Road Safety: Helmets, Belts and Child Seats

Why road safety matters so much

About 1.16 million people die each year in road traffic crashes worldwide, and road injury is the leading cause of death for children and young adults aged 5 to 29 years. Around 92% of these deaths happen in low- and middle-income countries, even though those countries have roughly 60% of the world's vehicles. More than half of all road deaths are among pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists, who have no metal body around them.

Helmets

For anyone on a motorcycle or scooter, a helmet is the single most useful piece of equipment. Safe, good quality helmets reduce the risk of death by over six times and brain injury by up to 74%. Two points decide whether a helmet works:

1. Quality. Choose a helmet that meets a recognised safety standard, not a thin plastic shell sold as a way to avoid a fine.
2. Fastening. Helmets that are not properly fastened increase the risk of death and injury. The chin strap must be done up and snug every time, even for a short trip.

Passengers need helmets too, including children riding pillion. Suitable child-sized helmets can be hard to find, so plan ahead rather than letting a child ride bare-headed.

Seat belts

Wearing a seat belt can reduce the risk of death among vehicle occupants by up to 50%. Wear it on every trip, front and back. Make sure the lap part lies low across the hips and upper thighs, not across the stomach, and the shoulder part crosses the middle of the shoulder and chest. Never share one belt between two people, and never tuck the shoulder strap behind your arm or back.

Children in vehicles

Children need restraints made for their size. Child restraints can cut deaths among infants by 71%. The usual stages are:

1. Rear-facing seat with a harness from birth until the child reaches the maximum weight or height the seat allows, often around age 2 to 4. Never fit a rear-facing seat in a front passenger seat.
2. Forward-facing seat with a harness in the back, until the child reaches that seat's weight or height limit, usually at least age 5.
3. Booster seat in the back until the adult belt fits properly, which is often between ages 9 and 12.
4. Adult seat belt once the lap belt sits on the upper thighs and the shoulder belt crosses the centre of the shoulder and chest.

Keep children properly buckled in the back seat until age 13.

Speed, phones and alcohol

Speed drives both the chance of a crash and how bad it is: every 1% rise in average speed brings about a 4% increase in fatal crash risk. For a pedestrian hit by a car, the risk of death is about 4.5 times higher at 65 km/h than at 50 km/h. Drivers using mobile phones are roughly 4 times more likely to crash. Alcohol and some other drugs impair driving as well.

What not to do

• Do not carry a baby or small child on your lap in a car or on a motorcycle.
• Do not leave the helmet strap loose or unfastened.
• Do not move a crash casualty who may have a head, neck or back injury, or an injured hip, pelvis or upper leg, unless they are in immediate danger.
• Do not try to straighten a bent limb or push a protruding bone back in.
• Do not drive after drinking, or take a call while driving.

When to get emergency help

After any crash with injuries, call Rescue 1122 where available, or go to the nearest hospital emergency department. Call immediately if someone is unconscious or not breathing normally, is bleeding heavily, may have injured the head, neck or back, has a limb that is bent out of shape or a bone through the skin, or has skin that is pale, cold or numb beyond an injury. While waiting, keep the person still and warm, and protect the scene from passing traffic. Even without obvious wounds, get checked after a high-speed crash, as some injuries show up later.