Seatbelts offer more protection than air bags

Researchers at the Harborview Injury Prevention and Research Center (HIPRC) found that seat belts offer drivers much more protection than driver air bags in road vehicle crashes. The study was published in the May 11 issue of the British Medical Journal and may be read in its entirety online.

In the study, investigators analyzed 51,031 driver-passenger pairs to estimate the association of driver air bags with driver fatality. Air bags reduced the risk of death by about 8 percent, whether or not the driver was belted. Seat belts alone reduced the risk of death by 65 percent. Using a seat belt and having an air bag reduced this risk by 68 percent.

Although there have been a few reports of women drivers who were killed by air bags, the study reported that air bags reduced the risk of death for women by 12 percent, while for men the reduction was 6 percent.

The principal investigator from HIPRC and the UW was Peter Cummings, associate professor of epidemiology. Other authors on the study were David Grossman, professor of pediatrics, Frederick Rivara, professor of pediatrics, and Barbara McKnight, professor of biostatistics.