RODALE NEWS, EMMAUS, PA—It’s sounds like good news when you hear that 80 percent of people buckle up when they get into a car, but that still means 1 in 5 are failing to wear seat belts. And many of the beltless riders are teens. A new study, released by the U.S. Department of Transportation just as the May 18 to 31 “Click It or Ticket” campaign was taking place, found that more than 1,600 lives would be saved and 22,000 serious injuries would be avoided each year if the seat belt rate increased to 90 percent in every state.
THE DETAILS: The agency crunched 2007 seat-belt-usage numbers after taking data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)’s National Occupant Protection Use Survey, and also estimated that wearing seat belts prevented more than 15,000 deaths that year. The report, which did not include states and territories with seat belt use at 90 percent or higher (California, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Maryland, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Puerto Rico, Oregon, Texas, and Washington), found that if 90 percent of people in every state wore seat belts, the cost-savings benefit would be huge —$5.2 billion. That’s important, because previous estimates found consumers can pay more than $500 a year for increased costs related to seat-beltless drivers. Taxes, health care, and insurance costs are affected when people (most typically, teenagers) fail to buckle up.
Seat belt use is particularly low among teens and young adults—the group whose leading cause of death is motor vehicle accidents. Of the 4,540 16- to 20-year-olds killed in vehicles in 2007, more than half were unbelted at the time of the crash; 65 percent of victims involved in nighttime crashes weren’t wearing seat belts. “Teenagers are fearless. They don’t think about the costs of not buckling up,” explains Karen Aldana, NHTSA spokeswoman. “Many think they’re invincible, or that they won’t get caught.”
WHAT IT MEANS: Car crashes are the leading cause of death among teens and young adults, with more than 5,000 15- to 20-year-olds dying in crashes every year. Despite that statistic, it’s the age group that’s least likely to buckle up.
Here’s how to make sure your children stay safe in the car:
• Be an early example. Although it could be more than a decade before they’re behind the wheel of a car, you have to promote the good habit of buckling up when they’re very young. “Adults who don’t buckle up are sending children a deadly message: It’s all right not to wear a safety belt,” says Aldana. “When a driver is unbuckled, 76 percent of the time children will be unbuckled. When a driver is belted, 87 percent of the time children will be also.”
• Share the stats. The American College of Emergency Physicians—the doctors who see the ugly results of driving without a seat belt firsthand—remind us of why we should buckle up:
• When lap and shoulder belts are used correctly, they cut the risk of fatal injury to front-seat passengers by 45 percent and the risk of moderate to critical injury by 50 percent.
• About 60 percent of passengers killed in traffic crashes were not wearing safety belts.
• Safety belts provide the greatest protection against ejection in a crash; 75 percent of people ejected from cars are killed.
• Be a broken record. Remind them constantly to buckle up—be a pain in their butts about it. And when they’re ready to start driving, establish a clear set of rules for the car that includes seat belt use. “Parents need to make the rule of the house the rule of the road,” says Aldana. “Parents can set rules for the car just like they do for the home with their teen drivers.” Depending on the family, that includes use limitations—only to get to and from school—or a clear curfew or limiting the number of passengers allowed in the car. You can also ban talking on a cellphone or texting while in the car (and check the phone bill to see if they’re abiding). Some parents even write up a contract stating the rules, and ask their child to sign it. Bring up the details of the contract, and your rules, often.