Driving Unbuckled: Deadlier At Night

Feds: 68 Percent Of Young Motorists Killed In Crashes At Night Did Not Wear Seat Belt

(AP)  More than two-thirds of young drivers and passengers killed in nighttime car crashes aren't wearing seat belts - deadly proof of what can happen when young people don't heed parents' pleas and authorities' threats to "click it."

Though seat belt use actually is rising slightly nationwide, fatality figures published Monday offered a somber contrast as law enforcement launched its annual pre-Memorial Day drive to persuade Americans to buckle up.

Total belt use rose to 82 percent last year - from 81 percent in 2006 - the government said. Twelve states had rates of 90 percent or better, led by Hawaii and Washington. Only three were below 70 percent: Arkansas, Massachusetts and New Hampshire.

But the news was hardly all encouraging.

Sixty-eight percent of drivers and passengers between the ages of 16 and 20 who were killed in car crashes at night in 2006 were unbuckled, said the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. During daytime, 57 percent of the young motorists and passengers who were killed were not wearing seat belts.

That portion of the study focused on 2006 data and did not evaluate other years.

The problem isn't just with teens. The percentage of unbuckled drivers and passengers who died at night is well up in the 60s through the age of 44. It declines to 52 percent for people 55-64 and 41 percent for those older than that.

Safety officials say they are emphasizing seat belt use by young people between 16 and 20 during this year's "Click It or Ticket" publicity campaign through June 1. Police say they will be issuing tickets to motorists who fail to wear their seat belts, a message that will be supported by a $7.5 million advertising campaign.

Gabriela Sazon, a senior at Calvin Coolidge High School in Washington, is a believer from personal experience. But she also understands the problem among teenagers in general.

She and her mother avoided injuries two years ago when their car flipped on its side on a rain-slicked road. Both were wearing their seat belts.

Sazon said peer pressure can sometimes play a role in teens not buckling up. "They don't want to seem like a nerd around their friends," she said.

Said NHTSA administrator Nicole Nason: Teenagers frequently bring a "combination of inexperience and fearlessness" when they fail to buckle up in their cars. "It's a deadly combination."

Nason said the agency is urging states to adopt licensing programs for new drivers that prevent them from driving with other teenagers in the car. She said carloads of teens traveling together can create distractions for the driver and increase the safety risks.

Anne McCartt, a researcher with the Virginia-based Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, noted that seat belt use at night tends to be much lower across all age groups.

Fatal crashes involving teenagers at night are more likely to involve risk factors such as alcohol, she said, so the failure to wear a seat belt "may be part of a more general atmosphere of risk-taking."

[jlwesley]

In 15 years, on the street as a paramedic, I have never seen anyone saved from serious injury or death because they used a seatbelt, I have however seen people up and walking around at the scene with hardly a scratch that would have been killed had they been wearing seatbelts and many people dead only because they were. For years I too bought into the company *** about seatbelts saving lives, but when I watched a beautiful 15 year old die in my ambulance only because she was wearing them, I started to question that line about saving lives, for the next month I carefully examined each accident out of 8 accidents where this issue applied, I saw 3 that would have definitely survived if they had not been wearing belts, 6 that survived only because they weren''t and 2 that were too close to call. When your number is up, belt or not, it is up, but for me, I feel better not wearing them.

[actornaught]

Posted by wesleyjl at 11:46 AM : May 20, 2008

So why post all that here? This kind of thing should be relevant news, not just a stray blog. The small data sample (anecdotal?) shouldn''t stop anyone from at least investigating your claims.

However, i also noticed you didn''t provide an explanation for what would be so deadly about a seatbelt.

As to the article, i don''t think the title is accurate. It should probably read "Seatbelt Usage Less After Dark", or to that effect.

[blade28515]

We just buried my 29 yr. old cousin yesterday. He fell asleep behind the wheel, ran down an embankment and was thrown from the car. The car flipped but was not really that damaged. If he had his seatbelt on I would not be writing this comment now!

[gaelitist]

In 15 years, on the street as a paramedic, I have never seen anyone saved from serious injury or death because they used a seatbelt, I have however seen people up and walking around at the scene with hardly a scratch that would have been killed had they been wearing seatbelts and many people dead only because they were. For years I too bought into the company *** about seatbelts saving lives, but when I watched a beautiful 15 year old die in my ambulance only because she was wearing them, I started to question that line about saving lives, for the next month I carefully examined each accident out of 8 accidents where this issue applied, I saw 3 that would have definitely survived if they had not been wearing belts, 6 that survived only because they weren''''t and 2 that were too close to call. When your number is up, belt or not, it is up, but for me, I feel better not wearing them.


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Posted by wesleyjl at 11:46 AM : May 20, 2008

Sincerely,
B*llsh*t

[cthetruth1]

wesleyjl does not state the facts, only opinion based on unclear factors. Incontrovertable Statistical evidence nationwide, in both long term and medium term studies proves that wearing a seatbelt significantly increases your chances of living in a serious car accident. The situations where having one would put you at risk are as rare. Further, it is thinking like this that tend to give people the mindset that it is ok to not wear them. It is the law, and there is a clear and concise reason why it is law. Ignore it and you put not only yourself but your loved ones at great risk every time you pull out of your driveway. I have a cousin who is a police
officer. Talk to him for 20 minutes and you will never start the car without your belt on.

[grammawhamma]

When I was young and foolish I was in two major car accidents. The first one I wasn''t wearing a seat belt and due to the nature of the crash I was told by the police that if I had been wearing one I would have died. But after that I always wore my seat belt. In the second crash I would have been killed without it.

As a nurse who worked on numerous car accident victims over the years...I will tell you that it is for your own good to buckle up.

[jlwesley]

Always remember that figures dont lie, but liars can figure, never pay attention to a cop, they are brainwashed to follow the company line and they never get their hands dirty at an accident, medics and EMTs do. Tell it to the guy who drowned hanging upside down in his pickup because neither he nor the bystanders could get him out of his seatbelt, tell it to the guy whe was crushed in his seat by the cement truck because he couldnt get out of the way, tell it to the girl who was held in place while the door post was pushed into her side, broke a rib and punctured her liver, tell it to the girl who after being thrown out through the sunroof was walking around with out a scratch while the vehicle she was in is on its top burning, a vehicle she would have been trapped in,. I can give you hundreds of these, but there is not the space here and your mindsets will not let you listen.
Yes it is a law, a law that makes lawbreakers out thousands of otherwise law abiding citizens, including myself and the cop down the street.

[actornaught]

Posted by wesleyjl at 08:57 AM : May 21, 2008

Life is full of gambles, and the odds strongly against you if you''re not belted in, and strongly against anybody that takes your bad advice.

But it does leave more food for the rest of us...

[grammawhamma]

wesleyjl: Did it ever occur to you how many accidents did not need your services (as a paramedic) because the people were wearing a seat belt? Think about it before you start giving bad advice to the naive on the internet.