At our Personal Injury Law Firm in Sacramento, CA, I see many accidents in which the person killed was not wearing his or her seatbelt. Out of curiosity, I decided to see if I could find seatbelt statistics for California. On the website for the California Office of Traffic Safety (OTS) I found just what I was looking for. A couple of statistics, listed below, reassured me of the necessity to buckle up:
* Seat belts reduce a person’s chances of dying in a crash by 50 percent.
* In 2004, NHTSA estimates that in California 481 unrestrained vehicle occupants would have survived their crash had they simply buckled up.
Reading further on, however, I was actually encouraged by many of the percentages the OTS provided. It seems that California is ahead of the game compared to many other states nationally in the outlook they have towards seatbelt use:
* California’s seat belt usage rate increased 2.1 percentage points from 90.4 percent in 2004 to 92.5 percent in 2005 – which is significantly better than the national average of 82 percent and represents the largest single year increase since 2000 to 2001.
* California’s 2005 teen seat belt use rate: 88.6 percent.
* California’s 2005 child safety seat usage rate is 86.9 percent.
Taking some of those same statistics, however, and putting them into the actual number of people makes the amount of unrestrained passengers a little more daunting:
* Approximately 2.7 million vehicle occupants remain unbelted in California.
These are numbers that cause some concern and apprehension. Please wear your seatbelt when driving, even when traveling short distances. For your sake of those you love. You never know when an accident could occur, don’t let it be too late.
If you or one of your family members have been injured in an accident, you need advice. Please give us a call at the Law Offices of Moseley Collins, we are here to help.