New global guidelines to boost the use of life-saving safety restraints in vehicles

The World Health Organization [WHO], the FIA Foundation and other partners have launched an updated manual to help decision makers boost the use of life-saving vehicle occupant restraints, such as seat-belts and car seats for babies and children.

‘We’re seeing a rising tide of motorization in many low and middle-income countries,’ notes WHO Road Safety Specialist Dr Meleckidzedeck Khayesi. ‘Vehicles are proliferating much faster than populations are growing, so life-saving safety restraints must be taken up now.’

Seat-belts have saved more lives than any other road safety intervention in history, reducing deaths among vehicle occupants in crashes by up to 50%. Child safety restraints have been shown to reduce deaths in crashes by up to 71% among younger infants.

While the use of adult seat-belts is around 83% and the use of child safety restraints is around 77% in the WHO European Region, seat-belt use is below 50% in the WHO African Region and below 40% in the WHO South East Asian Region. A number of South American countries report child restraint use rates of below 10%.

‘Much more needs to be done to convince political leaders, police authorities, drivers and passengers that seat-belts provide essential, life-saving protection,’ says Dr Khayesi. ‘The latest guidelines aim to help leaders set up the comprehensive programmes of legislation, policing, public education and publicity that we need to promote the benefits of vehicle occupant restraints, and to ensure full compliance with all relevant laws.’

The document draws on experience from countries that have succeeded in achieving and sustaining high levels of vehicle occupant restraint use, and builds on new evidence and examples from low and middle-income countries that have taken effective actions. These include setting and enforcing strong laws, working to ensure the correct fitting and use of child safety restraints and establishing and enforcing vehicle safety standards. Other promising actions include making loans available to bring down the cost of child safety restraints, and training care-givers to use them correctly.

In the 13 years since the first edition of the manual was released, the global landscape has changed significantly. With the adoption of the United Nations Decade of Action for Global Road Safety 2021-2030 and the Political Declaration adopted by the UN General Assembly in July 2022, countries are adopting the Safe Systems approach that recognizes that road transport is a complex system with interconnecting elements that all affect each other.

The publication is part of a series of manuals that are co-produced by WHO, the Global Road Safety Partnership (GRSP), the FIA Foundation and the World Bank, with financial support from Bloomberg Philanthropies.