I’m currently traveling on a high-speed train and I’ve noticed that there is no single seatbelt on it. Why is this? Aren’t trains exposed to the same dangerous factors as cars?
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Train accidents occur at far lower rates than car accidents, so the risk is much lower.
Car accident dynamics are different too. In a car accident, it’s common for your car to suddenly come to a stop. Without a seatbelt, your body will continue moving forward, and will most likely go through the windshield and you’ll land a couple hundred feet later, maybe getting run over by another passing car on the road. Seat belts prevent this.
Train cars are much, much, much heavier than cars. It would take a massive force to just stop a train car from moving instantly. Even if a train car crashed into a brick building, that probably wouldn’t slow it down very much. Therefore, the risk of being violently thrown forward is lower. There’s still risk of a train car overturning, which would throw you around and do some damage. But again, the risk of an accident is so ridiculously low, that adding seat belts would barely change any injury or death statistics.
In the US, a couple hundred deaths occur each year due to train accidents, without seat belts. Car deaths are over 40,000, and that’s with seat belts.
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