The Origin Of Car Seatbelts
The origin of car seatbelts. Seatbelts, as a basic protective device for occupants during a car collision, predates the automobile itself. As early as 1885, seatbelts appeared and were used on horse-drawn carriages to prevent passengers from falling out. On May 20, 1902, during a car race in New York, a race car driver used several belts to secure himself and his partner to their seats to prevent being thrown from the car at high speed. During the race, their car crashed into the crowd of spectators, killing two people and injuring dozens, but the drivers survived thanks to the belts. These belts became the prototype of the car seatbelt, saving lives in its first use in a car.
In 1922, sports cars began using seatbelts on racetracks; in 1955, Ford Motor Company in the United States installed seatbelts; and in 1968, the United States mandated that all forward-facing seats in cars be equipped with seatbelts. Developed countries such as Europe and Japan have successively enacted regulations requiring car occupants to wear seat belts. On November 15, 1992, China's Ministry of Public Security issued a notice stipulating that from July 1, 1993, all drivers and front-seat passengers in passenger cars (including sedans, jeeps, vans, and microcars) must use seat belts.
Following the enactment of the Road Traffic Safety Law, the requirement for all occupants to use seat belts was further strengthened. Article 51 of the Road Traffic Safety Law, which came into effect on May 1, 2004, stipulates that drivers and passengers of motor vehicles must use seat belts as required, and motorcycle drivers and passengers must wear safety helmets as required. The standard form of seatbelt worldwide is the three-point seatbelt invented by Niels. This type of seatbelt began to gain acceptance in 1967 when Niels published "28,000 Accident Reports" in the United States, documenting all traffic accidents involving Volvo cars in Sweden in 1966. The figures clearly show that the three-point seatbelt not only reduced or even prevented passenger injury in more than half of the cases, but also saved lives.
Since its invention, seatbelts have covered over 10 million kilometers and are installed in more than 1 billion cars worldwide. Their length is enough to circle the Earth's equator 250 times, or travel to and from the moon 13 times. However, most importantly, countless lives have been saved by the three-point seatbelt over the past 40 years, proving it to be an effective single automotive safety device.
