I was mulling the recent news of an upstate NY Iraq vet, Sgt. Taylor Parker, 26, who died over the weekend in an auto accident. Sgt. Parker was not wearing his seatbelt.
According to the Times Union article linked above, the sad irony is that "Parker was on his way home from a formal dinner for noncommissioned officers hosted by the National Guard". The Troy Record reports that "Adding to the irony is the fact that the afternoon before the accident that took his life, Parker was immortalized in a painting hung in the 42nd Infantry Division headquarters that depicted him and other U.S. soldiers in Iraq two years ago."
Follow for some seatbelt-related thoughts.
There is no guarantee that wearing a seatbelt will save your life. My niece was involved in a terrible crash earlier this summer in the Twin Cities--a carload of teens was traveling at a high rate of speed and lost control. All four teens were belted in but the driver was killed. My niece only suffered a broken ankle but I'm sure the emotional scars will be long-lasting.
I started poking around the internet, looking for some statistics on belt usage, and by coincidence, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has just released [9/24/07] the 2007 results [website] [four-page pdf] of its survey of seat belt use.
A few highlights:
Belt use in States in which motorists can be pulled over solely for not using seat belts rose 2 percentage points to 87 percent in 2007. There is now a 14-percentage-point difference between use in these States and those with weaker enforcement laws.
[snip]
Seat belt use has risen steadily since NOPUS (National Occupant Protection Use Survey) began collecting data in 1994, and this has been accompanied by a steady decline in passenger vehicle occupant fatalities per mile traveled.
[snip]
Seat belts are approximately 50 percent effective at preventing fatality and save approximately 15,000 lives each year. (Traffic Safety Facts: 2005 Data, NHTSA, DOT HS 810621). For more information on the campaign by NHTSA and the States to increase seat belt use, see www.buckleupamerica.org.
It's interesting that usage varies greatly by region and by type of vehicle and type of road. Pickup trucks: 72%; Northeast: 78%; West: 93%. What's disturbing is that samplings took place between the hours of 7:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m.; I'd imagine that more alcohol- and drug-impaired drivers are on the road outside of these hours and that their belt usage is lower.
The moral of the story: please wear your seatbelt. Even if you're in total control of your mindset and your vehicle, some drunk or cellphone-distracted idiot can come out of nowhere and ruin your day.
I know there is a subset of the population that feels that government-mandated protective devices like seatbelts and motorcycle helmets are a nuisance. I also know that the nanny state can get out of control [witness changes in fats in fast food in NYC]. However, I feel that the costs and consequences to society of not using belts and helmets is greater than the squashing of personal freedom that the forced use of these devices brings.