Do Seatbelts Save Lives?

Absolutely. I don't know about it from the numbers aspect, but you can see their effectiveness just by examining the physics. Inertia is the tendency of objects in motion to stay in motion. Think about it this way: If you are traveling in a car going 60 mph, you yourself (your body) is also traveling at that speed. If you stop suddenly by hitting something, the car will come to a halt but everything inside of it will want to keep traveling forward at 60 mph. Without a seatbelt to combat this force, you would in essence become a projectile, launching into the dashboard or hurling through the windshield at fatal speeds. And when a human body is turned into a missile, it can not just kill you but damage or kill anyone in your path. Seatbelts can tend to increase the amount and sometimes severity of injury sustained in a crash, but without them you have a much lower chance of living through a severe crash.

Most definitely. I believe they also prevent accidents. Look at it this way, in  a situation when you have to take evasive action to avoid another car or obstruction when you are firmly seated in place you are more in control of the vehicle. If you're not belted in you're more apt to be moving around and using the steering wheel to stay in the seat. If you're doing that you can't steer as well and you can't avoid an accident as well. Make sense?