51% Percentage of Passenger Vehicle Occupants Killed in 2020 Who Were Unrestrained Of the 23,824 passenger vehicle occupants killed in 2020, 51% were not wearing seat belts — a 4% increase from 2019. Seat belts saved an estimated 14,955 lives and could have saved an additional 2,549 people if they had been wearing seat belts, in 2017 alone.
The consequences of not wearing, or improperly wearing, a seat belt are clear: Traffic Safety Facts 1. Buckling up helps keep you safe and secure inside your vehicle, whereas not buckling up can result in being totally ejected from the vehicle in a crash, which is almost always deadly.2. Air bags are not enough to protect you; in fact, the force of an air bag can seriously injure or even kill you if you’re not buckled up.3.
Improperly wearing a seat belt, such as putting the strap below your arm, puts you and your children at risk in a crash. The benefits of buckling up are equally clear:
- If you buckle up in the front seat of a passenger car, you can reduce your risk of:
- Fatal injury by 45% (Kahane, 2015)
- Moderate to critical injury by 50%
- If you buckle up in a light truck, you can reduce your risk of:
- Fatal injury by 60% (Kahane, 2015)
- Moderate to critical injury by 65% (NHTSA, 1984)
Follow these seat belt tips and guidelines, including do’s and don’ts when you’re pregnant. Then have some fun quizzing yourself about the myths and facts of buckling up, and test your seat belt IQ.
How many deaths are caused by not wearing a seatbelt?
51% Percentage of Passenger Vehicle Occupants Killed in 2020 Who Were Unrestrained Of the 23,824 passenger vehicle occupants killed in 2020, 51% were not wearing seat belts — a 4% increase from 2019. Seat belts saved an estimated 14,955 lives and could have saved an additional 2,549 people if they had been wearing seat belts, in 2017 alone.
- The consequences of not wearing, or improperly wearing, a seat belt are clear: Traffic Safety Facts 1.
- Buckling up helps keep you safe and secure inside your vehicle, whereas not buckling up can result in being totally ejected from the vehicle in a crash, which is almost always deadly.2.
- Air bags are not enough to protect you; in fact, the force of an air bag can seriously injure or even kill you if you’re not buckled up.3.
Improperly wearing a seat belt, such as putting the strap below your arm, puts you and your children at risk in a crash. The benefits of buckling up are equally clear:
- If you buckle up in the front seat of a passenger car, you can reduce your risk of:
- Fatal injury by 45% (Kahane, 2015)
- Moderate to critical injury by 50%
- If you buckle up in a light truck, you can reduce your risk of:
- Fatal injury by 60% (Kahane, 2015)
- Moderate to critical injury by 65% (NHTSA, 1984)
Follow these seat belt tips and guidelines, including do’s and don’ts when you’re pregnant. Then have some fun quizzing yourself about the myths and facts of buckling up, and test your seat belt IQ.
How many lives have been saved by Seatbelts?
Origin – Stories about fiery crashes in which a car’s occupants are burned alive thanks to the seat belts that held them in place have been recorded in print as far back as 1981, and one of our readers reports hearing this tale in Ohio in the 1960s. One such example was collected on the Internet in 1997: The caller claimed that a police officer friend had told him that seat belts CAUSE as many injuries as they prevent.
He then went on to say that his friend had told him that the worst accident he had ever seen was one in which a young married couple and their two kids were burned to death in a fiery auto crash because they were unable to escape from their electronically-locked seat belt units. Common to the legend about the burnt-to-death seat belt wearers is the characterization of the victims as numbering among life’s innocents.
They are invariably presented as sympathetic figures, a detail which works to make their gruesome deaths seem all that more appalling. One will hear that they were young marrieds with two small children, or five bridesmaids on the way to a wedding, for instance.
In this legend, it seems it’s not enough the carnage has to be on a large scale (four or five people trapped in a burning car is so much more horrific than having just one fellow torched); the victims have to be such that those hearing the story immediately shake their heads in disbelief at the senseless tragedy in this world.
In other words, we’re talking nuns, Boy Scouts, little kids, newlyweds, bridesmaids, babies, and puppy dogs. Two cremated salesmen from Des Moines won’t wrench the heart the way five crisped Sisters of the Little Charity will. The false belief that it’s safer not to wear a seat belt in case the vehicle catches fire persists despite the mountain of evidence countering it.
Death by incineration or drowning accounts for less than one-tenth of one percent of motor-vehicle-related traumas. Most passengers who are ejected from vehicles die, and the majority of them are thrown through the windshield. The chances of injury from hitting the pavement, a fixed object, or a moving vehicle (including your own) are also much greater if you are not wearing a seat belt.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says: Most crash fatalities result from the force of impact or from being thrown from the vehicle, not from being trapped. All studies show you are much more likely to survive a crash if you are buckled in.
Ejected occupants are four times as likely to be killed as those who remain inside. Yes, but what if the unthinkable happens and the car catches fire or plunges into a river? Being restrained actually increases the chances of escape from burning or submerged vehicles. Those not harnessed in get knocked around during the accident, often resulting in unconsciousness.
And an unconscious accident victim has no chance of getting out of a burning or rapidly sinking car. Ann Landers in 1994 and Dear Abby in 1991 both quoted a policeman who’d seen his share of accidents: “I’ve never unbuckled a dead man.” So with the evidence so strongly stacked in favor of buckling up, why do so many persist in not wearing a seat belt and indeed in believing the fiction about the five crisped bridesmaids? The decision not to use a safety restraint is a way to deny the risks of driving.
How common are spinal fractures caused by not wearing a seatbelt?
Seat Belt Statistics Teens, as both passengers and drivers, have the lowest rate of seat belt use of any age group, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Seat belt statistics show the consequences are deadly for not using seat belts.
- In 2020, 1,885 young drivers (ages 15-20) died in traffic crashes, a 17% increase from 1,616 in 2019; More than half (52%) were not wearing a seat belt.
- More states are enacting primary seat belt laws to potentially save many teen lives.
- Seat belt use is one of the most effective ways to save lives and reduce injuries in crashes.
Seat belts prevent drivers and passengers from being ejected during a crash. More than 3 out of 4 people who are ejected during a crash die from their injuries. Parents should insist on seat belts on every trip and encourage their teens to buckle up before turning on the ignition.
Parents should also model safe driving behaviors at all times, including always wearing a seat belt. Watch this video with your teen about how to buckle up correctly for optimum safety : Sharing seat belt statistics with your teen will increase awareness of a proven way to stay safe on the road. Statistics Over 60% of pediatric spinal fractures occur in children ages 15-17, coinciding with the beginning of legal driving.
Motor vehicle crashes (MVCs) are the most common cause, and nearly two-thirds of pediatric spinal fractures sustained in MVCs occurred when seat belts were not used.
Do seat belts really burn people alive in car crashes?
Origin – Stories about fiery crashes in which a car’s occupants are burned alive thanks to the seat belts that held them in place have been recorded in print as far back as 1981, and one of our readers reports hearing this tale in Ohio in the 1960s. One such example was collected on the Internet in 1997: The caller claimed that a police officer friend had told him that seat belts CAUSE as many injuries as they prevent.
He then went on to say that his friend had told him that the worst accident he had ever seen was one in which a young married couple and their two kids were burned to death in a fiery auto crash because they were unable to escape from their electronically-locked seat belt units. Common to the legend about the burnt-to-death seat belt wearers is the characterization of the victims as numbering among life’s innocents.
They are invariably presented as sympathetic figures, a detail which works to make their gruesome deaths seem all that more appalling. One will hear that they were young marrieds with two small children, or five bridesmaids on the way to a wedding, for instance.
In this legend, it seems it’s not enough the carnage has to be on a large scale (four or five people trapped in a burning car is so much more horrific than having just one fellow torched); the victims have to be such that those hearing the story immediately shake their heads in disbelief at the senseless tragedy in this world.
In other words, we’re talking nuns, Boy Scouts, little kids, newlyweds, bridesmaids, babies, and puppy dogs. Two cremated salesmen from Des Moines won’t wrench the heart the way five crisped Sisters of the Little Charity will. The false belief that it’s safer not to wear a seat belt in case the vehicle catches fire persists despite the mountain of evidence countering it.
Death by incineration or drowning accounts for less than one-tenth of one percent of motor-vehicle-related traumas. Most passengers who are ejected from vehicles die, and the majority of them are thrown through the windshield. The chances of injury from hitting the pavement, a fixed object, or a moving vehicle (including your own) are also much greater if you are not wearing a seat belt.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says: Most crash fatalities result from the force of impact or from being thrown from the vehicle, not from being trapped. All studies show you are much more likely to survive a crash if you are buckled in.
Ejected occupants are four times as likely to be killed as those who remain inside. Yes, but what if the unthinkable happens and the car catches fire or plunges into a river? Being restrained actually increases the chances of escape from burning or submerged vehicles. Those not harnessed in get knocked around during the accident, often resulting in unconsciousness.
And an unconscious accident victim has no chance of getting out of a burning or rapidly sinking car. Ann Landers in 1994 and Dear Abby in 1991 both quoted a policeman who’d seen his share of accidents: “I’ve never unbuckled a dead man.” So with the evidence so strongly stacked in favor of buckling up, why do so many persist in not wearing a seat belt and indeed in believing the fiction about the five crisped bridesmaids? The decision not to use a safety restraint is a way to deny the risks of driving.
