Seatbelt survey shows laziness
In accordance with a grant from the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety (GOHS), last month the office of alcohol and Other Drug Education (AOD) conducted an unannounced observational seatbelt survey as vehicles were exiting the parking lot on Oak St.
They found that only 69 percent of the driver observed wore their safety restraints. The last time AOD did an unannounced check, they found that 72 percent of the drivers were wearing their seatbelt which means that seat belt usage has declined slightly.
Information found on the Georgia Highway Safety’s Web site states that the heavily-traveled Thanksgiving weekend is one of the most dangerous and deadliest times of the year due to low safety belt use, and nationwide more than half of all traffic crash victims killed during the last Thanksgiving holiday weekend were not wearing seat belts.
Over the four day weekend of the Thanksgiving holiday in 2006, 18 people were killed and 1,099 were injured in Atlanta alone.
“For those who think it just can’t happen to you, there were 2,618 injury or fatality crashes in Georgia alone during that short holiday travel period,” said director Bob Dallas of the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety.
According to the Georgia Highway Safety’s Web site states that the estimated seatbelt usage rate in 2006 for the nation was 81 percent. That means that overall VSU is below the average of seat belt usage.
In addition to those statistics, the GOHS estimated that about 10,000 people over the age of 5 were in a car crash in Lowndes County in 2006 and only about 6,000 of these people were actually restrained. All the people not wearing a seat belt their total amount in tickets was about $60,000. These types of tickets also add to the cost of car insurance, medical cost, and property damage and the cost would raise the price one would pay. It is estimated that the cost of a crash is about $73,000 per injured survivor and $2.9 million per fatality.
Most crashes occur about 25 miles from home. Some people assume that air bags are there to save lives, but in actuality air bags are there to help protect with the help of seat belts. According to safecar.gov, “Serious or even fatal air bag-related injuries can occur if occupants are not properly restrained and in a proper seating position.”
Further more, the website goes on to state that “unrestrained or improperly restrained occupants will move forward during the hard braking before a crash. In addition to striking the interior of the vehicle, these occupants are very likely to be on top of the air bag as it begins to inflate.”
For more information on the law on seat belts please contact Georgia Office of Highway Safety.