Seat Belt Research Paper

Buckling Down on Safety: The Importance of Seat Belts Considering the high frequency at which car accidents occur, it’s a wonder that more people don’t deem seat belts to be the number one priority when riding or driving in a vehicle. It’s not uncommon to see drivers and passengers not wearing their seat belts, or even to see kids freely moving all around the backseat of a car. In fact, everyone is bound to know someone who doesn’t wear their seat belt. Drivers and passengers alike give many varying reasons for why they prefer not to wear a seat belt, but these are just excuses. No matter what their reasoning is, it doesn’t change the fact that a seat belt can and will save your life. In order to fully realize the how crucial it is to wear a seat belt, one must understand the constant danger that driving on the road presents, the reality that there is no excuse for failing to put on a seat belt, and how much your life depends on wearing a seat belt the correct way instead of doing what feels more comfortable …show more content…
For light-truck occupants, seat belts reduce the risk of fatal injury by 60 percent and moderate-to-critical injury by 65 percent. (“Traffic Safety”)
Seat belts help prevent or reduce a wide range of injuries, many of which are life-threatening. They prevent these injuries by keeping your body tight against the seat and absorbing the force of the impact that otherwise would have resulted in your body slamming against the interior of the vehicle. They are most effective in preventing ejection from the vehicle, and, according to the NHTSA, “ejection from the vehicle is one of the most injurious events that can happen to a person in a crash. In fatal crashes in 2006, 75 percent of passenger vehicle occupants who were totally ejected from the vehicle were