I don't care what I am driving, the seat belt never lays across my chest, 'sterum' the way it should. The belt always rides up, across my neck and over toward my right arm pit. That is when I am driving, it is on the left doing the same thing when I am a passenger.
It occurred to me that my carotid arteries are directly under the seatbelt. Not my collar bone or my sterum, but, my carotid arteries.
I am not trying to make trouble here, I am trying to save lives, but, didn't Princess Diana die of a transected carotid artery in her car crash?
The point is I do not believe 'crash dummies' are necessarily built like most women, either. I appreciate the effort to protect people and even little people as they have special restraints, but, there is something missing in the 'belt' assembly that keeps belts from moving across delicate neck regions of the body rather than remaining on bony areas for restraint.
I don't believe there is a study I can refer to here, but, then maybe one was never done. We need the 'next generation' of safety belt restraints.
...Mingle and front seat passenger (click title to entry - thank you) Dawn Hess, 40, of Palmyra, Wayne County, were both flown to the Erie County Medical Center via Mercy Flight, Peron said. Mingle suffered abrasions and was treated and released. Hess suffered a severe head laceration, broken ribs and a broken right arm and was listed in critical condition, Peron said.Three young children were in the SUV’s back seat. They were all taken to Women’s and Children’s Hospital in Buffalo as a precaution, Peron said.
Troopers said everyone in the SUV was wearing seat belts and the younger children were properly restrained in car seats.
The SUV did not strike any other vehicles when it overturned. The SUV did not strike the vehicle that caused Mingle to leave her lane. That driver continued westbound on the highway, troopers said....
...Seatbelts have been proven to be the best way to minimize risk of injury when in a crash, the release said. Of the 33,963 people who died in traffic crashes across the United States in 2009, it is estimated that safety belts could have prevented death in more than half of these incidents. During the first four months of this year in Springfield, at least four out of five fatal crashes involved an unsecured occupant riding in a motorized vehicle (excluding motorcycles). Overall, the safety belt usage rate in Missouri has been estimated to be around 75 percent, compared to 83 percent nationwide....
http://www.news-leader.com/article/20100706/BREAKING01/100706029/1007/NEWS01/Crash+report+shows+increase+in+injury+crashes
Diana died of a ruptured coronary artery, not a carotid artery. That can't really be considered the same unless there was back pressure from the carotid into the heart circulation. Probably not. I still believe women are well served by their seatbelts.
...The condition of Diana was at first considered serious until the surgeons discovered that her coronary artery was ruptured. The surgeons then changed her condition to grave. Princess Diana died after two hours in surgery at 4:00 am. It was 4 hours after the car had crashed. The doctors didn’t actually announce her death until 4:30 am. Princess Diana was 36 years old at the time of her death....
http://www.essortment.com/all/deathprincessd_rmoz.htm
