What is the reason for this? The perception that the seat behind the driver's seat is the safest in a head-on collision is mainly due to technological reasons. The frontal controlled crumple zone naturally receives the first wave of impact.
Many factors go into determining the safest seat in a car at any given moment of any given accident. Therefore, there is not one seat that is always the safest. There are, however, some cases where it is more likely that the backseat behind the driver (that is, the left rear seat) is the safest part of the car.
1) Rear Middle: The Safest Spot!
Although statistically this is the safest location, we know it might not always be very practical or even possible because of the size of the seat or the lack of a seat belt or ISOFIX points of your vehicle.
University of Buffalo Researchers report that the back seat is 59 to 86 percent safer than the front seat. Backed up by National Highway Traffic Safety Administration – NHTSA -research, crash statistics show the middle seat in the back is most survivable.
The Pros and Cons of the Back Seat
The study finds that the safest place for young children is still the back seat, strapped into a car seat. This is because the airbag is too powerful for children, especially in a head-on car crash.
While front-end and rear-end collisions are the most common types of traffic collisions, the passenger side is more likely to be hit in a side-impact collision. When making a left turn at an intersection, the passenger side is exposed to potential impact due to crossing the opposite traffic flow.
The study investigated 117 car crashes in which rear-seat occupants were killed or seriously injured. In many of these crashes, back-seat passengers were more seriously injured more than the those in the front seats.
The safest place in the vehicle is the centre of the back seat, being positioned the furthest point away from any possible point of impact. Some older vehicles do only have a lap belt so it is essential to check that your seat is suitable for one of those.
It is often believed that the front passenger seat in a vehicle associates with a higher risk of severe injuries than rear seats if involved in a crash.
Passengers at the back of a car are seated on "back seats" or "rear seats". In other words, "back/rear seats" are found behind the "front passenger seat" and the "driver seat".
the passenger seat next to the driver in an automobile, regarded as dangerous in the event of a collision.
If you can't fit two seats right next to each other, you will have to use the two outside seats. There isn't really a preferred side for the infant as far as crash safety is concerned. There is virtually no difference between driver's side and passenger side in crash statistics.
Children must normally use a child car seat until they're 12 years old or 135 centimetres tall, whichever comes first. Children over 12 or more than 135cm tall must wear a seat belt. You can choose a child car seat based on your child's height or weight.
An analysis of the effects of frontal crashes conducted by the Institute of Highway Safety, however, indicates that passengers traveling in the rear seat of a car suffered the most injuries.
SPEEDING. Everybody seems to be in a hurry, but driving too fast for conditions or in excess of posted speed limits clearly contributes to auto accidents and accident fatalities. According to the NHTSA, the top reason for traffic accidents and fatalities were driving too fast for the road conditions.
Insurance companies study the rate of car accidents by age and often charge younger drivers more. However, the deadliest drivers are not teens — drivers in their 30s are responsible for more fatal accidents than any other age group.
"But your body—if not connected to the car via the seatbelt—will continue to move forward at 60km an hour until it contacts something, and the first thing it will contact if you're unbelted is the steering wheel with your chest, and your head on the windscreen."
Women are also more vulnerable to injury in automobile accidents–up to 37% more vulnerable. For certain types of injuries, the increased risk is even higher. For example, female drivers are 98.5% (+/-30.8%) more likely to suffer leg injuries in a traffic crash.
The law doesn't currently prevent you from carrying more adult passengers than there are seat belts. However, children up to 135cms tall must use child restraints with few exceptions, which means they must use the seats in the vehicle that have seat belts to secure their restraints. This can limit carrying capacity.
Children under 3 must be in a child car seat. If there's no room for a third child car seat in the back of the vehicle, the child must travel in the front seat with the correct child car seat. Children aged 3 or older can sit in the back using an adult belt.
If a child restraint is not available, children under 3 years must travel in the rear, but may be unrestrained. Children 3 years and over, up to 135cm tall must sit in the rear and use an adult seat belt. Children aged 12 years or more, or over 135cm tall, may travel the front, but must wear the seat belt.
Install in the Backseat
That is the safest spot for your baby. If you can, put the car seat in the center seat. If not, it is fine behind either the driver or passenger side. The important thing is that it is in the back, away from the airbags.
If you say that a place or vehicle is a death trap, you mean it is in such bad condition that it might cause someone's death. [informal] Badly-built kit cars can be death traps.
The bottom line.
Other things equal, the safest place is in the center seat in the back row. However, any back seat placement in a properly fitted and installed car seat will significantly lower the risk of injury in a crash. And, the real priority is to just get a good safe installation.
"Deathcars are these vans the Chinese have and, if they need an organ donor for someone, then they execute death-row prisoners in the vans and bring the organs to accident victims," explains Simpson.