A Selfie That Improves Car Safety – the Selfie for Safety Campaign
Since smartphones appeared, selfies have completely taken over social media. Volvo decided to use that touch of vanity, which leads many of us to capture our faces in all kinds of natural surroundings. Volvo will analyse thousands of photos of people who took a picture while sitting in a car. Experts will check what mistakes we most often make when fastening seat belts.
What can go wrong?
What can go wrong?
Before crash-test dummies end their short journey against a concrete wall with a bang, a team of scientists carefully straps them in. The seats are set at the perfect angle, and the driver's distance from the steering wheel is also maintained. The belt runs where it should – not too high, not too low. Excess slack between the belt and the body is also removed.
Passengers made of plastic, prepared this way, are ready to face severe crash tests. The catch is that none of us sets off on a journey with a caring engineer by our side, and neither do our children. We fasten belts over a thick jacket. We get into a car previously driven by someone shorter than us, and in the morning rush we do not perfectly adjust the seat angle and distance from the steering wheel.
That is exactly when an accident finds us – completely unprepared. It is time to look at what most often goes wrong when fastening seat belts. The users themselves know the answer. Don't adjust anything! Take a photo of yourself behind the wheel just as you drive. That photo could save someone's health, or life.
Selfie for Safety as a safety database
Selfie as a safety database
Selfie for improving car safety
Selfie for improving Volvo safety in the car
Selfie for improving safety in a Volvo
Most often, selfies are used to show off a beautiful travel destination or the results achieved at the gym. Meanwhile, now there is a chance to squeeze something truly valuable out of them. From hundreds of submitted photos, Volvo Cars safety experts will painstakingly pick out those where the belt runs too low, too high, or has too much slack. After the analysis, they will consider whether solutions can be proposed in cars that eliminate typical user mistakes.
And what are the most common ones? The catch is that, in the end, nobody really knows. When an accident happens, rescuers see the stretched belt, deployed airbags and passengers' injuries, but the position of their bodies at the moment of the crash often remains a mystery. Selfies make it possible to precisely analyse our small everyday "sins" committed behind the wheel: in a hurry, from distraction, or… just because.
How to join the campaign?
How to join the campaign?
Get into the car and fasten your seat belt exactly as you do every day. Take a selfie with your seat belt fastened. Post it on your Instagram account and tag it with the campaign #selfieforsafety
Summary
Volvo is launching the Selfie for Safety campaign, in which drivers submit their photos with fastened seat belts. Safety experts will analyse thousands of photographs to find the most common mistakes in fastening them – belt too high, too low, or with too much slack. The goal is to develop solutions that will eliminate these errors in the future.
An interesting fact is that crash tests with dummies assume ideal seat and belt positioning, which rarely happens in the daily rush. Selfies therefore provide a unique opportunity to analyse drivers' real behaviour.
