View Poll Results: Do you always wear your Seat Belts ?
Yes, Always : )
23
92.00%
No, never : (
1
4.00%
Sometimes ?
1
4.00%
Voters: 25. You may not vote on this poll
Do You ?
#1
05-22-2010, 04:53 AM
Do You ?
Do you always wear your seat belts ?
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Please Post your vote in above poll
Thank You!
____________________________
The Costs You Pay When Other People Don't Wear Seatbelts
Save Money $, Live Longer. What’s Wrong With That?
Posted: May 21, 2010
by: William Jeanes |
I watched bull riding the other night for the first time in a while, and I was flabbergasted to see riders wearing helmets with face guards instead of big western hats. Not all of them, but enough, and they were some strange looking cowboys. I’d always thought you had to have been hit in the head to be a bull rider in the first place, but apparently not. The optional helmets signify that bull riding is taking its place alongside bicycling in the Nanny State.
This got me thinking about seat belts. I remember clearly the days when Formula 1 drivers disdained them. Even the iron-hided Indy guys adopted seat belts before the Grand Prix Grandees buckled up. Even after the racers strapped on strapping in, a lot of ordinary motorists continued to think that seat belts were, if not downright sissy, highly intrusive.
Some of this mid-20th Century thinking survives today, even though there’s enough evidence supporting the efficacy of seat belts to make any thinking person consider them to be a privilege. Still, though national seat belt use in passenger vehicles now hovers around 84 percent, that leaves hundreds of thousands of motorists voluntarily putting themselves in harm’s way.
I remember my own epiphany in this area. In about 1984, I was working on a film project with Jackie Stewart, the three-time World Driving Champion who prodded Formula 1 into major safety advances. We were discussing seat belts, and Sir Jackie said, “I wouldn’t drive fifty feet without my seat belt.”
Up until that moment, I had been an indifferent user of belts. But here was a man who had (at that point in racing history) won more Formula 1 races than anyone in history, and he was telling me that he considered seat belts essential to driving on the street. In the years since, I haven’t driven half a block unbuckled. Unless you count golf carts
This got me thinking about seat belts. I remember clearly the days when Formula 1 drivers disdained them. Even the iron-hided Indy guys adopted seat belts before the Grand Prix Grandees buckled up. Even after the racers strapped on strapping in, a lot of ordinary motorists continued to think that seat belts were, if not downright sissy, highly intrusive.
Some of this mid-20th Century thinking survives today, even though there’s enough evidence supporting the efficacy of seat belts to make any thinking person consider them to be a privilege. Still, though national seat belt use in passenger vehicles now hovers around 84 percent, that leaves hundreds of thousands of motorists voluntarily putting themselves in harm’s way.
I remember my own epiphany in this area. In about 1984, I was working on a film project with Jackie Stewart, the three-time World Driving Champion who prodded Formula 1 into major safety advances. We were discussing seat belts, and Sir Jackie said, “I wouldn’t drive fifty feet without my seat belt.”
Up until that moment, I had been an indifferent user of belts. But here was a man who had (at that point in racing history) won more Formula 1 races than anyone in history, and he was telling me that he considered seat belts essential to driving on the street. In the years since, I haven’t driven half a block unbuckled. Unless you count golf carts
But as I’ve said, pockets of resistance remain. I live in one of them: The state of Mississippi. We are a rural state. That, taken together with the long-running national love affair with pickup trucks, sets our seat belt stats back a ways. Sadly, only 74 percent of all pickup occupants use their belts.
My previous state of residence was Michigan, a state that has a superior seat belt record. Note that both are primary enforcement states when it comes to seat belts. That means that a driver can be stopped for not wearing a seat belt.
Now for some numbers: Mississippi has 2.9 million residents, and Michigan has just over 10 million. Seat belt use in Michigan has risen from 82.3 percent in 2001 to 97.2 percent in 2008. Even so, 980 Michiganders perished in automotive incidents during 2008, the last year for which the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has complete figures.
The record in Mississippi is far worse. Only 71.3 percent of its population wore belts in 2008 (up from a dismal 61.6 percent in 2001), and 783 of its motorists went to the great catfish restaurant in the sky. With only one-third of Michigan’s population, Mississippi’s fatality total was a stunning 84 percent of that in the larger state.
Mississippi found that 432 of its 632 passenger vehicle deaths were unrestrained. The Michigan figure was 244 out of 669. Michigan could not decide whether 84 of its 669 deaths were restrained or unrestrained, so we can’t compare caskets to caskets, but it’s not hard to see that seat belts are a part of life you can live with.
Happily, the number of fatalities per mile driven in this country continues to drop, but we must still deal with as many as 43,000 deaths and 2.1 million injuries per year. That’s counting passenger vehicles, light trucks, bicyclists, and motorcyclists.
In the year 2000, NHTSA calculated the cost to the public of those traffic deaths and injuries that were unnecessary, and the combined cost to the public and private sectors was $26 billion. It pegged the total cost of the 9,200 fatalities at $977,000 each, or about $9 billion in total. There were 143,000 preventable injuries, meaning that injuries cost us $17 billion.
The 2000 NHTSA study also arrived at a total cost of all traffic deaths and injuries: $230.6 billion. If inflation and other factors arrived at a 2008 figure of only $275 billion, that remains a hulking lot of money. The figure, incidentally, includes loss of productivity, medical expense, property damage, and other economic costs.
Now here’s the reason, other than having overdosed on the milk of human kindness, why you should care about people too stupid to use seat belts: Your tax dollars paid for about 9 percent of the total costs, or somewhere just south of $2.5 billion. I know that’s not much in these days of government bailouts, but read on.
Let’s say that Mississippi’s 432 unnecessary deaths, plus unnecessary injuries, represent about one percent of all the deaths and injuries on the nation’s highways and byways -- and that’s pretty close. One percent of the $2.5 billion we arrived at in the preceding paragraph would be $250 million.
How important is $250 million? Well, Mississippi’s total budget for the upcoming year is $5.5 billion, and our deficit for 2010 is predicted to be $480 million. Even to big-spending politicians, a $230 billion deficit looks better than one of $480. A whale of a lot better.
If you do the same arithmetic for Michigan, the picture isn’t quite so bleak because Michigan had about half the preventable deaths and injuries attributed to Mississippi. Not that Michigan’s budget deficit couldn’t use every penny it can find.
But you can see why all of us down in the Magnolia State need to get a grip on our belt buckles. We’re effectively wasting enough money to provide every man, woman, and child with all the catfish they can eat.
My previous state of residence was Michigan, a state that has a superior seat belt record. Note that both are primary enforcement states when it comes to seat belts. That means that a driver can be stopped for not wearing a seat belt.
Now for some numbers: Mississippi has 2.9 million residents, and Michigan has just over 10 million. Seat belt use in Michigan has risen from 82.3 percent in 2001 to 97.2 percent in 2008. Even so, 980 Michiganders perished in automotive incidents during 2008, the last year for which the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has complete figures.
The record in Mississippi is far worse. Only 71.3 percent of its population wore belts in 2008 (up from a dismal 61.6 percent in 2001), and 783 of its motorists went to the great catfish restaurant in the sky. With only one-third of Michigan’s population, Mississippi’s fatality total was a stunning 84 percent of that in the larger state.
Mississippi found that 432 of its 632 passenger vehicle deaths were unrestrained. The Michigan figure was 244 out of 669. Michigan could not decide whether 84 of its 669 deaths were restrained or unrestrained, so we can’t compare caskets to caskets, but it’s not hard to see that seat belts are a part of life you can live with.
Happily, the number of fatalities per mile driven in this country continues to drop, but we must still deal with as many as 43,000 deaths and 2.1 million injuries per year. That’s counting passenger vehicles, light trucks, bicyclists, and motorcyclists.
In the year 2000, NHTSA calculated the cost to the public of those traffic deaths and injuries that were unnecessary, and the combined cost to the public and private sectors was $26 billion. It pegged the total cost of the 9,200 fatalities at $977,000 each, or about $9 billion in total. There were 143,000 preventable injuries, meaning that injuries cost us $17 billion.
The 2000 NHTSA study also arrived at a total cost of all traffic deaths and injuries: $230.6 billion. If inflation and other factors arrived at a 2008 figure of only $275 billion, that remains a hulking lot of money. The figure, incidentally, includes loss of productivity, medical expense, property damage, and other economic costs.
Now here’s the reason, other than having overdosed on the milk of human kindness, why you should care about people too stupid to use seat belts: Your tax dollars paid for about 9 percent of the total costs, or somewhere just south of $2.5 billion. I know that’s not much in these days of government bailouts, but read on.
Let’s say that Mississippi’s 432 unnecessary deaths, plus unnecessary injuries, represent about one percent of all the deaths and injuries on the nation’s highways and byways -- and that’s pretty close. One percent of the $2.5 billion we arrived at in the preceding paragraph would be $250 million.
How important is $250 million? Well, Mississippi’s total budget for the upcoming year is $5.5 billion, and our deficit for 2010 is predicted to be $480 million. Even to big-spending politicians, a $230 billion deficit looks better than one of $480. A whale of a lot better.
If you do the same arithmetic for Michigan, the picture isn’t quite so bleak because Michigan had about half the preventable deaths and injuries attributed to Mississippi. Not that Michigan’s budget deficit couldn’t use every penny it can find.
But you can see why all of us down in the Magnolia State need to get a grip on our belt buckles. We’re effectively wasting enough money to provide every man, woman, and child with all the catfish they can eat.
Last edited by Space; 05-22-2010 at 11:47 AM.
#2
05-22-2010, 04:59 AM
Seat Belt Safety and Statistsics
63% of people killed in car accidents are not wearing seat belts.
Seat Belts are the best protection in a car accident.
Failure to wear a seat belt contributes to more fatalities than any other single traffic safety-related behavior. 63% of people killed in accidents are not wearing seat belts. Wearing a seat belt use is still the single most effective thing we can do to save lives and reduce injuries on America's roadways.
Data suggests that education alone is not doing the job with young people, especially males ages 16 to 25 the age group least likely to buckle up. They simply do not believe they will be injured or killed. Yet they are the nation's highest-risk drivers, with more drunk driving, more speeding, and more crashes. Neither education nor fear of injury or death is strong enough to motivate this tough-to-reach group.
Rather, it takes stronger seat belt laws and high visibility enforcement campaigns to get them to buckle up.
Seat belts are the most effective safety devices in vehicles today, estimated to save 9,500 lives each year. Yet only 68 percent of the motor vehicle occupants are buckled. In 1996, more than 60 percent of the occupants killed in fatal crashes were unrestrained.
If 90 percent of Americans buckle up, we will prevent more than 5,500 deaths and 132,000 injuries annually.
The cost of unbuckled drivers and passengers goes beyond those killed and the loss to their families. We all pay for those who don't buckle up in higher taxes, higher health care and higher insurance costs.
On average, inpatient hospital care costs for an unbelted crash victim are 50 percent higher than those for a belted crash victim. Society bears 85 percent of those costs, not the individuals involved. Every American pays about $580 a year toward the cost of crashes. If everyone buckled up, this figure would drop significantly.
By reaching the goal of 90 percent seat belt use, and 25 percent reduction in child fatalities, we will save $8.8 billion annually. See information on air bags
<A href="http://www.car-accidents.com/accident_photo_US_states.htm">
Car Crash State Gallery
Car Accident Causes
Find Auto Accident Lawyers: Click Here
Car Accident Picture Gallery
Pictures of Head-On Collisions >> Pictures of BMW Crash Accidents>> Main Car Crash Pictures Gallery >> Photos of Mercedes-Benz Crashes >> Auto Accidents World Guide >> Pictures of Drunk Driving Accidents >> Pics of Cell Phone Accidents >> Car-Accidents.com Home Page Rollover Pictures (6 Galleries)>> Rear End Accidents >> Car Fire, Explosion Photos>> Bad Crash Accident Pics>> Saturn Wreck Pics >>VW Beetle Crash Pictures Bus Crash Accidents Pics >> Volvo Car crash Pics >> Funny Crashes >> Pictures of Deer Accidents>>
Porsche Bad Accidents Pics
Ford Mustang Collisions Pics
BMW Crashes
Mercedes Benz Wrecks
Audi Wrecks
Volvo Crash Pictures
63% of people killed in car accidents are not wearing seat belts.
Seat Belts are the best protection in a car accident.
Failure to wear a seat belt contributes to more fatalities than any other single traffic safety-related behavior. 63% of people killed in accidents are not wearing seat belts. Wearing a seat belt use is still the single most effective thing we can do to save lives and reduce injuries on America's roadways.
Data suggests that education alone is not doing the job with young people, especially males ages 16 to 25 the age group least likely to buckle up. They simply do not believe they will be injured or killed. Yet they are the nation's highest-risk drivers, with more drunk driving, more speeding, and more crashes. Neither education nor fear of injury or death is strong enough to motivate this tough-to-reach group.
Rather, it takes stronger seat belt laws and high visibility enforcement campaigns to get them to buckle up.
Seat belts are the most effective safety devices in vehicles today, estimated to save 9,500 lives each year. Yet only 68 percent of the motor vehicle occupants are buckled. In 1996, more than 60 percent of the occupants killed in fatal crashes were unrestrained.
If 90 percent of Americans buckle up, we will prevent more than 5,500 deaths and 132,000 injuries annually.
The cost of unbuckled drivers and passengers goes beyond those killed and the loss to their families. We all pay for those who don't buckle up in higher taxes, higher health care and higher insurance costs.
On average, inpatient hospital care costs for an unbelted crash victim are 50 percent higher than those for a belted crash victim. Society bears 85 percent of those costs, not the individuals involved. Every American pays about $580 a year toward the cost of crashes. If everyone buckled up, this figure would drop significantly.
By reaching the goal of 90 percent seat belt use, and 25 percent reduction in child fatalities, we will save $8.8 billion annually. See information on air bags
<A href="http://www.car-accidents.com/accident_photo_US_states.htm">
Car Crash State Gallery Car Accident Causes Find Auto Accident Lawyers: Click Here
Car Accident Picture Gallery
Pictures of Head-On Collisions >> Pictures of BMW Crash Accidents>> Main Car Crash Pictures Gallery >> Photos of Mercedes-Benz Crashes >> Auto Accidents World Guide >> Pictures of Drunk Driving Accidents >> Pics of Cell Phone Accidents >> Car-Accidents.com Home Page Rollover Pictures (6 Galleries)>> Rear End Accidents >> Car Fire, Explosion Photos>> Bad Crash Accident Pics>> Saturn Wreck Pics >>VW Beetle Crash Pictures Bus Crash Accidents Pics >> Volvo Car crash Pics >> Funny Crashes >> Pictures of Deer Accidents>>
Porsche Bad Accidents Pics
Ford Mustang Collisions Pics
BMW Crashes
Mercedes Benz Wrecks
Audi Wrecks
Volvo Crash Pictures
#3
05-22-2010, 09:44 AM
I disagree with mandatory safety belt laws, and not wearing one resulting in a stoppable offense, it is a personal choice to belt up or not, failure to do so will only end up hurting you.
That said, I would prefer to not be ejected through the windshield in the event of a crash, so I wear mine 90% of the time.
That said, I would prefer to not be ejected through the windshield in the event of a crash, so I wear mine 90% of the time.
#4
05-22-2010, 10:06 AM
i put always but there is time it slips my mind in mn it is a pull overable offence so mainly i started to keep from getting a ticket or give them a reason to pull me over...now it's habit!
#5
05-22-2010, 10:10 AM
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Bushkill, PA
Posts: 3,279
its been a habit of mine to put one on forever.... heck, i wind up putting the seatbelt on when i move my car into the yard to wash it, just because im so used to putting it on. get in, close the door, start the car, seatbelt on, put it in gear and drive. 
its just an automatic reaction for me.
its just an automatic reaction for me.
#6
05-22-2010, 10:45 AM
its been a habit of mine to put one on forever.... heck, i wind up putting the seatbelt on when i move my car into the yard to wash it, just because im so used to putting it on. get in, close the door, start the car, seatbelt on, put it in gear and drive. its just an automatic reaction for me.
its just an automatic reaction for me.
#7
05-22-2010, 10:53 AM
Its a huge habbit for me. Theres times when I get in my car to look for somthing and Ill realize, I just put my seatbelt on. I do however, disagree with it being a law.
#8
05-22-2010, 01:13 PM
im the only one that said no? sorry i believe in fate when its my time to go or get hurt its that time. besides knowing my luck ill wind up paralyzed from the eyebrows down. i want to make sure when i go its quick. my gf always wears hers and nags at me about it. when ever i get pulled over for it always tell the cops it makes me nervous. like im getting ready to crash. i always wind up getting away with it but am then forced to put it on in front of them before i drive away. i always take it off once im a block ahead of them though.
#9
05-22-2010, 02:33 PM
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Bushkill, PA
Posts: 3,279
i think the best "seatbelts save lives" advocate should be JJ, after seeing how bad their van got wrecked and the fact that him & lisa basicly walked away, well thats just amazing IMO.
#10
05-22-2010, 02:53 PM
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Nubraska
Posts: 7,082
I always wear mine but I put sometimes mainly because when Im in town going 20 or so I dont wear it, it gets really uncomfortable and a huge pain then. On the highway and gravel I like make people wear them in my car.