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When you get in your car or take your seat on a plane, it is likely second nature for you to buckle your seatbelt. Seatbelts are perhaps the most important safety feature ever invented, saving untold millions of lives.
With that in mind, many people wonder why it is that trains don’t even offer seatbelts.
According to the Railway Safety Council, rail is one of the safest methods of transportation available, as can be seen in this quote:
“Work by the European Commission dating from 2019 suggested that the risk of death for a train passenger within the EU is around 0.09 fatalities per billion train kilometres. Nearly one third that for bus and coach passengers and around 28 times less than for car occupants.”
Sure, trains are already very safe, but couldn’t they make them even safer by adding in a simple seatbelt?
Well, it turns out that we are not the first people to ask that question. Significant research has been done on this question, and at least for now, the downsides of seatbelts would outweigh any benefits they provide on a train.
According to a rail passenger safety report:
“Crash data revealed that occupant impact with seats represents the main cause of secondary impact injuries. Seats, however, also provide the most efficient way to restrict the bodily movement and therefore, minimize the seriousness of any inflicted injuries.
Seat belts were considered. However, it has been determined that they do not provide the utmost in desired protection. This deduction was made taking into account that all passengers would not wear seat belts. In a unidirectional arrangement, passengers not wearing seat belts would become projectiles that would collide with the seat ahead of them.”
It is well-known that many people would not wear their seatbelts on a train. Whether it is train employees who are walking through the cars offering services, passengers who want to move closer to a door as their stop approaches, or just people who prefer to stand from time to time.
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The Railway & Standards Board found the following:
“It was found that injury outcomes for passengers choosing to wear restraints were substantially improved. However, there was a slight general worsening of injury outcomes for passengers choosing not to wear restraints as they impacted the modified (stiffened) seat.”
The seats themselves have to be made to be more rigid in order to have the seatbelts installed, which makes them much more dangerous for those who are not belted.
So, unless new seatbelt technology is developed, or a situation arises where everyone wears their seatbelt, they are not likely to be used anytime soon.
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