Most lives saved by a seat-belt innovation

The three-point safety belt, invented by Swedish engineer Nils Bohlin, was patented in 1959 by Volvo. Inertia-roll technology was developed by the same company in 1968. The US National Highway and Traffic Safety Administration estimates that seatbelts have prevented 55,600 deaths and 1.3 million injuries in the last decade in the USA alone, saving $105 billion (£63.4 billion) in medical costs.