Motor vehicle accidents are scary and unfortunate, but even the safest driver in the world can’t avoid them. For families with third-row SUVs and people who frequently ride in the back seat in Maryland, passenger safety during rear-end collisions becomes a huge concern.
What’s the data on safety for third-row passengers?
There’s not a lot of data about passenger safety in third-row SUVs. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety is still working on producing the data.
Data on back seat passenger safety, however, says that passengers in the back seat are at a higher risk of substantial injuries during all types of accidents, but especially rear-end collisions. This is because standard cars are built with fewer back seat safety features than the driver’s, or even the front passenger’s, seat may have.
Typically, back seats don’t have airbags or locking seat belts, meaning passengers may hit their heads or bounce around a lot during an impact. The average crash test dummy isn’t sized to children either, so sometimes, cars don’t account for smaller or larger passengers in the back seat.
What can do you do to stay safe?
There are a few things that you can do to reduce the risk of serious injury for back seat passengers if you get into an accident. The biggest thing is to make sure that all seat belts are on correctly and adjusted to the height of the passenger.
Making sure that children are in the correct car seats for their age, height and weight is the biggest thing. You’ll also want to make sure that it’s correctly installed each and every time.
Of course, we all want to avoid getting into a motor vehicle accident (MVA). But if you have been in an accident and believe that it caused injured back seat passengers, reach out to a lawyer today to discuss your options.