Seatbelt safety

Drivers and passengers travelling unrestrained in a vehicle are 8 times more likely to be killed in a road crash than those wearing a seatbelt.

In recent years, despite the evidence about the safety benefits of seatbelts, approximately 40% of fatal or serious injuries in Queensland have involved people not wearing a seatbelt.

Wearing a seatbelt properly

You and your passengers must always wear a seatbelt correctly. An incorrectly worn seatbelt could cause neck, chest or abdominal injuries in a crash, and would be unlikely to protect you as it was designed to do.

When you’re wearing a seatbelt properly:

• the belt is flat and not twisted
• the lap belt fits snugly and passes over your pelvis and hips—not across your stomach
• the shoulder belt passes over your chest and shoulder bone, and doesn’t touch your neck or face.

Many seatbelts on the front seats now have height-adjustable sash guides. The height adjuster allows you to position the shoulder belt so it doesn’t touch your neck. Use the height adjuster to position the shoulder belt correctly across your chest and shoulder, as described above.

To give the seatbelt the best chance of working properly, place the seat back in an upright position and make sure you’re sitting up straight.

How not to use a seatbelt

The seatbelt’s effectiveness will be reduced if you wear it:

• loosely or incorrectly
• with the seat back reclined
• with your back away from the seat
• with your legs curled underneath you.

Seatbelts are designed as a safety restraint for people. Therefore, you must not:

• use a seatbelt to restrain luggage—securely stow your luggage away
• route the seatbelt straps across sharp edges or hard items in your clothing, such as spectacles and pens.

Seatbelts and safety

Most front seatbelts are now fitted with additional high tech safety features such as pre-tensioners and load limiters. These features are not visible to the naked eye and improve the performance of the seatbelt in a crash.

Always treat seatbelts with care and check them regularly for safety and serviceability. In particular, look for:

• frayed or damaged belts
• damaged or faulty buckles and fittings
• faulty retractor mechanisms.

If you have any concerns about a vehicle’s seatbelts, book the vehicle into the nearest service agent for inspection and/or repair.

For more information, read the Queensland Government’s seatbelt rules.