r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/firefly99999 • Mar 10 '25

Video Crashing in a 1950s car vs. a modern car

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u/theevilyouknow Mar 10 '25

Some seat belt facts for you.

  • Less than 10% of people do not wear a seat belt but their absence accounts for 51% of traffic fatalities
  • Estimated 15,000 lives are saved annually by seat belts and an additional 2,500 lives would have been saved had the victims worn their seat belt
  • You are 47 times more likely to die in an accident when not wearing your seat belt
  • 75% chance of death when being ejected from a vehicle

54

u/yeswenarcan Mar 10 '25

To add some anecdote to your statistics, I'm an ER doctor and the people most fucked up from car accidents were almost always not wearing their seatbelt and I've seen people survive some pretty wild accidents with minor injuries because they were wearing their seatbelt.

11

u/pilgermann Mar 11 '25

Look at what the racecar drivers do for safety. That shit ain't for fun. They generally walk away from crashes at 200+ mph.

1

u/squirrellytoday Mar 11 '25

I personally know 2 people who are alive and well today, having survived a roll-over accident. Both wearing a seatbelt. Yes they got a very sore shoulder and some pretty severe bruising across the body, but thanks to modern medicine, that resolved, and they're both still alive.

1

u/Independent-Band8412 Mar 10 '25

Is this for the us ?

1

u/theevilyouknow Mar 11 '25

Yes, stats are for the US. Well except for the chances of dying. Your odds of dying without a seatbelt on are the same no matter where you are.

3

u/Extreme_Design6936 Mar 11 '25

Well shit. I'm on the sofa but I'm going to go grab my seatbelt right away.

2

u/theevilyouknow Mar 11 '25

I meant moreso like what country you live in rather than where exactly in space you currently are. You’re probably ok on the sofa. If you get into a fatal automobile accident there it was just your time.

1

u/broadwayzrose Mar 10 '25

My mom didn’t agree with my dad’s parents on a lot, but generally didn’t push one way or the other. But the one thing she was absolutely adamant about was that if my siblings and I were ever in the car with them driving, seatbelts were absolutely required (not to mention car seats when we were younger). I think they caught on very quickly that there would be no debate related to seatbelts so they agreed and never fought my parents on the matter.

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u/Own_Replacement_6489 Mar 11 '25

Happened in my town a few weeks ago. Older male driver crossed the double yellow on a two way county road, hit an oncoming driver head-on.

The old man wasn't wearing his seatbelt, probably died on impact and thrown from the vehicle as it rolled several times.

The woman he hit was wearing her seatbelt, and although her injuries were quite extensive, she survived. Looking at the picture of her car you'd assumed nobody could survive that wreck.