Car Head Restraints And Whiplash Injury

‘Use your head and check your head restraint,’ says road safety charity

Research issued by Brake, the road safety charity, and Direct Line insurance has reported that two out of three people haven't got a clue how to correctly position their head restraints and the same proportion of drivers rarely or never check to make sure they are positioned correctly. Most of those questioned thought that the top of a head restraint should be level with the neck or ears, rather than the correct position of level with the top of the head. An incorrectly positioned head restraint will do little to prevent whiplash injuries in the event of a crash.

Only 6% knew how to position a head restraint correctly, exactly the same figure as when the last survey was carried out in 2004. In the intervening years, despite plentiful reports on the dangers of whiplash and the importance of correctly positioned head restraints, it seems that the message has not filtered through to the public. As a result, the charity has called for a major safety campaign to be organised to highlight the dangers of poorly adjusted restraints and the importance of this simple safety device in preventing head and neck injuries.

Experts are worried that a check that only takes a few seconds to complete is being overlooked by the vast majority of drivers. The resulting injuries can be life threatening at worst, painful and debilitating at best. Whiplash is the most common cause for road traffic accident compensation claims in the UK, with 1,200 reported cases every day. Yet the simple act of adjusting an existing safety feature in every car to the right position could cut that number significantly, protecting drivers from the pain of whiplash from relatively minor collisions.

However, whiplash isn’t always a simple matter of a sore neck and shoulders for a few weeks. In some cases it can lead to far more serious medical conditions including vertebrobasilar insufficiency (VBI) - a condition that can lead to paralysis and permanent disability. A recent case has also shown that it can also cause severe damage to the brain, resulting in a lifetime of ill health and a permanent need for full-time care. Head restraints are one of the most simple of all safety features on cars. Correctly positioned, they prevent the neck from hyperextending, causing damage to the soft tissue in the neck and shoulders. It seems ridiculous that more emphasis has not been placed on the importance of this safety feature in cars, and that countless thousands of people are left in pain because they do not have the relevant information to make the correct adjustments.

With whiplash being seen as an 'easy' compensation claim to make, more needs to be done to reduce the number of incidences on the road leading to such injuries. If that includes an active campaign by the authorities highlighting the importance of head restraints, then that seems to be a small price to pay. It would reduce the number of injuries and consequently the number of claims for whiplash made every year on Britain’s roads. Perhaps then, the UK could finally shake off the reputation of being the ‘Whiplash capital of Europe.’

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If you would like to receive our free Car Head Restraint Adjustment Guide please email info@samsonconsulting.co.uk with your name and postal address and we will send some guides to you to ensure you position your headrest correctly.

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