Buckle up to save lives: UN celebrates five decades of seat belt laws

“The obligation to wear seat belts and helmets for two-wheelers and increased political commitment to road safety played a decisive role in this reduction in traffic fatalities across Europe from the 1970s,” said Jean Todt, UN Special Envoy for Road Safety.

According to the World Health Organization, the use of seat belts by front seat passengers reduces the risk of fatal injury by 45 to 50 percent and the risk of fatal and serious injury to rear seat occupants by 25 percent (WHO).

UN regulation saves lives

Technical specifications for the use and installation of the seat belt result from UN Regulation No. 16which came into effect in 1970. In the years that followed, more and more countries introduced laws making the use of seat belts in vehicles compulsory.

At the moment, 105 countries have seat belt laws Matched to best practices according to the latest WHO Global Road Safety Status Report.

Decrease in traffic deaths

Seat belts remain in place best vehicle security device According to the UN Economic Commission for Europe, passengers should be protected from being seriously injured in an accident or being thrown from the vehicle (UNECE), which houses the Office of the Special Envoy and the UN Road Safety Trust Fund established in 2018.

In recent decades, regulation and consumer demand have led to this increasingly safe cars in higher-income countrieswhich, according to the UNECE, in turn leads to fewer road fatalities.

In Europe, for example, the total number of road deaths fell by 15 percent between 2000 and 2010 and by 15 percent between 2010 and 2019. According to UNECE, this decrease was more pronounced among car occupants in particular.

According to the International Transport Forum Road Safety Annual Report 2022The period between 2010 and 2019 saw a significant decrease in the number of road deaths involving car occupants in developed countries, particularly in Greece, where there were fatalities down 63 percentand in the Republic of Korea, where they fell 51 percent.

The report noted that the death toll had fallen by more than 30 percent another 13 countries: Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Denmark, Ireland, Luxembourg, Lithuania, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.

Buckle up somewhere else

However, too many countries in the world Appropriate legislation has yet to be passed UNECE says drivers and passengers must wear seat belts and enforce stricter compliance.

Some 1.35 million people still die on the roads every year.

In total 93 percent of traffic fatalities occur in developing countries.

“We now need to work with governments and all relevant industry stakeholders ensure that people in developing countries enjoy the same level of security like those in developed countries,” said the special envoy.

That means passing and enforcing laws in line with international standards and allowing access to new and used vehicles with appropriately adjusted seat belts, he said.

Guardian of accident safety

UN Regulation No. 16 is the only widely internationally recognized requirement for the use of seat belts in vehicles. It defines the requirements that an effective seat belt must meet and reviews its certification to ensure the safety of all occupants, from children to the elderly.

UN regulation requires a seat belt to bear an approval mark on the buckle tongue, while other models must bear a circled capital letter E followed by a number representing the country whose certified agency issued the approval.

Seat belts approved under Regulation No. 16 are tested under the toughest conditions to withstand aging and work in tandem with other safety systems, including airbags, as part of the overall vehicle crashworthiness.

Currently, 52 nations have acceded to the 1958 UN Convention on Harmonized Technical Regulations for Wheeled Vehicles, which applies Regulation No. 16 as national law. Several other countries around the world also apply this rule with certain modifications.

The UN regulations for the protection of vehicle occupants and other road users include seat belts, airbags, electronic stability control, pedestrian protection and anchor points for child restraint systems.

Learn how the UN is helping save lives in low- and middle-income countries Here.

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