In 1999, safety belts saved an estimated 11,197 lives. If all passenger vehicle occupants over age 4 wore safety belts, another 9,553 lives could have been saved. There is no doubt that when safety belts are properly-fastened and when they work correctly, they save lives. From 1975 through 1999, about 123,000 lives were saved by safety belts. Ejection from a vehicle is one of the most injurious events that can happen to a person who is involved in a vehicle crash.
Safety belts are effective in preventing total ejections.
In 1999, only 1 percent of the occupants reported to have been using restraints were totally ejected, compared with 22 percent of unrestrained occupants. When a crash occurs, unbelted occupants continue to travel at the vehicle's original speed until just after the vehicle comes to a stop. At that point, unrestrained occupants will slam into some part of the vehicle's interior, like the steering wheel or the windshield. Unbelted persons can also collide with each other. In a crash, vehicle occupants tend to move toward the point of impact, instead of away from it.