Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for Americans between the ages of 6 and 33.
41,611 Americans died in traffic accidents. That's an average of 114 deaths a day or one death every 13 minutes.
In addition to these fatalities, 3. 2 million people were injured in traffic crashes. Many of these deaths and injuries.
could have been prevented by the use of a safety belt. In 1999, safety belts saved an estimated 11,197 lives. If all.
the passenger vehicle occupants over the age of 4 wore their safety belts, an additional 9,553 lives could have.
been saved. If you know all of this information and are still not wearing your seat belt, you may need to ask.
yourself, why not? .
Or better yet, try this scenario on for size . Imagine running as fast as you can into a wall. You'd expect to get.
pretty banged up, right? Do you think you could stop yourself if the wall suddenly loomed up when you were two.
feet away from it? This is exactly the situation you face when the front of your car hits something at only 15 miles.
per hour. The car stops in the first tenth of a second, but you keep on at the same rate you were going in the car.
until something stops you - the steering wheel, dashboard or windshield- IF you're not wearing you safety belt.
Bad enough at 15 miles an hour, but at 30 miles an hour (which seems relatively slow), you would 'hit' the wall.
four times as hard as you would at 15 miles per hour. Or to put in another way, with the same impact you'd feel if.
you feel three stories. Seatbelts help absorb that impact. They distribute the forces of rapid deceleration over the.
larger and stronger parts of your body, like your chest, hips and shoulders. The belt slows your body down and.
increases the stopping distance.
Still not convinced on wearing a seatbelt? OK, well you're not alone. There are plenty of people who don't believe in wearing seatbelts and they have come up with many excuses as their reasons for not wearing a seatbelt.