Could seat belt have saved Susan Tsvangirai?

ODDS: Witness reports say Susan Tsvangirai was ejected from the car

TRAGIC: Witness reports say Susan Tsvangirai was ejected from the car

ODDS: Only 5 percent of restrained occupants die in crashes in the US

• Mugabe says crash was 'hand of God'

• On his birthday, Tsvangirai makes final farewell to tragic wife

• MP wants US aid agency probed over Tsvangirai crash

• Tsvangirai says crash an accident, rules out foul play

• Orbituary: The life of Susan Tsvangirai

• Online: Prime Minister's Website

Posted to the web: 11/03/2009 16:59:12
INVESTIGATORS of the Friday March 6 crash that killed Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s wife will interview him, his driver and his bodyguard next week before a full report into the incident is released, police sources said.

Some of Zimbabwe’s finest accident investigators were sent to the crash scene along the Harare-Masvingo road and their evidence could be used in the trial of Chinoona Mwanda, the driver of the Nissan UD truck which clipped the Prime Minister’s Toyota Land Cruiser, sending it rolling at least three times before landing on its roof.

While the police carefully piece together details what exactly caused the crash, they are also keen to know if Susan Tsvangirai, the Prime Minister’s wife, had a seat belt.

Eye witness reports say she was thrown out of the Cruiser and her motionless body lay some 10 meters from where their car finally came to a stop.

Experts believe the damage to the car, and the relatively slight injuries suffered by the Prime Minister and the other two occupants, would suggest she would have lived had she had her seat belt on.

The Prime Minister has yet to talk in detail to the police about the incident. Investigators have allowed him time to mourn his wife of 30 years who was buried at their rural home in Buhera on Wednesday.

Unlike in most western countries where the failure to wear a seat belt is a motoring offence, Zimbabwe’s laws are lax in this area, as they are in most of Africa.

We showed pictures of the crash scene to Duncan Vernon, a road safety expert with the British Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents. Vernon said while it was possible to be ejected from a vehicle with a seat belt restraint, this was only in a very small amount of cases.

“The effectiveness of seatbelts in reducing the risk of injuries and death in road accidents cannot be overemphasised,” he said. “They greatly, tremendously, reduce the risk.”

The American College of Emergency Physicians advocates the use of seat-belts as the best protection against ejection in a crash.

In a 2009 study based on the United States, the Federation Internationale De'I Automobile (FIA) said ejection from a vehicle is one of the most injurious events that can happen to a person in a crash, with 75% of all vehicle occupants ejected from a vehicle in a crash dying as a result.

The report said overall, 44% of unrestrained vehicle occupants killed are ejected, partially or totally, from the vehicle, as compared to only 5% of restrained occupants.
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