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Posted on 05/15/2006 2:20:53 AM PDT by mathprof
Seat belt use is reaching record levels, so just who are the holdouts who fail to buckle up? Often they are young men who live in rural areas and drive pickups, the government says.
About 48 million people do not regularly put on seat belts when they are on the road, a figure the government's highway safety agency hopes to lower with an annual public education campaign ahead of the summer driving season.
The "Click It or Ticket" campaign involves checkpoints, patrols and advertisements to help enforce seat belt laws. It runs from May 22 through June 4.
The latest report on seat belt use by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says men account for 65 percent of the more than 31,000 people killed each year in passenger vehicles.
The report being released Monday found:
_58 percent of those killed who were not wearing a seat belt crashed along rural roads.
_in crashes involving pickup trucks, about seven in 10 people who died were unbelted.
_more than six in 10 people age 8-44 who were killed inside a passenger vehicle were not buckled up.
The agency said that lap and shoulder safety belts reduce the risk of death for those in the front seat of passenger cars by 45 percent and the risk of moderate-to-critical injuries by 50 percent.
The fatality risk for front-seat motorists in sport utility vehicles, pickup trucks and vans who wear seat belts is reduced by 60 percent; moderate-to-critical injuries by 65 percent.
The public education campaign is using $31 million in state and federal grants for national and state ads that seek to attract young drivers who watch sporting events such as NASCAR and baseball.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Arguing with, or otherwise provoking a patrol cop (or judge) is generally a losing proposition.
If you get a ticket hire a lawyer and he might find a loophole to get you off scot free.
Or you could lobby your state legislators.
BUMP
Normally, you can take most of the play out of the steering by adjusting the steering gear box...
And now a word from the originator of this bs.....
Now let me touch on another area of the legislation that is near and dear to my heart. Safety was at the forefront during my five years as Secretary of Transportation. Our Rule 208, as we called it at Transportation, encouraged the passage of state seat belt laws and the inclusion of air bags in new cars.
In 1984, (ahhh, the irony) there were only a handful of air bag equipped cars on the road. Not a single manufacturer was currently offering air bags. I remember a long search for a car with an air bag to use in a demonstration on the White House lawn. But today, Mr. President, that number stands at 40 million, and as we all now know, air bags save lives and prevent crippling, disabling injuries.
And, at that time in 1984, there was only a 14 percent usage rate for seat belts, and there was not one single state seat belt law in the United States. Our regulation 208 changed all of that, and today, 49 states and the District of Columbia have seat belt laws. (Good on you New Hampshire!)
As of 1998, the national seat belt use rate was 69 percent. Some states, like my home state of North Carolina, have a use rate of over 80 percent! It is estimated that 11,900 fatalities and 325,000 serious injuries are prevented each year due to seat belt usage. Mr. President, it is said that Rule 208 literally changed the climate of highway safety in America.
And, it was also a privilege back then to work with my friend Senator Frank Lautenberg to champion legislation encouraging states to raise their drinking age to 21 thereby helping to eliminate drunk driving and blood borders between our states.
SINator ELIZABETH DOLE
The lesson of seat belts saving lives is very real to me. My older brother lost control while driving and flipped the car rolling 3 times and sliding 300 feet in a drainage ditch coming to rest upside down. He and three passengers walked away from this crash with no more than minor cuts because they all were wearing seat belts. Note this was in 1957 when seat belts were a rarity and airbags and other crash protective technologies were unknown. My father, a physician, insisted all our cars have seat belts and we were to wear them at all times.
Well, not wearing seatbelts is what continues to prove Darwin is right with his Theory of Evolution. Don't wear them and you help clean out the gene pool eventually eliminating the "stupid" gene.
"It's coming out of yet another 11-year hibernation, and I'm hoping for the same results."
Geez, I hope among other things you flush the fuel system and clean out the tank before you start that thing.
Hot Rod mag (within the past 3 issues IIRC) answered a readers question on the subject of starting a long inactive car. check it out. hotrod.com
Just exactly right! Thanks!
why? they already charge premiums if you don't wear your seatbelt. all the insurance i've had, you get a penalty for not wearing your seatbelt.
We need to find those 48 million who refuse to buckle up and appoint them to office. At least they understand freedom and rugged individualism, unlike these nanny statist control freaks that run most of the states now.
You brought up an excellent point on the federal black mail deal. It is still unfortunate that they caved in, though.
58 percent of those killed who were not wearing a seat belt crashed along rural roads. _in crashes involving pickup trucks, about seven in 10 people who died were unbelted. _more than six in 10 people age 8-44 who were killed inside a passenger vehicle were not buckled up.
A friend of ours lost her 17 years old Nephew just this way. Dry payment, no traffic, good asphalt road. Lost control and rolled over. Not buckled up. But how does one argue with people who believe in magic?
I'm with you. But all you're gonna hear is the "DARWIN AWARD" crap, and "You should have to buy 'no-sealt belt' insurance, and other such non-sense. I swear, the nanny mentality has taken root all-over.
I say, make up your own mind. If you are an adult, you should be able to. Funny, no one here has mentioned the merits of DEFENSIVE DRIVING. I guess that's got too much to do with individualism.
Flame away, folks.
I received no verbal lashing, the cop just walked away after he told me that it was unsafe to wear a seat belt that way as it could break my ribs. I put my arm through it, and as it snapped across my neck I said, "better my ribs than my friggin neck!"
P.S. I am under 5' tall and in four states, have never received a ticket for not using the shoulder harness.
I dont believe in government programs to being with.
We obviously need a free market. The explosion of costs in the last 40 years is directly linked to Medicare, Medicaid (The Great Society of Lyndon Johnson).
Smoking is a science-related issue and I think there's too much politically-based science that is personal belief and conjecture, not fact.
Sadly, we base too many decisions (Kyoto, global warming, evolution, fatty foods, smoking) on whatever the latest scientific fad is with research often done by people with an agenda.
Science can change its mind. Take oat bran, for instance.
It was good, then bad for your health.
That IS the point! We no longer have the FREEDOM to accept the responsibility of our "risky" behavior. We are being dictated to as to what behavior we may or may not engage in. Personal responsibility has been banned in favor of the nanny state. Not to mention, WHO decides what is "RISKY" behavior.
You actually own a Yugo?
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Well, I know someone who was giving a ride to a fellow student during student teaching. The guy refused to wear a seatbelt, she wrecked and he got a lot of money from her insurance. It was argued that she should have insisted and not moved until he buckled it. All of his injuries could have been avoided had she done that, he lives in a VERY nice house, and didn't get it from his teacher salary.
Our vehicles don't move until all are buckled up, that is our law, we don't need the state to tell us.
This story is wrong. I'm a young man living in 'rural America' I Don't buckle up, but I don't drive a truck. I have a new Mustang =).
One thing generates revenue. The other thing consumes budget.
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