In last week’s blog I talked about the enormous improvements that have been made in vehicle safety technology over the last ten to fifteen years. There is one area however, that hasn’t seen as much development and that’s the adult seatbelt. This is a really important area to look at because there has been so much focus on child seats and rightly so, that the adult seatbelt doesn’t seem to have had much attention recently.
There has been a significant amount of research into the problems associated with driver back pain so this is an area that we are keen to help our drivers and customers address. In fact, an enhancement device has been developed, recommended by some top healthcare professionals to reduce back pain and has also been found to improve driver safety.
The CG-Lock (CG stands for centre of gravity) is a small palm-sized device that clips onto existing seatbelts to eliminate the slack in the lap belt, keeping the user in the safest possible position. As part of our road safety programme at Arval, some of our employees are currently trialling the device so we can assess its safety and posture benefits.
The company that sells the product is certainly confident of the advantages. Graham Cox from CG-Lock explains “As RoSPA highlights, the safest way to travel is to have no slack in the lapbelt portion of the seatbelt and have it running firmly across the hips. Without the CG-Lock this can only be achieved by repeatedly sitting upright and pulling the diagonal section of the seatbelt to remove the slack. Most people don’t do this and so the lapbelt ‘rides up’ off the hips onto the stomach. This is not the position at which EuroNCAP tests are performed and significantly increases risk of injury should an accident occur. The CG-Lock keeps the lapbelt exactly where it should be, firmly across the pelvis.”
Now we can’t just take the manufacturer’s word for it but I’m really interested to see the results of the trial which finishes in June. One thing is certain, the popularity amongst our employees to be involved shows the appetite to adopt new safety initiatives and in the case of the seatbelt, I hope that there is more to come.
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