How to protect yourself from injury
Many drivers blindly trust their vehicle's safety systems and underestimate the little things. These include, for example, incorrect adjustment of the seat and headrest, which can lead to serious spinal injuries.
Modern cars have many systems to avoid serious impacts or reduce their consequences. ABS and ESP are part of active safety, and airbags are part of passive. Often overlooked is one everyday danger that can lead to painful consequences - a small bump at low speed. He is to blame for most of the injuries. Injuries can be caused by the design of the seat and improper adjustment.
Injuries to the spinal column occur when it is sharply twisted. For example, when hitting a car from behind, the head is suddenly thrown back. But the curvature of the spine is not always short. According to doctors, the degree of injury is three. The lightest of these is comparable to muscle fever, which occurs in the muscles of the neck and resolves after a few days. In the second stage, bleeding occurs and treatment takes several weeks. The most severe are cases of nerve damage, resulting in long-term injury, and treatment can last up to a year.
The severity of injuries depends not only on the speed of impact, but also on the design of the seat and its adjustments that passengers make. While these injuries are common, not all car seats are optimized in this regard.
According to doctors, the main problem is the headrest, which is set too far from the head. Thus, when hitting the back of the head, it does not immediately rest on the head restraint, but travels a certain distance before stopping in it. Otherwise, the head restraints cannot be adjusted sufficiently in height without reaching the correct position in relation to the higher rails. On impact, they meet the top of the neck.
When designing seating, it is important to capture kinetic energy. The seat should not swing the body back and forth with the springs. But the attitude of the driver and passengers to the seat is also very important. In most cases, a few seconds are enough to reduce the risk of injury. According to experts, more and more people are thinking about using a seat belt, but not many of them adjust the backrests and head restraints correctly.
The headrest should be positioned at head height and the distance between them should be as small as possible. It is also necessary to monitor the correct sitting position. The backrest should be as vertical as possible, if possible. Then its protective effect, together with the headrest, will be maximized. Height-adjustable straps should run just above your shoulder.
You don't have to look very far or very close to sit next to the steering wheel. The ideal distance to the handlebar is when the crease of your wrist is on top of the handlebar with your arm outstretched. Shoulders should rest on the seat. The distance to the pedals should be such that the foot is slightly bent when the clutch pedal is depressed. The height of the seat should be such that all instruments are easy to read.
Passengers can rely on other safety systems only if these conditions are met.
