The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) recently rolled out a campaign, called “Click It or Ticket,” to remind drivers and passengers throughout the nation to wear seat belts. Seat belts save lives. NHTSA officials note that 10,428 people not wearing seat belts lost their lives in car accidents during 2016.
Enforcement of safety belt laws will be heightened during the campaign.
Successful Campaigns Promoting Seat Belt Use Increase Occupant Safety
“Click It or Ticket” is an annual campaign, and has proven highly successful in raising awareness of how important seat belts are. The use of seat belts in vehicles has risen steadily, and hit a peak of 88.5% in 2014.
The NHTSA estimates that the use of seat belts saved 15,000 lives in 2016 (the last year for which data are available). However, it also believes that full use of seat belts, including for children more than 5 years old, could have saved an additional 2,456 people that year.
In standard size vehicles, 42% of occupants involved in a crash who were not using seat belts were killed during 2016.
In pickup trucks, the figures were even higher. Sixty-one percent of unbuckled occupants were killed.
The NHTSA also urges people to remember to wear seat belts if they are riding in the back seat. Nothing about that position protects anyone from deaths or injuries if the vehicle is involved in a crash. While 47% of people who were passengers in a front seat were killed if they weren’t wearing seat belts, 57% of people riding in the back seat who were not wearing restraints were killed.
If You Need an Experienced Auto Accident Lawyer
While the number of people wearing seat belts has risen encouraging through the years, an unacceptably high fatality risk still exists for unbuckled occupants of vehicles involved in crashes. We at Kantrowitz, Goldhamer & Graifman urge you to wear seat belts at all times when in a vehicle, and to make sure that your children wear appropriate restraints as well.
But if the worst happens, and you or a loved one are injured or killed in a vehicle accident, please contact our law firm to discuss your case. KGG car accident attorneys in NY & NJ have decades of experience in automobile and other vehicle accidents.
- U.S. Department of Transportation. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Traffic Safety Facts. 2016 Data. Occupant Protection in Passenger Vehicles. February 2018. https://crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov/Api/Public/ViewPublication/812494
- U.S. Department of Transportation. National Highway Traffic Safety Admnistration. Buckle Up. It Could Save Your Life. May 21, 2018. https://www.nhtsa.gov/press-releases/buckle-it-could-save-your-life