Seat belts are absolutely essential to reducing the severity of injuries in a motor vehicle accident. While the vast majority of people in America wear seat belts (the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reported more than 90 percent seat belt use rate in 2019), there will always be instances of forgetting or failing to buckle up.
Something as commonplace as a seat belt has a significant life-saving ability: According to the NHTSA, nearly 15,000 people’s lives were saved by seat belt use in 2017. The agency estimates another 2,549 lives could have been saved if those individuals had been wearing seat belts.
One reason seat belts are so important is related to ejection from the vehicle. Ejection is often fatal, and a seat belt keeps occupants inside the vehicle cabin.
Seat belts have been shown to reduce the severity of physical injuries. The NHTSA reports that the risk of moderate to critical injury suffered in an accident in a passenger car is reduced by 50 percent with seat belt use, and by 65 percent in a pickup truck.
There is somewhat of a persistent myth out there that seat belts are unnecessary when a vehicle is equipped with airbags. This is not true. Seat belts and airbags are engineered to work together. In fact, without a seat belt, a body propelled forward into a released air bag could cause catastrophic injury.
It’s important to buckle up correctly. The lap belt should fit flat across your lap, not across your belly. The shoulder belt should lay across the middle of your chest and should never be pushed underneath the arm or behind the back.
While wearing a seat belt does not provide 100 percent death and injury prevention in 100 percent of crashes, it is one of the best possible means we have of preventing that trauma. And research shows that seat belts are highly effective. Plus, it’s the law!
If you were belted and doing everything a good driver should do, you still may find yourself injured in a car crash caused by someone else’s carelessness. An experienced attorney can help you pursue compensation for your injuries, if you have a case. To find out, please search our directory to find a lawyer.
