Luck Has Nothing To Do With It : Seatbelt Safety

Over the course of your life, the chances that you’ll be in a traffic accident are almost 100%. When it happens, there’s only one thing holding the greatest potential to save your life: Your seatbelt. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), of the passenger vehicle occupants who were killed during evening car crashes in 2005, 59% were not wearing their seatbelts at the time of the crash. Not impressed? Well, consider that on average 81% of passenger vehicle occupants in the US wear their seatbelts regularly. This means that 59% of the total car accident deaths were visited on only 19% of the car-going public. That’s not luck of the draw, it’s Russian roulette.

The NHTSA estimates that seatbelts prevented 3.8 million injuries between 1976 and 2002, saving a whopping $585 billion in medical costs. It goes on to project that if seatbelt usage had been 100% during that time period, an estimated 315,000 deaths and 5.2 million injuries could have been avoided, saving an additional $913 billion.

Review Of The Basics:

• Seatbelts should be worn low and snug across the lap, never across the stomach.
• The shoulder belt should be snug across the chest and collarbone. It should never be across the face or behind the back.
• Air bags were designed to work in conjunction with seatbelts. If you neglect to wear your seatbelt in a car equipped with airbags, you’ll get the protection of neither and might even be injured unnecessarily by the airbag.
• All children under 12 should be buckled into a child safety seat, and should never be in the front of a vehicle equipped with airbags.
• Infants should be in the back seat in rear-facing car seats.