The time to move your child from a booster seat to a seat belt usually comes when the child is between 8 and 12 years old. Keep your children in booster seats until they exceed the size limits of the booster seats or are large enough to fit properly in seat belts. Kahane C. Reduce seat belt fatalities for front seat seat occupants of passenger cars and light commercial vehicles. Washington, DC: NHTSA, U.S. DOT. HS DOT 809 199; 2000. Every year, about 37,000 people die in car accidents. Car accidents are the leading cause of death among people under the age of 25 in the United States. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) estimates that of the occupants of cars killed in 2018 who wore seat belts, 47 percent were uninhibited. A total of 9,778 people who died in accidents in 2018 were uninhibited.
NHTSA research also shows that 87% of car occupants who survived fatal accidents in 2018 were retained and 13% were uninhibited. Seat belts in passenger cars saved an estimated 14,955 lives in 2017 and prevented thousands of injuries. Another 2,549 lives could have been saved in 2017 if all uninhibited passengers involved in fatal crashes had their seat belts, according to NHTSA. In the center rear seat, shoulder straps and shoulder straps reduce the risk of fatal injuries in cars and SUVs, vans and pickup trucks by 58% (Kahane, 2017). U.S. seat belt laws may be subject to primary or secondary application. The main app allows a law enforcement officer to stop and punish a driver if they discover an offence. Secondary enforcement means that a peace officer can only stop or summon a driver for seat belt violation if the driver has simultaneously committed another predicate offence (e.g., speeding, driving over a stop sign, etc.). New Hampshire is the only U.S. state that, by law, does not require adult drivers to wear seat belts when driving a motor vehicle. Another national survey conducted in 2016 found that the main reason adults did not use seat belts in the back was because they felt the back seat was safer than the front seat (Jermakian and Weast, 2018).
The Guide to Preventive Community Services (the Community Guide: What Works to Promote Health) covers laws that mandate seat belt use, improvements to enforcement programs, and studies on the effectiveness of seat belts on the Motor Vehicle Injury Prevention website: use of seat belts. Dinh-Zarr TB, Sleet DA, Shults RA, Zaza S, Elder RW, Nichols JL, Thompson RS, Sosin DM, Task Force on Community Preventive Services. To review the evidence for interventions to increase seat belt use. American Journal of Preventive Medicine 2001;21(4S):48-65. All new passenger cars had a seat belt shape from 1964, shoulder belts in 1968, and lap belts and shoulder belts integrated in 1974 ([Automotive Coalition for Traffic Safety (ACTS)], 2001). Only a few detainees wore the belt: surveys conducted at various locations showed that the use of the belt was about 10 per cent. The first large-scale survey, conducted in 19 cities in 1982, observed 11% of seat belt use by drivers and passengers ([Williams and Wells, 2004]). (UNC Road Safety Research Centre, 2011, pp. 2-4) Research confirms that seat belt laws significantly increase seat belt use and that primary enforcement laws are more effective than secondary enforcement laws. According to NHTSA, 92 percent of front seat occupants in states with primary enforcement laws have fastened their seatbelts, compared to 86.2 percent of front seat occupants in states where secondary enforcement or no laws were passed in 2019.
It is also worth noting the effect of seat belt laws on rear occupants. In 2018, 81 percent of rear seat occupants used seat belts in states with seat belt laws for all seating positions, while 68.7 percent of rear seat occupants used seat belts only for front seats in states with seat belt laws. A national telephone survey conducted by the Institute in 2012 found that the main reasons for not using seat belts among people who used seat belts sometimes, but not all the time, were driving short distances, forgetfulness and discomfort (Kidd et al., 2014). In people who have never used a seat belt, the main reasons for not using them were discomfort, the belief that it is not necessary and the aversion to being told what to do. We know that you make every effort to protect your children. However, parenting can be a hectic job. The daily routine of bringing your children to school and other activities can be rushed and chaotic, creating an environment where insisting on wearing a seat belt is not paramount. See if you`re facing these five challenges in getting tweens to wear their seat belts – and stay there. Tenn. Code Ann.
§ 55-9-603 describes Tennessee as the primary seat belt state. Drivers are required to wear seat belts at all times when driving a motor vehicle in Tennessee. All drivers and passengers are subject to the Seat Belt Act and must have a seat belt securely fastened on the body at all times when the vehicle is moving forward. Seat belt use is lower among youth and men. In 2019, 88% of 16- to 24-year-olds were seen in the front seat with their seat belts, compared to 91% of those aged 25 to 69 and 92% of those aged 70 and older (Enriquez, 2020). Ninety-three percent of front seat occupants were observed using their seat belts, compared to 89 percent of men. In a study of potentially fatal accidents involving rear seat occupants 5 years of age and older, lap belts reduced the risk of fatal injuries to outboard occupants by 32% in cars and 63% in vans and SUVs (Morgan, 1999). Although lap belts were not as effective as lap belts and shoulder belts, especially in the event of a frontal fall, the use of lap belts offered more protection than lap belts. It`s been a long time since your toddlers went from a booster seat to an adult seat belt, and now they`re teenagers. Do you think it`s time to relax? Think again.
The majority of young people involved in fatal accidents do not wear their seat belts. If everyone had tied up, an additional 2,549 deaths could have been prevented. While the vast majority of drivers and passengers use seat belts, nearly half of those who die in accidents are not fastened. Half of the motorists killed in 2019 (49%) and 53% of the passengers killed in 2019 used seat belts. Only 29% of rear seat occupants aged 13 and over, who were fatally injured, were tethered. Seat belts are the best defense against impaired, aggressive and distracted drivers. If you are tied up in an accident, you can be safe in your vehicle. Being ejected from a vehicle is almost always fatal.
Seat belt use observed nationally in 2019 was 91% for drivers and 89% for front-duty passengers (Enriquez, 2020). The use of the belt is lower in the rear seat: 78% of rear occupants were observed with belts in 2019. Seat belt use rates are lower among fatally injured occupants than in the general population, as the risk of death is much higher if no seat belts are worn. In addition, people who do not use a belt tend to be riskier drivers. Even if a vehicle has been slowed down or stopped after a collision with another vehicle or object, unsealed occupants move at the same speed until they catch up and crash into the one in front of them. Seat belts help prevent or reduce injuries caused by this second collision by tying people to their seats so that they slow down with the vehicle, as its compression zone absorbs most of the kinetic energy associated with the vehicle and the occupant`s movement before the accident.