Buckle-up: Minor inconvenience could be major life saver

  • Published
  • By Courtesy of Minnesota Dept. of Transportation
MINNEAPOLIS-ST PAUL AIR RESERVE STATION --  Motorists and passengers are reminded to buckle up this year. In the last three years on Minnesota roads, there have been 361 unbelted deaths - and 152 of the victims were ages 16-29.

"Statistics from the MN Department of Public Safety/Office of Traffic Safety show that teens and young adults continue to represent a large percentage of unbelted traffic deaths, which indicates there is still a major issue with seat belt usage among that age group," said Staff Sgt. Kristofer Geiger, of the 934 Security Forces Squadron. "For whatever reason - be comfort, restriction or philosophy - some motorists and passengers still refuse to wear their seat belts. We ask them to remember that their minor inconvenience could turn out to be a major life saver."

In Minnesota and on the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport Air Reserve Station, drivers and passengers in all seating positions, including in the back seat, are required to be buckled up or seated in the correct child restraint. Officers can stop and ticket unbelted drivers or passengers. Seat belts must be worn correctly - low and snug across the hips; shoulder straps should never be tucked under an arm or behind the back.

In rollover crashes, unbelted motorists are usually ejected from the vehicle. In most cases, the vehicle will roll over them. Often, unbelted motorists will crack teeth out on steering wheels or break their nose, and even slam into and injure or kill others in the vehicle.

Some facts regarding seat belt use:
· In a crash, odds are six times greater for injury if a motorist is not buckled up.
· Properly wearing a seat belt reduces the risk of fatal injury to front seat passenger occupants by 45 percent in a car and 60 percent in a light truck.
· Seat Belts restrain motorists in the vehicles designed protective space, giving them room to live in the event of a crash. Seat belts also keep drivers correctly positioned behind the wheel to help maintain control of a vehicle.
· Often, an unbelted motorist is ejected from the vehicle and killed when the vehicle rolls over them.
· Only 35 percent of the backseat passengers killed in crashes were buckled up during the past three years.
· Airbags are designed to work with seat belts to keep vehicle occupants in a safe position during a crash - airbags are not effective when the motorist is unbelted.
· In 2010 alone, seat belts saved an estimated 12,546 lives in the US (Traffic Safety Facts: 2010 Data, NHTSA, DOT HS 811 619).
· Annually, nearly 80 percent of the unbelted traffic deaths occur on Greater Minnesota roads.

This is in conjunction with the State of Minnesota's Click It or Ticket campaign, going on from 20 May - 2 June. Seat belt education is a component of the state's Toward Zero Deaths (TZD) initiative. A primary vision of the TZD program is to create a safe driving culture in Minnesota in which motorists support a goal of zero road fatalities by practicing and promoting safe and smart driving behavior.

"The last thing I care to do is write seat belt tickets," says Sergeant Geiger. "I am encouraging motorists to be the true enforcers of the law and speak up to remind others to belt up. I would hope this information will save at least one life, or prevent an injury during an accident on the roads. That is the ultimate goal, save lives and prevents unnecessary suffering, not writing tickets."

The information that is provided in this release is from the Minnesota Department of Public Safety, Minnesota DPS Office of Traffic Safety, Click It or Ticket Campaign Press Releases.