Drivers and front-seat passengers who don't wear seat belts are at a much higher risk of dying in a car accident, as a result of being ejected from a vehicle and suffering from severe injury or permanent brain damage.

These findings were released by Hamad Trauma Centre (HTC) of Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) as part of a research paper entitled: "The Underutilisation of Occupant Restraint Systems in Motor Vehicle Injury Crashes: A Quantitative Analysis from Qatar", which will be published in the journal of Traffic Injury Prevention.

The HTC team compared the death rates of restrained drivers who were motor vehicle crash victims admitted to the HMC Trauma Centre against those admitted driver-victims who were not restrained.

The death rate among this sample group, for unrestrained drivers, was five times higher. The researchers calculated that, if they had been able to convince 10 of these unrestrained drivers admitted to the Trauma Centre to use a seat belt, one life would be saved.

Dr. Ayman El-Menyar, HTC research consultant, explained that drivers who do not use a seat belt are five times more likely to die, while front seat passengers are four times more likely to die, if they are unrestrained. Most affected are backseat passengers who are seven times more likely to die if they are not restrained."

Dr. El-Menyar added: "Passengers are 31 times less likely to be ejected from the vehicle if they are using a seat belt. This means the risk of death is three times for those not properly restrained and therefore more likely to be ejected."

Dr. Hassan al-Thani, head of the HTC said that he wants to remind all residents of Qatar to pay special attention to their road safety during Ramadan.

He further cited the 40% reduction in road traffic deaths in last year's Ramadan as another reason to continue to build on the improvements and the lessons from Qatar's road safety environment.