The U.S. Department of Transportation's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration released a study indicating that the amount of people wearing a seatbelt when they ride in an automobile increased from the previous year. Slowly more people are becoming aware about the benefits of wearing the safety restraint in a vehicle to reduce the amount of injuries present during or after a vehicle collision.
An 86 percent of people wore a seatbelt while riding in a vehicle for 2012. According to the data the number is being considered significant when compared to 2011's 84 percent. The results come from the National Occupant Protection Use Survey (NOPUS). It is the only survey that provides nationwide probability based observed data on seat belt use in the United States.
Annually NHTSA and the National Center for Statistics conduct NOPUS. Since 1994, seat belt use has shown an increasing trend, accompanied by a steady decline in the percentage of unrestrained daytime passenger vehicle (PV) occupant fatalities.
The 2012 safety restraint survey also found the following:
Seat belt use for occupants in the South showed a significant increase from 80 percent in 2011 to 85 percent in 2012.In sections within the United States where primary law requires seatbelt use, the amount of people wearing their seatbelt was higher when compared to those states where wearing a seatbelt takes on secondary law. In primary states, people can simply be pulled over for not wearing a seatbelt, unlike secondary law states.When year 2012 stats are compared to 2011, seatbelt use "increased significantly in 2012 as compared to 2011 among drivers, right-front passengers, occupants in primary law States as well as in secondary law States, occupants traveling during weekdays, and across occupants of all vehicle types," per the report.
Wearing a seatbelt is important as it can help reduce the seriousness of an injury after an automobile collision and in some cases it can help save lives.
It is recommended that people protect themselves from serious injury after a collision by appropriately fastening their seatbelt. Research has found that lap/shoulder seatbelts when used correctly can reduce the risk of fatal injury to front-seat passenger car occupants by approximately 45 percent and the risk of moderate-to-critical injury by 50 percent. In 2010 alone, seat belts saved an estimated 12,546 lives.
Next time you enter that vehicle, even if it is to drive down to the end of the block or ride around the parking lot make sure to fasten for safety.
Paul Lee is a car accident lawyer who encourages that people wear a seatbelt whenever they drive in a motor vehicle.
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