Auto Accident Fatalities Show Need For Buckling Up~Stats Show Seat Belts Save Lives
My Grandpa Joe is definitely "Old School." He is slow to come around to "modern" theories, including theories of safety. One particular example, the need for seat belts. Auto accident attorneys see all too frequently the dangers of not wearing a seat belt. But every once in awhile he will hear about someone surviving a car wreck that was not wearing a seat belt and THAT is what saved them. These examples re-enforces his ideology. But those are few and far between.
As a rancher, Grandpa Joe knows that anything can happen, that you can't control what you can't control and that ultimately playing the odds is the way to go. When playing the odds, choosing to buckle up is the "smart" way to go.
Compared with a 1,300 to 1 chance when wearing a seat belt, a person has a 31 to 1 chance of dying in a car wreck when not buckled up. Now, Grandpa...where should the smart money be played?
Recently in one Missouri county, Jefferson County, there have been seven crashes with fatalities since March 29, 2008. The crashes all have one common thread: the eight who died were not wearing seat belts.
A recent study posted the National Highway Transportation Safety website showed that 55 percent of the nation's fatalities ages 16 and older were people not wearing a seat belt. Wow, that is a number to take note of.
Reports of the Missouri State Highway Patrol (MSHP) showed that of the drivers of cars, trucks, vans and motor homes killed in 2006 in Missouri, only 29.2 percent were wearing their seat belts. Only 30 percent of the passengers killed were buckled up. The big number is that the data shows that 96 percent of people wearing a seat belt escaped with little or no injury.
According to the MSHP, those who don't buckle up have a one in four chance of being injured and a one in 31 chance of being killed. For those who wear seat belts, the odds jump to a one in 1,300 chance of a fatality.
Furthermore, the advent of air bags has fooled some people into thinking seat belts are no longer necessary.
That's simply not true. Air bags will help keep you stationary in a front or side impact crash, but air bags will not keep you from being ejected during a roll-over. People need to use their seat belts whether their cars are equipped with air bags.
The MSHP's 2006 statistics show people involved in roll-over crashes, only 3 percent of those ejected were wearing seat belts and 51 percent of those partially ejected were wearing seat belts.
People, including my beloved Grandpa Joe, argue wearing a seat belt if their car catches on fire or goes into the water would be a bad idea. This argument doesn't hold water--pardon the pun. While it's true a seat belt is probably not going to save someone from being killed if they're hit by a train, less than 1/2 of 1 percent of accidents result with a fire or in the water.
Again, proof positive that the smart money is on wearing a seat belt. Play it smart, strap on your seat belt and encourage you loved ones to do the same.
Keep it safe out there!
