Body Story

• Seatbelts

• Airbags

• Safer cars

• The future

Britain has the safest roads in Europe. Yet 3,400 people die on our roads each year.

With the right accessories and the right car, you can improve your chances of surviving an accident.

• Seatbelts
The compulsory wearing of seatbelts in the front of a car was introduced 1983. Since then, the Transport Research Laboratory estimates that 370 lives have been saved each year, and 7,000 people a year have been spared serious injury.

Rear seatbelts, the wearing of which was made compulsory in 1991, are equally important. In a crash at 30mph (48kph), an adult sitting in the rear seat will be thrown forward with a force of 3.5 tonnes.

• Airbags
Airbags reduce the likelihood of serious injury by preventing the driver's and the front passenger's head and body from hitting the steering wheel, dashboard or windscreen. Airbags are operated by controlled explosives. When a vehicle travelling at more than a certain speed has an accident, a sensor triggers the airbag and an igniter activates compressed gas capsules, which will inflate the bag with gas within a second.

But airbags have not been without their problems. Early models went off in very low-speed crashes, or where there had been no impact at all, sometimes with fatal results. But smart airbags are now becoming available. These can vary the rate and direction of deployment depending on the speed of the impact and the position of the occupant. Smart airbags can also detect whether there is a child seat in the front of the car.

• Safer cars
The weight of a car is important in an accident. When a heavy car hits a lighter car, it will decelerate less and receive less damage. In addition, larger cars are safer, because they have more internal space and they are likely to have a larger engine compartment, which, in a head-on collision, will absorb more of the impact.

According to research carried out by the Consumers Association last year, the safest car on the market in the UK is the Mercedes E Class. But it is possible to find safer cars in all sizes and price ranges. The Consumers Association also singled out the following:

Supermini: Ford Fiesta and VW Polo

Small family cars: Ford Focus and Toyota Corolla

Large family cars: Volvo S40/V40, Audi A4 and Saab 9-3

Mini MPVs: Renault Scenic

• The future
Technology is constantly improving the security of our cars. Crumple zones, which reduce injuries to occupants by absorbing some of the force of a crash, are now common, as are side-impact bars. And manufacturers are now working on cars that will be able to predict driver behaviour and override a driver who tries to make a dangerous manoeuvre. Amber-gamblers, beware: one day you could be told off by your Ford Fiesta.

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