Facts on Wearing Seatbelts
Most U.S. states have seatbelt laws requiring all drivers and passengers to buckle up. The U.S. Department of Transportation estimates that 40,000 people in the U.S. die every year from car accidents; wearing a seatbelt reduces a person's risk of dying in a car accident by 45 percent, and reduces injuries sustained from a car accident by 50 percent. Fatal injuries from car accidents are the No. 1 cause of death in the U.S. among people under the age of 35.
Other People Are Reading
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Function
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Seatbelts are designed to keep a driver and passenger from being ejected from a vehicle during a crash. A person's chances of dying in an accident is five times greater when not wearing a seatbelt.
In minor accidents, seatbelts protect passengers from being jostled and disrupting the driver's ability to keep control of the vehicle.
Benefits
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According to Kenneth Mann, Ph.D., of the University of Alabama, the typical three-point seatbelt (a lap belt with a strap reaching from the shoulder to the hip) helps to reduce the risk of crash-related injuries to internal organs and the head and neck. Medical cost associated with accident-related injuries can be from two to seven times higher when a seatbelt is not worn.
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Proper Use
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An adult should properly wear a shoulder-harness seatbelt by securing it closely around the chest and not under the arm. The lap belt should be secure and fit snugly across the hips and not the abdomen. When securing a seatbelt on a child, the seat belt should fit over the child's shoulder and snugly across the chest . Pregnant women should have the shoulder harness on, with the lap band extended across the hips and never across the belly.
Cost and Safety
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If 90 percent of U.S. motorists and passengers wore their seatbelts (the most recent estimate is that only 68 percent do so), an estimated $8.8 billion would be saved every year, according to the the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA). For example, insurance rates increase for insured drivers due to higher medical costs from excessive injuries suffered by unbelted drivers and passengers.
Florida Students Against Drunk Driving statistics show that 70 percent of the time, if an adult is not belted in, a child will be unrestrained as well. An unrestrained child, ejected from a car traveling 30 miles per hour, is equivalent to that same child being thrown from a three-story building.
Some people fear being trapped in a car by wearing a seatbelt, but the NHTSA studies show that less than 1 percent of drivers or passengers have died from being trapped in a flooded or burning vehicle due wearing seatbelts.
Theories/Speculation
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Every 13 minutes, someone in America dies from a car accident, according to Federal Highway Administration data. Experts believe that seatbelt use has reduced accident fatalities. If all Americans would use seatbelts, it would lower injuries and fatalities on the road.
According to the NHSTA, seatbelts save more than 9,500 lives every year. Americans pay approximately $580 dollars toward medical costs from car accidents every year.
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