[BenjiRoss]

Originally Posted by arungeorge

7 year old kid died in accident when the car he was travelling collided with a truck. The cause of death was the seat belt damaged internal organs on the impact. Both the parents survived the crash.

The cause of the death was the crash along with an IMPROPER seat belt.
If not for the seat belt cause of death may have been the crash and head injuries.

[deathwalkr]

Originally Posted by VKumar

What is written is completely BS IMO, just try to imagine and keep thinking in every manner - how exactly can this happen that a seatbelt can cause such injuries to a light weight body, which doesn't carry probably 1/4th momentum of an adult?

Yes. They can.

You can read more about it online. Which is why, kids have to be restrained as per age/weight by different types of seats/boosters.

[shubhodeepdas@g]

Originally Posted by VKumar

Let me be the heartless fellow here, I blatantly deny this set of words - it's typical local press spreading their stuff, without even knowing what they are talking about.

The information is correct but the way it has been put across is absolutely wrong. A passenger car seat belt operates on 3 points of contact, if the shoulder is free from contact then a child or adult anywhere under the height of 4'8" will suffer severe organ damage in their stomach area.

There are a few misconceptions here:

• "Seat belts worn in any way will save", which is not true, all 3 points have to be properly in contact.
• "A child needs a booster seat", which is wrong, anyone short needs a booster seat or the shoulder strap cannot engage to hold the passenger back. This is more of a problem in the front seats of most cars without belt or seat height adjustment.
• "Children are safe in back seat with just the waist belt", which is again wrong, it can tighten and cause immense damage to internal organs. Some older cars just have a 2 point seat belt for the middle seat.
• "Age is is a factor to decide on Booster and Child Seats", which is wrong, it's the child's height and weight that should decide the seat, much like medicine dosage.
• "Seat belts will save from accidents at any rate of speed", which is wrong, they are effective only till about 90 kph or maybe a bit more. This is why track cars have a 5 point seat belt setup. You need to dissipate that momentum over a larger contact area on a human body in case of a crash. Incidentally, so do child seats.

Coming to the article, they probably wanted the "most sensational" headline possible.

[for_cars1]

Originally Posted by arungeorge

seat belt damaged internal organs on the impact..

Its a known fact that the lap belt present in the rear middle seat comes with a high risk of slicing and ripping open the abdomen area or exerting enormous force and crushing the vital organs as all the force is concenrated on the lap belt during impact, unlike a 3 point seat belt where the impact forces are more evenly distributed and safer on the wearer.

Also the lap belt comes with a higher risk of causing back injurues as the entire upper torso lunges/ bends forward violently during impact. There is nothing holding the upper torso back like in the case of a 3 point seat belt.

Does that mean that the occupant should still wear a lap belt even with the above risks? Absolutely yes.
Not wearing the lap belt is significantly more riskier as the middle occupant will violently hit the dashboard or worse will go flying out through the windshield during an impact with fatal consequences.

PS. Not intending to say the occupant in this case was wearing a lap belt. In general a 3 point belt is significantly safer. The middle passenger has no choice but to wear the riskier lap belt.

[sparky@home]

Kochi: In broad day light, a car hit a pedestrian and carried him on bonnet for nearly 400 metres in Kochi city. In connection with the case, police nabbed the car driver Nahas (25), a native of Kacherippady. Wonder what was the taxi driver thinking when he did this.

Link: https://english.mathrubhumi.com/news...bbed-1.4065148

[Lobogris]

Originally Posted by ecenandu

Who is at fault?

Looks like the car driver got little distracted, it definitely took that turn a bit sharply. Haven't the bus driver turned that sharply, it would have hit the car. The bus is definitely over speeding, though.

At first, I thought the bus driver was at fault but having watched the clip a few times over, I can't put the whole blame on him.

Your thoughts?

All of the blame lies with the bus driver. A person should not take a sharp blind turn at a speed where he /she is unable to control their vehicle. Any kind of obstruction can be there on the other side. This is even more true when driving a large vehicle full of passengers.

[india008]

Happened to see this new Baleno near kavali, on my way to Ongole. No information about any causalities or how this happened.

[HappyWheels]

Originally Posted by hserus

Not happy about this one - it infringes the privacy of the passengers.

Public transport hence a "public" place, so do not expect privacy.

[ada]

Originally Posted by vb-san

While in Kerala couple of weeks back…

Good repair work. What is this magic wipe?

[phamilyman]

Originally Posted by Ramon

A 7 year old kid shouldn't have been put directly on the seat. A forward facing child seat or atleast a booster seat should have been used to position the child correctly on the seat and then seat belt should have been used.

I have seen many kids - even as young as 3-4 years of age put on seats with seat belts with good intentions by parents.

All those are accidents waiting to happen - even in the case of a simple hard braking.

What we need is more awareness on correct use of safety equipment along with enforcement of safety devices.

http://pricetheory.uchicago.edu/levi...ltSolution.pdf

Not very sure how we are hypothesizing EITHER ways in the absence of clear medical data - its a very sad case but needs to be fully understood.

That said, I fully agree that a simple seat belt with the belt crossing the child's chest at the right height is key. That is frankly the cost of a clever strap and nothing more than that. This strap that comes with booster seats is what ensures the safety really

But yes, in an ideal world - nothing like a car seat for the child's comfort AND safety. I don't necessarily think it adds much more to safety for kids of this age.

[for_cars1]

Originally Posted by india008

...this new Baleno near kavali..

From the pics, clearly the rear passenger did not wear seat belt and slammed onto the front seat during impact dislodging it and putting the front passenger at higher risk.

High time all front seat occupants insist that those at their rear belt up.

[airbus]

Bengaluru - Four killed, five hurt in road accident on way to Nandi Hills

The birthday celebrations of a 26-year-old youth ended in tragedy when he and three of his friends were killed in a road accident while they were heading to Nandi Hills. Five others who were in their SUV were injured.

According to the police, the driver — one of the friends — who was allegedly speeding lost control and the vehicle overturned. The incident occurred near Handarahalli Cross at Devanahalli around 3 a.m. on Saturday.

[Lambydude]

Boy, 7 , killed when truck collided with Alturas G4. While the blame is on side airbags not getting activated. A neutral person can see that it could be not using child seat/ booster seat. This kid is the grandson of Duroflex Pvt Ltd chairman.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/m.times...w/70811876.cms

[haria]

Originally Posted by hserus

Not happy about this one - it infringes the privacy of the passengers.

A friend of mine who runs a private bus service, says that cops are strongly recommending CCTV with inside view footage as there are too many incidents ( genuine as well as fake) of groping/sexual harassment in a bus.

In many cases, the conductor is penalized and the bus owner has to cough up money to settle the issue, even if the conductor is innocent. Having a footage will exonerate the crew in fake cases and also will give conclusive proof if they are guilty.



There is a thin line here - a bus is considered as a public place. For the safety of the passengers, as well as the crew, it might be a necessary thing. This is akin to having CCTV cameras in malls, shops, roads, etc.

[supremeBaleno]

Originally Posted by ninjatalli

Btw that wasn't a minor accident; looking at the state of the car. I'm sure high speeds and lack of complete attention was in the fray, so I don't think it is right to pin everything on the seat belts alone.

Last Friday afternoon while driving from Cochin to Kollam, I saw both the truck and the SUV. Given the cops & the crowd and stopped vehicles, I thought the accident had just happened, but as per newspaper it happened around 3:30AM.

The truck was parked on the left side of the road with it's front driver side bottom badly damaged pointing to a hi-speed collision - given the time of accident, guessing either of the drivers dozed off or an overtaking manouvre gone wrong - this is a 1-lane-each-way medianless stretch of NH.

The SUV was parked quite some distance away off the road, with it's front totally smashed - couldn't recognize the car given the fleeting glance - I thought it's either a Marazzo or Alturas.

Originally Posted by VKumar

Was the child in the middle row? If yes, I am unsure if he was actually belted or not

As per news report, kid was in middle row and belted.

Originally Posted by Lambydude

Boy, 7 , killed when truck collided with Alturas G4. While the blame is on side airbags not getting activated. A neutral person can see that it could be not using child seat/ booster seat. This kid is the grandson of Duroflex Pvt Ltd chairman.

This is the same accident.

Really feel sad about the kid and the family. :(