A RETROSPECTIVE ANALYSIS OF CHEST INJURIES IN 280 SEAT-BELT WEARERS

The purpose of the present study was to analyse the factors which caused the fatal outcome of 207 seat belt wearers, a chest injury being recorded as the main cause of death. The control material consisted of 73 seat belt wearers who sustained severe chest injury in the same kind of traffic accidents. The basic material consisted of 3,468 traffic accidents investigated by the Boards of Traffic Accidents Investigation of Insurance Companies in Finland. In the group of fatally injured victims drivers outnumbered passengers statistically (p less than 0. 01), this being the case especially in frontal impact collisions. In those frontal crashes the part of the car causing injury was the steering wheel in 28. 6% of the cases, but in lateral collisions the injury was in 4. 8% due to impact by steering wheel (p less than 0. 001). Improving the constructions of steering assembly and strengthening side panels of the cars can be considered one of the main priorities in the prevention of fatal chest injuries.