March 29, 2011 - 8:13pm
Study finds obese men wearing a seatbelt more likely to survive in car crashes than underweight counterparts
BY OLIVIA CARRINO
Overweight men have a better chance of surviving a car crash while wearing a seatbelt, according to a recent study by the University' of Michigan Transportation Research Institute.
UMTRI researchers Michael Sivak, Brandon Schoettle and Jonathan Rupp found that obese male drivers wearing a seatbelt have a 22 percent lower probability of being killed by a fatal car crash than underweight male drivers wearing a seatbelt. For the purposes of the study, obese men were categorized as individuals with a Body Mass Index between 35 and 50 and underweight men as those with a BMI between 15 and 18.4.
The researchers reported the opposite is true for men who don't wear seatbelts. The probability of being killed is 10 percent higher for obese men who don't wear seatbelts compared to underweight men.
Sivak, a research professor and the head of UMTRI's human factors division, said in a statement that there are many factors that contribute to extra body weight either protecting or harming a driver.
"Our findings suggest that for increasing BMI, the optimal balance between the positive effects of extra cushioning and negative effects of extra mass and momentum depends on the gender of the driver and the use of safety belts," Sivak said in a statement.
The study has been published and is in the current issue of the industry journal Traffic Injury Prevention.
