Only 1 in 5 Passengers Wear Rear Seat Belts... "Now Mandatory"

7.4 Times Higher Death Rate from Non-Wearing Incidents

[Image source=Yonhap News]

A survey revealed that the rear seat seatbelt usage rate is only around 18%. Since the risk of fatal traffic accidents increases by 7.4 times when not wearing a seatbelt, it is essential to always wear one.

According to the industry on the 29th, Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance Traffic Safety Culture Research Institute analyzed the seatbelt usage rates of the driver’s seat, front passenger seat, and rear seat using the automatic seatbelt detection system installed at Daewang Pangyo Tollgate from May to August. The analysis of 110,739 vehicles showed that the rear seat seatbelt usage rate was only 17.7%, significantly lower than the 80.4% usage rate for vehicles with a solo driver.

In particular, the more passengers there were, the lower the rear seat seatbelt usage rate became. When one person was seated in the rear seat, the seatbelt usage rate was 19.8%, but it dropped to 11.4% when two people were seated. When three people were seated, none wore seatbelts.

Operation of the rear seat seatbelt detection system through an artificial intelligence (AI) camera (Provided by Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance)

Especially, many occupants involved in fatal traffic accidents were not wearing seatbelts. An analysis of traffic accident data from the National Police Agency from 2018 to 2022 by the Samsung Traffic Safety Culture Research Institute showed that 14% of occupants in fatal traffic accidents (excluding bicycles, motorcycles, electric kickboards, cargo trucks, etc.) were not wearing seatbelts. This is 7.4 times higher than the 1.9% non-usage rate in all traffic accidents.

As vehicles are expected to be congested on the way home for holidays, the importance of wearing rear seat seatbelts is emphasized. Drivers should develop the habit of checking whether passengers are wearing seatbelts. It was also stressed that infants and toddlers in car seats must be securely fastened with seatbelts.

Institutional improvements are also needed. For example, the warning sound duration for seatbelt non-usage should be extended from the current 30 seconds to 60 seconds or more. Joonhan Cho, senior researcher at the Samsung Traffic Safety Culture Research Institute, said, "Since September 2018, wearing seatbelts in all vehicle seats on all roads has been mandatory, but the rear seat seatbelt usage rate remains very low at around 10%. Especially during the Chuseok holiday period, when long-distance driving is frequent due to homecoming and returning trips, accidents caused by driver negligence such as fatigue, drowsy driving, and drunk driving often occur. To protect the lives of family members from preventable accidents, drivers must ensure that family members or acquaintances riding with them are wearing seatbelts."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.