with a comfort clip is much safer than riding unbelted.

There are other safety belt adjusters on the market, made of a variety of materials – from velcro to hard plastic to metal. These devices are not required to meet federal standards so they must be used "at one's own risk."

Adults, including pregnant women, who find that safety belts don't fit comfortably around their bodies may want to obtain safety belt extenders. Extenders are made by auto manufacturers and attach easily to the latchplate and buckle of a factory-installed belt. Many manufacturers will supply safety belt extenders free of charge at a customer's request.

Buckling up right is a snap!

 

 

 


Safety Belt Statistics
Better wear your safety belt

Safety belt wearing by adult front seat occupants: results of national survey, March / April 2003

The latest annual national survey of safety belt use in New Zealand by adults in the front seats of cars was carried out in March and April 2003. In 2002/2003 the restraint survey programme was expanded to allow reporting of results by Territorial Local Authority wherever practicable (a table of wearing rates by TLA is on page 5). As a result, 160 new sites have been added to the 114 sites surveyed in previous years.

This year, more than 96,100 drivers and adult front seat passengers in cars and vans were observed at 274 sites around the country. As in previous years, each site was surveyed between 10 a.m. and 12 p.m. on normal working weekdays during the school term.

In 2003, the safety belt wearing rate for drivers and adult front seat passengers was 92%. This rate is identical to the wearing rates observed in the previous two years and slightly higher than the 90% wearing rate in 2000. The survey results over the past years show an increasing trend of front seat safety belt use, although there is an indication in more recent years that this trend is levelling (see Table 1).

Table 1: Safety belt wearing rates for front seat adults by category (%)

Category 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003
Urban
83
85
87
87
88
90
91
91
Open road
88
89
89
91
92
93
93
93
Drivers
86
88
88
89
90
92
92
92
Passengers
86
88
87
89
90
92
93
92
Males
82
84
85
86
87
89
90
89
Male drivers
83
85
86
86
88
89
90
90
Male passengers
78
77
78
82
83
88
88
88
Females
90
92
91
93
93
95
95
94
Female drivers
90
92
92
93
94
95
95
94
Female passengers
90
92
91
93
93
94
95
94

The wearing rates for various categories of car occupant are shown in Table 1. As found in previous years, travellers on the open road have a slightly higher wearing rate than in urban areas (93% and 91%, respectively). There was no difference in levels of safety belt use between drivers and passengers, however there was a significant difference between genders. Men, particularly when travelling as passengers, were less likely to wear their safety belts than women (see Figure 1). Ten percent of male drivers and twelve percent of male passengers were not wearing their safety belt, compared to only six percent of female drivers and passengers.

Safety belt wearing rates 1996-2003

Figure 1: Safety belt wearing rates for front seat adults, 1996-2003
 
 
   
 
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