Is riding shotgun safer than sitting in the back? - ConsumerReports.org
For decades, automotive safety has focused mostly on the front seat, which makes sense. Rear-seat safety hasn’t kept pace with advancements up front, according to a recent study from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety and the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. In vehicles made after 2006, people sitting in the rear seat, even when wearing a seatbelt, have a 46 percent greater chance of dying in a crash than someone riding in the front passenger seat—even after controlling for age and gender differences. “It’s not because the rear seat has gotten less safe, but rather the front seat has gotten safer,” said Jessica Jermakian, IIHS senior research scientist and co-author of the study, titled “Rear Seat Safety: Variation in Protection By Occupant,... Detailed results based on age indicate that the rear seat is still safer for children under 9 years. And, although results for 9- to 12-year-olds showed a higher relative risk in the rear seat, it was attributed to “an unusually small fatality risk in the front,” and not to a higher risk in the rear. For occupants age 55 and older, there are indications that the rear seat may be less safe than the front but the study stated that more data is needed to be conclusive. However, one thing was clear: When in the rear seat, older occupants had the highest risk of being seriously or fatally injured in a crash of any age group. Source: www.consumerreports.org
