Abstract

ORTEGA PEREZ, A.. In a traffic accident, injuries may help to establish if the safety belt was used?. Cuad. med. forense [online]. 2005, n.39, pp.35-42. ISSN 1988-611X.

In two different Courts, the lawyers asked if the injured person was using the safety belt when the accident happened. The characteristics of the accident and those of the injuries, along with the review of the national and international medical literature about the question lead to the conclusion that sternal and rib fractures have a great possibility to have been caused by the safety belt itself, specially when the person does not have injuries in the cranium, in the face, in the abdomen or in the arms. On the same way, the risk of sternal and/or costal fractures increases with the age of the person.

Keywords : Lesion; safety belt; rib fracture; sternal fracture; traffic accident; traumatology.

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