Fix Auto Chula Vista

Don't Forget that "Seat Belts Save Lives"

Even though more and more Americans are now wearing seat belts, there are still a handful of places in the country where some people still insist on not using them, which is crazy and reckless.

At Fix Auto Chula Vista, we strive for a safer planet in San Diego, CA and all over the U.S., so we are happy to be sharing this information with all of you.

Overall, approximately 86%  of Americans reported that they always wore a seat belt in 2012, an increase of 8.4% from 2002, the study revealed.

But, despite this encouraging progress, only 2.2% of U.S. counties have been able to achieve a government safety objective for cutting down on crash fatalities getting at least 92% of drivers and front-seat passengers to wear their seat belts.

In 2015, deaths from automotive crashes had the biggest proportionate one-year increase since 1966, and 2016 logged even more deaths, as recently noted in Health Affairs, a safety journal. Seat belts can cut down on crash fatalities by as much as 40%-60%  the study reported.

Counties with less seat belt use are located in North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Utah, Nebraska and Alaska. All of these states on this short list have so-called "secondary enforcement" laws that prohibit traffic stops just for failing to wear a seat belt, while drivers in these particular states can only be ticketed for seat belt violations if they get pulled over for another unrelated reason.

On the other hand, counties that have higher seat belt usage were located in North Carolina, California, Nevada, Maryland and metropolitan areas of Texas, all states that have so-called "primary enforcement" laws presently on the books that enable traffic stops solely for the failure to wear seat belts.

Women tend to wear seat belts more often than men--90% of the time vs. 82% of the time, the study also discovered, while men's' overall compliance went up 11% from 2002 to 2012 compared to a 6% gain for women during that same period.

So, if you still don't wear your seat belts, you are first breaking the law, but you're also endangering yourself. It's not cool and surely not a smart thing to do, so make a point of wearing your seat belts and join the rest of us. If we can make our roads and highways safer for all of us, why not?

Sources: AAA, NHTSA and Boston Globe