In a passenger car, the most dangerous place is. Where is the safest place for a passenger in the car? Alternative expert opinions

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The constantly increasing number of car collisions even on city streets where maximum speed movement is limited, makes many people think about where the most safe place in car. Especially such questions are of concern to parents transporting their children.

But many adult passengers, especially those who have been participants in small (seemingly) road accidents, try to take, let's say, the safest position.

Unfortunately, on high-speed road sections, for example, on federal highways, the force of collisions is such that both the driver and passengers receive not only injuries incompatible with life, but even cars are damaged so that it is difficult to determine their model, and passengers have to be removed from the passenger compartment using special equipment.

But let's not exaggerate - in most of the collisions that take place on the streets, you can protect yourself quite well, or rather, the passengers of the car.

All car models, since the late 90s, are already equipped with security systems in one way or another.

Car body

Power structure of the car body

The body of a passenger car is a supporting structure, that is, even its facing parts (door linings, hood, trunk lid, etc.) already have a certain rigidity by themselves. Unfortunately, the thickness of the metal of the car body is such that, in the absence of amplifiers, it would have the strength and rigidity of a cardboard box.

Therefore, the body has spars- amplifiers with greater metal thickness.

In addition, the claddings are also reinforced with metal profiles, pipes and the like. Bumper dampers have the greatest "impact resistance", but, unfortunately, not on all cars.

When testing a new model of a car, crash tests are necessarily carried out, with a human dummy in the cabin. If a car does not meet certain requirements, it does not receive a certificate authorizing its production.

Despite this, the body of a conventional passenger car tends to deform strongly in tangential and side impacts.

Although auto designers do not abandon their attempts to make car bodies safe for passengers in accidents. For example, leading manufacturers, when creating rigid body elements, use the method of the so-called programmed deformation - when a part is crumpled upon impact so that it absorbs the collision energy, preventing it from spreading into the interior.

Passenger airbags

Complete set of car airbags

The figure shows the car interior, which is maximally equipped with airbags for passengers.

Side airbags protect passengers from impacts against hard interior parts, including glass and roof pillars. However, the photo clearly demonstrates where airbags... On some cars, pillows are even sewn into the outer side surfaces of the seats - to prevent hitting the door in a side collision.

The driver's airbag is located under the trim in the steering wheel housing.

Seat belt anchor

Car Seat Belt Retainer

The standard inertial design of the seat belt anchor (pretensioner) is too "slow". There are real cases when, in a collision, the driver hit his head on the upper right corner of the windshield, earning himself a concussion.

Now, on many cars with "expensive" equipment, a retainer is installed that holds the lever to which the belt buckle is attached, using an igniter, a signal to which is sent from a triggered shock sensor - just like airbags are triggered.

From sudden braking, the shock sensor transmits a signal to the squib of the seat belt anchorage, which instantly engages the seat belt lock.

This mechanism for activating the seat belt lock is similar to activating the airbags in the passenger compartment.

This design will not allow the passenger (or driver) to "fly out" of the seat, instantly pressing him to the back of the seat.

In any case, the use of a seat belt in many emergencies saves the lives of many people.

What is the safest place in the car

The safest place in the car

Children are the most vulnerable in a car. Therefore, the traffic police introduced new rules for transporting children in a car. And yet, despite the use of child seats or special restraints, about 26% of children are seriously injured, especially from side impacts. This happens due to the proximity of the child (especially his head) to solid objects.

The conclusion suggests itself: a child seat or other restraint should be installed at the maximum distance from interior objects that could injure (glass, roof pillars, front seat backs).

That is, the safest place in the car for a child will be the middle seat in the back seat of the car. Moreover, if there are not enough standard belts to fasten the chair, you should not try to lengthen them yourself - there are special devices with reliable fasteners on sale for such cases.

However, for an adult passenger the same place in the car will be the safest. Do not forget about the presence of head restraints - in order to avoid a neck fracture in the event of a rear impact.

The most dangerous places in a car, sitting next to and behind the driver can be considered.

In the first case, with the threat of an oncoming collision, the driver, avoiding the danger, can instinctively "substitute" the passenger.

In the second, when entering a busy section of the road, when turning left, the driver may not calculate the speed of the flow of cars and the car runs the risk of colliding with the back left side with a car moving in a straight line.

If violated by the driver traffic rules"Hindrance on the right" Passengers sitting on the right side of the vehicle, both front and rear, may be injured.

Perhaps, many parents have thought at least once about where it is safest to seat a child in a car. After all, even the very presence child seat is not a guarantee of safety, and a lot depends on where it is located in the car.

In this article, we will try to find out what place in the car can be considered the safest and what precautions should be taken in general when transporting a child in a car.

What can be considered the safest place in a car and why

To cover this topic, we need to understand from the very beginning what should be considered a safe place for a child in a car. It is known that any car is subject to deformation in the event of a serious road accident (collision, overturn, etc.). In order to reduce the threat to the lives of passengers, manufacturers passenger cars are trying to create a kind of "safety capsule" around the riders, that is, to reduce the effect of deformation overloads on the power cell of the body in the area of the passenger compartment.

Based on this, speaking of the safest place, it can be determined that it is located where the risk of traumatic overloads and deformation of the body panels is minimal. In essence, this is a certain point where the chances of surviving an accident are greater than any other.

Many motorists are sure that to ensure safety, it is enough to put the child in the back row of seats, they say, the threat to life and health there is minimal. Of course, in a frontal collision, this statement is partly true, but do not forget about the possibility of a side impact, as well as a car overturn.

The safest place in the car for a child seat according to statistics

So, let's try to find out what is the safest place in the car for a child according to the statistics of real traffic accidents.

It is known that for a long time there has been a debate about where the little passenger will be least at risk. Some have argued that the safest seat is in the back row directly behind the driver. Supporters of this thesis said that, they say, the driver, seeing the danger in front of him, instinctively tries to divert the blow from himself, and the collision occurs in the right side of the car.

Other researchers argued that, on the contrary, it is safest for a child to be behind the passenger seat. However, in one and the other case, the risk of a side collision was not taken into account, when the passenger is in any case exposed to an increased risk due to deformation of the car doorways.

The emergence of an advanced system of independent crash tests has allowed researchers and engineers involved in the design of safety systems to determine the safest place for a child in a car much more accurately.

In addition, these data were derived from the statistics of real road traffic accidents. So, in 2006, researchers from the state of New York (USA) conducted comprehensive studies on this issue. As part of the work to identify the safest places, an analysis of statistical data on real accidents that occurred in the period from 2000 to 2003 was carried out.

As a result, it was found that the risk of injury to the child is minimal, provided that he sits in the back center seat. Overall, the safety level was higher by 15 to 25 percent compared to other locations.

This state of affairs is fully reinforced technical features car. In the center rear seat, there is less risk of injury due to deformation of the body, both in side collisions and when the car rolls over, when the main load falls, again, on the doorways and roof sidewalls.

That is, it is in the rear center of the passenger compartment that the greatest amount of living space is preserved. Of course, this statement is justified only on the condition that the little passenger is in a child seat and is fastened with standard restraints.

Unfortunately, in practice, there are often situations when parents neglect these precautions, referring to the fact that the child is "uncomfortable" or "unusual" to sit with the seat belts fastened. In such a situation, on the contrary, the risk of getting injuries incompatible with life increases many times, and not only in the event of a traffic accident, but even emergency braking. The child is simply not able to stay in place and can get injuries that are dangerous to life and health, even in a very harmless traffic situation.

It must be said that these studies have confirmed the safety of the central seat on the back seat, both for placing a child seat and for boarding a teenager who can already be in a vehicle without an appropriate restraint, as well as for an adult passenger.

However, from a purely practical point of view, this place is also the least convenient in most modern cars. Exception from general rule only minivans serve, in which three separate chairs can be placed in the back row. In addition, on a number of modern cars, including executive class sedans and, there is no "central" place at all - it is "left to the mercy" of an armrest, a minibar or other comfort systems.

Nevertheless, many budget and family cars have Isofix mounts, which allow the installation of a child seat in the center. In addition, many cars are positioned in the form of a transverse strap for the central passenger. In this case, the placement of a child seat there for a toddler or teenager seems to be the most desirable from a safety point of view.

Sign "Child in the car"

Along with the question of what place in the car is the safest for the child, motorists are often interested in whether the sign "Child in the car" is necessary on the vehicle itself.

Of course, the presence of the sign "Child in the car" is not regulated by the traffic rules (its presence is provided only for buses involved in the transportation of children), but, nevertheless, it would be very useful to explain the features of its use for motorists.

When and where the "Child in the car" sign was invented is not known for certain. According to one version, the appearance of such information signs dates back to children's toys that American and European motorists in the 40s-50s of the twentieth century placed on a shelf in front of the rear window of a vehicle. Later, special designations with the image of babies appeared.

In our country, the sign "Child in the car" appeared relatively recently and is a yellow rhombus with the image of a baby. It is usually located on rear glass vehicle. This designation does not give the motorist any advantages in movement, however, it is intended to inform the rest of the participants road traffic about finding a young passenger in cars.

Is it worth installing this kind of sign on a car? It's up to the parents to decide, of course. However, from a security point of view, such a step is entirely justified. Real-world observations show that a car with this designation attracts additional attention from other motorists.

The presence of the sign can lead to the fact that motorists will keep their distance, cut the car less. Of course, there are no real statistics on the effectiveness of such designations, and there have been no separate studies on this issue.

However, a number of social surveys conducted among motorists show that drivers are becoming more attentive to a car with a sign and often change their own way of driving next to a vehicle that bears the sign “Child in the car”.

It is quite logical that such a sign should not be neglected, and it is also advisable to hang it on the rear window of the car in which you plan to transport the baby most often.

Since the sign "Child in the car" is not mandatory from the point of view of traffic rules, there are no strict regulations for the purchase of this information sticker. Based on this, the sign can be purchased not only in the store. In particular, the sign "Child in the car" can be downloaded on the Internet and simply printed, then placed under the glass.

Based on the foregoing, a kind of conclusion can be drawn by presenting a list of recommendations for transporting a child in a car. So, when transporting a baby in a car, you should adhere to following rules:

place a child restraint (seat) in the safest area of the passenger compartment, that is, in the central place of the rear sofa of the car;
v mandatory fasten the child regular belts child seat;
before boarding, check the reliability of the seat fixation;
stick the sign "Child in the car" on the rear window of the car;
when driving a car, try not to violate speed mode, apply smooth acceleration and deceleration;
turn off the standard airbags in the area where the child seat is located.

As you can see, these safety requirements are very simple. By using them, you can ensure the maximum level of safety when transporting your child.

Unfortunately, cars often crash. Therefore, it is not difficult to collect statistics on accidents with victims and victims. However, experts have found an interesting pattern. It turns out that there is the safest place in the car. Let's find out where it is.

It will not be possible to answer the question unambiguously. It is often said that, according to statistics, the safest place in the car is located immediately behind driver's seat... However, in the case of a lateral road accident to the left, this zone suffers the most. In addition, with the threat of a frontal impact, the driver intuitively turns to the right, substituting this side.

Thus, the result fundamentally depends on a number of parameters:

age of the car;
the presence of seat belts on all seats;
the nature of the collision and so on.

Therefore, we will analyze all the places in the car and determine how dangerous they are in a given situation. So you can understand where the safest place in the car is.

Front seat next to the driver

Traditionally, experts recognize it as the most dangerous. The passenger, like the driver, suffers the most from head-on collisions - the most fatal in road accidents.

Also, when turning left, a vehicle driving straight ahead can hit this area. Such accidents lead to equally serious consequences.

In an effort to reduce the risk of a driver's right shoulder seat, car manufacturers are equipping this area with airbags. But they cannot always preserve health and even life. And sometimes they themselves cripple.

Behind the driver

Previously, this chair was unambiguously recognized as the best. Consider why the safest place behind the driver is.

It is well protected from head-to-head crashes.
The driver, out of a sense of self-preservation, is more likely to expose the right side (with a left-hand drive car) under impact.
The place is protected in collisions at an intersection after turning left.
Strikes to the rear of the car are considered less dangerous, because the trunk will take the brunt of the blow.

Nevertheless, statistics show that the judgment about the safety of the driver's seat is erroneous. It will not help in side collisions. In addition, the driver, defending his life, can substitute not only the right, but also the left side. This place is also closer to the "oncoming" than the adjacent chair.

Behind the front passenger

This place is slightly ahead of the previous option in terms of its safety. It is further from the "oncoming". Consequently, frontal impacts will harm the passenger less. Such chairs are usually chosen by guarded persons. But this does not guarantee 100% safety. Accidents when turning to the right and other side collisions often lead to serious injury and death of passengers sitting diagonally from the driver.

Back in the middle

According to recent studies, this is where the safest place. But this cannot be said unequivocally. Indeed, for the safety of the chair, the following conditions must be met:

equipping with seat belts;
a headrest to prevent a neck fracture in an accident;
requires sufficient space from the front seats for a comfortable leg position.

When these conditions are met, the site is 16% safer than any other.

How to properly install a child seat in the car

Almost all experts agree that the safest place for a child in a car is the middle seat in the back row.

The device is mounted according to several principles. Look for a red or blue mark on the body of the chair. The belts pass through the first zone during landing in the direction of travel. Through the blue mark - when the child is sitting against the movement.

Isofix fastening system

The design can be applied to any configuration car seat... The fixation takes place by connecting Isofix locks and metal hinges installed in the factory seat. Reliability is provided by its strength and the fact that when this way it is almost impossible to make a mistake at the time of installation.

However, with the Isofix method, only the lower part of the seat is fixed. To avoid injury after nodding, it is recommended to attach anchor straps. This option is considered the most reliable.

Installing a car seat using a standard belt

The procedure is not complicated. The best place for such a chair is the middle of the back row.

The standard belt is pulled back by a meter.
An armchair fits into this area.
After checking the stability of the seat, insert the belt into the suitable straps (blue or red).
Next, the device is tightened with a standard tape.

When installing the chair, it is better to put the child in it. In this way, possible errors will be understood in advance.

Belt and retainer

The latter accessory prevents loosening of the connection. The belts lose tension with prolonged driving. Therefore, the design ceases to be reliable. Belt tensioners are designed to combat this problem.

Additional seat belts

Parents use the anchor most often. Such extra belts pass through the back of the seat and are attached from above. As a result, in the event of an accident, the baby will not topple forward with the device under the action of inertia.

Summing up, several important points can be highlighted:

the safest place in the car for a child is in the back in the middle;
it is necessary to use restraints in compliance with the rules for their attachment;
if the child seat is located in the area of the airbags, it is better to deactivate them.

Expert opinions

The position of the professionals on seating differs dramatically in different countries... For example, Australians claim that the safest place for a passenger in a car is on the side of the driver. In new modern cars high-quality belts, soft pillows are installed that will not break a person's nose or neck.

For Russians who use 10, 15 and 20-year-old foreign cars or domestic cars, the best choice the seat is one of the rear seats.

Conclusion

And yet, not a single passenger car will give 100% guarantees. Cars get into such accidents that their bodies are simply torn into small parts. It is impossible to escape in such accidents. So the best way taking care of your own safety means observing traffic rules and refraining from driving in extreme conditions.

Many people believe that in a car it is best to sit behind the driver, because during an accident his instinct is triggered - trying to save himself, the driver turns the steering wheel so as to avoid the impact as safely as possible. It turns out that the passenger sitting behind him will receive the least damage. Is it so?

In 2009, American scientists at the University of Buffalo examined accident data for 2003-2006 and concluded that the rear seats were 80% safer than the front ones. Moreover, the rear center seat is generally 25% safer than the outer ones.

The explanation is simple - average backseat protected from the rear by the trunk, on the sides it has the maximum distance from the doors, and in the front, through the salon, there are engine compartment... Therefore, it has more space for protection against crushing, and the centrifugal force acting on the passenger during rotation is less at this place. For maximum safety, a person should be strapped in so as not to fly into windshield upon collision. In addition, the seat must have a head restraint, otherwise, with sudden braking, the passenger risks spinal injury.

Various car models were tested in a wide variety of configurations (including), the influence of weather conditions and the age of the drivers were taken into account, but even if all negative factors coincided, the middle back seat remained at least 16% safer than the rest of the seats in the car.

This statement is also confirmed by the fact that most of the officials during trips sit in the back, diagonally from the driver, and are surrounded by accompanying persons.

This rule applies only to standard configuration passenger cars.

In cars with three rows of seats, the safest seat is in the middle of the center row.

Alternative points of view also have a right to exist. So Russian experts say that the safest place in a car is passenger seat for the driver, but Australian experts disagree. In their opinion, during an accident, the least likely to be injured is a person sitting on front seat next to the driver. The fact is that last years auto manufacturers pay Special attention safety of this particular place - they are equipped with additional airbags and modified belts, which significantly reduces the risk of serious injury in an accident.

The last statement is true only for new car models. If we take into account cars produced before the mid-90s, then the back seat remains the safest in them.

Where is the best place to install a child seat?

The safety of children is the main concern of every parent. Where to install or to keep little passengers as safe as possible?

It is best to secure the seat in the middle of the rear seat and secure the child with the three-point harness. If, in an accident, the blow falls to the side, the child will be as far from the epicenter as possible, but if the collision is head-on, then a blow to the back is excluded front seat... According to statistics, children receive 26% of severe injuries in side accidents, 16% in a head-on collision and 16% in a car overturns.

Besides safety, installation child seat in the center allows the parent sitting behind the wheel to see the child in the rear-view mirror, and when turning the head. While it is extremely difficult to control the baby sitting behind the driver.

In the video, you can hear the opinion of a specialist on this issue:

Most motorists are convinced that in the event of an accident, the passenger sitting in the back row directly behind the driver's seat will be the safest. However, there are other opinions on this score, which are not unfounded.

It is generally accepted that in a head-on collision, the driver, obeying the instincts of self-preservation, will certainly maneuver in such a way as to get himself out of the blow. unsafe place there will be a front passenger seat in the car. On the other hand, a passenger who takes a seat behind the driver is, as it were, exposed to a deliberately lower risk. Indeed, the rear row is generally considered safer than the front seats. In frontal impacts, its inhabitants (in comparison with those sitting in front) have an additional reserve of space that will allow them to survive. And in case of a collision, the passengers of the second row are protected by the trunk area.

However, there are side collisions, and in this case, the outermost seats on the couch are no better than the front seats. Therefore, the most universally safe place will be in the middle of the rear row - of course, with a central headrest.

Meanwhile, there is also an alternative point of view. In particular, in Australia some time ago, studies were carried out that showed that in the case of modern cars the safest place would be a chair front passenger: They say that current technologies like airbags and seat belts with pretensioners significantly reduce the risk of injury. But this does not apply to technically outdated models released in the nineties of the last century and earlier.

As for public transport, then on a bus or trolleybus it is best to sit at the central aisle in the right lane. The logic here is this: if you sit by the window, then in an accident you can get hurt by glass fragments, and the left side of the bus is more likely to end up in an unsafe oncoming lane than the right.

The safest place in the car to install a child car seat

Baby car seats are the subject of controversy on almost any issue, from the need to install and use them to where they are best placed in the car. Moreover, there are quite a few versions, and each person who has his own point of view on this, defends it. Experts, using various crash tests, determined the safest places in the car where you can put a child seat and not worry about the consequences.

The statistics are very diverse, but still I would like to hear an official answer from representatives of those in power. According to Russian law, small and not very toddlers under 12 years of age must be transported exclusively in a car seat (otherwise a fine!). But where to install it, there are no clear instructions, the parent must resolve this issue on his own. Five years ago, within the framework of the All-Russian project "Small Big Passenger", the following recommendation was issued: "The safest place is in the middle of the rear seat, that is, in the center of the car." Although some European experts on child car injuries are of the opinion that driving in a car is a dangerous thing in any case. Therefore, whatever position you choose, the main thing is that everyone is comfortable. Even with a car seat, the danger is also great, it's just that the percentage varies.

In order for the children to occupy the truly safest place in the car, it is necessary to take into account the age and category of the seat purchased:

Carrycot chairs for the smallest (categories 0 and 0+) are recommended to be installed on the back seat, with the headboard away from the door. In this case, the cradle is perpendicular to the movement of the vehicle. If the mother is driving, then often this type of car seat for babies is fixed on the front passenger seat, but against the course of the car. The harness should be below the child's shoulder and there should be no airbag.
Both front and rear seats of categories 1, 2, 3 can be fixed. For the first, a five-point belt is required. Children in this case sit in the direction of the car. The only difference is in fixing the main belt (for 1 - slightly above shoulder level, for 2 - through the center of the shoulder).
Boosters (the third category of seats) do not have a back and side walls.

It must be remembered that the safest place in the car to install child car seat will be truly safe only if the seat of any category is correctly installed and fixed.

Fastening the car seat to the front passenger seat

Statistics inexorably reiterates to adults that this option is the most unsafe for transporting not only children, but also any passenger. This is explained by the fact that in case of imminent danger, the driver, as a rule, takes vehicle to the left to avoid collision. Accordingly, the right front corner of the machine is the first to be exposed to impact.

In a head-on collision, the child will also be in imminent danger, especially if the airbag is deployed. Therefore, it is impossible to call this option of fixing a child car seat “the safest place in a car in an accident”. Although there are still advantages: it is convenient for the mother to observe how the baby behaves, he is in the field of vision and on the "short arm".

The location of the car seat in the back seat behind the passenger on the right

Encouraging statistics suggest that this option is very acceptable. The seat on the rear right has the least impacts in an accident, because it is located from the oncoming traffic in the opposite corner. To make it convenient for parents to see their child (after all, it is almost impossible in the rear-view mirror), you can install an additional mirror in the car. This will make it easier to follow the actions of the little passenger. The pros don't stop there. Right side- the safest place in the car in the sense that it will be correct to seat the baby and land it from the sidewalk, rather than the roadway.

Behind the driver, the child is safe - myth debunked

For a long time, it was believed that children should sit exactly on the back left. This is true in three ways:

As a rule, the manufacturers of most car brands make the left side more durable.
In the event of an accident, the driver automatically removes his left side from the impact.
In the rear-view mirror, what the child is doing is perfectly visible. And the accompanying person in the front passenger seat can easily reach the baby in this position with his hand.

But there are also three components that indicate that behind the driver is not the safest place in the car for a child in a seat:

Children have to sit and drop off not from the sidewalk, but in the immediate vicinity of the roadway.
In addition, the oncoming traffic flow is located very close to this place.
In the event of any problems with the child, it is difficult for the driver, who is alone in the car, to reach the seat behind him on the move.

Favorite for the safety of the location of the child seat - the golden mean

Listening to advice like domestic experts, and foreign, it is best to seat your precious child directly in the middle of the back seat sofa. If you visually imagine the location of the child seat inside the car exactly in the back, in the middle, then it is obvious how much free space around it.

In an accident, the seat is 16% safer (based on University of Buffalo case studies) than all other child seat positions. This is really, if not the safest place in the car for a child seat, then definitely to the greatest extent among the above variations. It is surrounded by space that is not compressed in a collision (including lateral on both sides).

How to place children in a car if there are several of them

In many vehicles, the middle rear seat is not adapted to accommodate a car seat (for example, due to the integrated folding armrest). In addition, if there are three children in a family, then it will be problematic to place three car seats in an average car at once. Two children are best placed in the back seat as close to the center as possible. Or, you can act according to the principle: the younger, the more you need to secure the baby's trip. Therefore, parents should rationally decide where there will be the safest seats in the car for each of the little passengers.