That's what I was thinking too.
I sent her this info on lap belt use:
LAP BELT USE
THE VISUAL:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3KXZQu4niA
THE PLAY BY PLAY:
Lap belts generally prevent the individual from being ejected, but do not protect the head, neck, spine or internal organs adequately.
There are two types of injury associated with using a lap only belt:
Head and/or neck injury. This is caused when the individual is thrown forward and has no upper body restraint. They continue moving forward until they are stopped by something. Many times, it is the head that contacts the interior of the vehicle - dashboard, front seats, consoles, door frames, even the floor of the vehicle or the individual's knees. The injuries can be severe brain trauma from impacting something at a high rate of speed, cuts, abrasions, skull fractures, broken neck, jaw fractures, orbital fractures, etc. The neck can also be severely injured including the spinal cord being severed. The spinal cord is not able to be stretched beyond a certain point. In frontal crashes, a lap only belt will hold the lower body in place, but the heavy head will pull the upper body forward at a high rate. If the head does not contact anything to stop the rapid forward motion, the neck will eventually stop the head, but the force of this will stretch the neck bones, muscles and even the spinal cord - often beyond it's limit. Children and adults both have been paralyzed or killed in this manner - their spinal cord simply wasn't capable of stretching enough to withstand the crash force.
Seat Belt Syndrome. Seat Belt Syndrome, or SBS, is a phrase that was originally coined by the medical community in the late 1950s and early 1960s to describe injuries that physicians were seeing as a result of occupants wearing lap-belt-only restraints in frontal collisions. These injuries typically include: (1) severe abdominal injuries, (2) fractures of the lumbar spine, and (3) serious closed head and facial injuries. These injuries are primarily the result of the occupant's body jackknifing over the lap belt, at the waist, during the collision. Under such circumstances, the lap belt causes extreme force to be applied along the pelvis to the mid-section of the occupant. Securing the waist without securing the upper torso leads to increased head and neck velocities, which can cause serious head and neck injuries following either a head strike or inertial loading of the spine. A majority of these injuries can be prevented by the installation of an integrated three-point belt or other upper-torso restraint.