5 ms·

Survivorship bias alert - it could be that the guy who got killed by his seat belt never lived to tell his story. Do seat belts save lives? They do, we know th

by DenisM 17y ago

Survivorship bias alert - it could be that the guy who got killed by his seat belt never lived to tell his story. Do seat belts save lives? They do, we know this from statistics and controlled tests. However there is no way infer this data from an anecdote. In other words you used faulty reasoning to arrive at a correct conclusion.

gridspy 17y ago
Everyone can see that my post is just an anecdote. My point wasn't so much that seatbelts save lives as much as "you too might be in a crash through no fault of your own." Note, that is also obvious from statistics, but perhaps not intuitively. I seriously doubt that a seatbelt would cause more damage than the lack of one in all but the most extraordinary of cases. A poorly fitted seatbelt might, or perhaps late in pregnancy. However the damage caused by leaving your seat and colliding almost randomly with the car seems more extreme. Some interesting reading: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seat_belt http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seat_belt One data point that backs you up: The UK extended compulsory seatbelt wearing to child passengers under the age of 14 in 1989. It was observed that this measure was accompanied by a 10% increase in fatalities and a 12% increase in injuries among the target population.[19] In crashes, small children who wear adult seatbelts can suffer "seat-belt syndrome" injuries including severed intestines, ruptured diaphragms and spinal damage. There is also research suggesting that children in inappropriate restraints are at significantly increased risk of head injury,[20] one of the authors of this research has been quoted as claiming that "The early graduation of kids into adult lap and shoulder belts is a leading cause of child-occupant injuries and deaths."[21] As a result of such findings, many jurisdictions now advocate or require child passengers to use specially designed child restraints.

by DenisM 17y ago

gridspy 17y ago

Everyone can see that my post is just an anecdote. My point wasn't so much that seatbelts save lives as much as "you too might be in a crash through no fault of your own." Note, that is also obvious from statistics, but perhaps not intuitively. I seriously doubt that a seatbelt would cause more damage than the lack of one in all but the most extraordinary of cases. A poorly fitted seatbelt might, or perhaps late in pregnancy. However the damage caused by leaving your seat and colliding almost randomly with the car seems more extreme. Some interesting reading: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seat_belt http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seat_belt One data point that backs you up: The UK extended compulsory seatbelt wearing to child passengers under the age of 14 in 1989. It was observed that this measure was accompanied by a 10% increase in fatalities and a 12% increase in injuries among the target population.[19] In crashes, small children who wear adult seatbelts can suffer "seat-belt syndrome" injuries including severed intestines, ruptured diaphragms and spinal damage. There is also research suggesting that children in inappropriate restraints are at significantly increased risk of head injury,[20] one of the authors of this research has been quoted as claiming that "The early graduation of kids into adult lap and shoulder belts is a leading cause of child-occupant injuries and deaths."[21] As a result of such findings, many jurisdictions now advocate or require child passengers to use specially designed child restraints.