Seatbelts Reduce Death and Serious Injury in Car Crashes

John Cooper

Attorney
(866) 735-1102 Ext 312

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In May, 2007, another annual click it or ticket campaign occurred. The Virginia click it or ticket program is trying to improve statewide safety belt compliance which is currently 78.6%. The goal for Virginia (VA) is to get the rate of people wearing their seatbelts up to 82%. North Carolina (NC) has been ahead of Virginia (VA) on seatbelt usage, having a rate of 86.7% of its motorist buckling up in 2005. North Carolina has used a click it or ticket campaign, and they had a dramatic reduction of 14% in fatal and serious highway injuries. The North Carolina program became a model for other states across the country.

Wearing your seatbelt you avoid having your head or your face strike something in the car in the event of a collision. In a recent report from March of 2007, by the Center for Disease Control (CDC), it was indicated that there has been an increase in hospitalizations related to traumatic brain injuries based upon the study of data from nine states in 2003. Motor vehicles wrecks were a main cause of the traumatic brain injury hospitalizations. Each year in the U.S. there are over a million emergency room visits because of brain trauma and 50,000 deaths. Traumatic brain injury can involve devastating and permanent impairment even when there is no open wound to the skin or the skull on the head.

Buckle up in Virginia (VA) and North Carolina (NC), not just to avoid a ticket, but to protect yourself from becoming a highway statistic. Make sure that the young and the old in your family also buckle up as they are often less likely to do so.