why seatbelts aren’t X-shaped/haven’t changed at all
In: 3
Because one of the challenges of seat belts is actually getting people to use them.
3 point seat belts along with air bags is about as far as we have reached, in terms of people actually using the system as well as the system’s ability to actually protect people. Anything less would be less effective (duh), while anything more carries the risk that people would avoid taking the additional steps, which would also result in less protection.
Before airbags were common, a common feature of cars was a shoulder belt that stayed attached but automatically moved on and off the occupant when the car was started and stopped, respectively. (see, for example, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvS0hhVFdZE ) Aside from the fact that that system has safety issues of its own, it was found that, because the shoulder part of the seat belt was automatic, people would often skip the step of attaching the lap portion of the belt, which is unsafe.
So back to your suggestion of an X shaped belt, or a 5 point belt, etc. The reality is that people aren’t going to take the time to completely secure those belts. Not when the existing system only takes like 1-2 seconds.
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