The Safest Seat in the Car

When five people ride in a four-door sedan, there is plenty of room for conflict about who rides where. The owner of the car should drive unless someone else in the party has had less to drink. Everyone else gets to squabble about who gets to ride shotgun, but maybe they would not fight so stubbornly if they knew the dangers associated with a front passenger seat. Head-on collisions are bad news for the occupants of the front seat of the car, even if the collision occurs at a relatively low speed. T-bone collisions are also bad news for the occupants of the struck vehicle because the side doors of a car provide little protection from the impact of the striking vehicle. Riding shotgun is one of the worst places you can be if a car hits the passenger side of your car.  The least desirable seat in the car is the one that provides the best protection in a collision. If you got injured in a car accident where you were a passenger, contact a Houma car accident lawyer.

There is a Reason That Pediatricians Want Infants to Ride in the Chump Seat

An argument about who gets to ride in which seat in the car is almost always about who gets to avoid riding in the middle seat in the back. While no one especially looks forward to riding in the chump seat, it is especially vexatious to people with long legs or weak stomachs. Even though the rear middle seat is far from being the most comfortable spot in the car, it is the safest in the event of a collision. Whether the car gets hit from the front, side, or rear, the person in the rear middle seat never gets a direct hit. This is one of the reasons that hospitals do not send newborn babies home until their parents have fastened a rear-facing infant seat in the rear middle seat of the car.

Everyone is Safer With a Seatbelt

The rear middle seat provides more collision protection than any of the seats that have their own door, but every seat in the car is much safer than it was a generation ago. Seatbelts and airbags are a big reason for this.  Now, no matter where you sit, you have access to your own seatbelt with both lap belt and shoulder harness portions. Modern seatbelts have tensioners and force limiters, which ensure that, if the car stops suddenly, the seatbelt tightens enough to keep you in place but stays loose enough to avoid causing injury. Every seat in the car as airbags that inflate to prevent direct contact between your body and the hard structure of the car.

Contact the Law Office of Patrick H. Yancey About Car Accident Cases

A car accident lawyer can help you if you have been injured in a car accident where you were not in the driver’s seat. Contact the Law Office of Patrick H. Yancey in Houma, Louisiana, to set up a consultation about your case.