Several traffic accidents on Ohio roads have resulted in fatalities in recent months, some of which could have been prevented if seat belts had been in use.
During the weekend of March 19-21, seven accidents, none of which involved the use of seat belts, resulted in seven fatalities. In nine car wrecks occurring on the weekend of Feb 27-29, 10 people were killed. Only one of the 10 people involved was wearing a seat belt. These accidents are just part of a pattern of fatalities caused by drivers and passengers not wearing their seat belts.
Not many weekends go by where the vast number of people killed in crashes are wearing their seat belts
said Lt. Rick Fambro, spokesman for the Ohio State Highway Patrol.
Ohio University senior Mike Suter said he always wears his seat belt when driving because he believes it might have saved his sister's life.
When I was in 4th or 5th grade she took me home from baseball practice. We were at a stop sign and I told her to put her seat belt on
he said. A minute later
we got T-boned by a drunk driver.
The drunk driver ran into the side of the car in which Suter was riding. There were no injuries from the crash.
There are some cases, however, where seat belts do not save lives. In some crashes, they can actually prevent people from leaving the vehicle, causing other injuries, said Jeremy Cummings, head engineer of Cummings Engineering in Tallahassee, Fla.
It depends heavily upon the accident. In a typical frontal impact crash
the seat belt restrains the occupant and prevents them from hitting the windshield
the steering wheel or the door
Cummings said. In a side impact crash
the seat belt is keeping the occupant in the car.
But in the average head on collision, seat belts have been proven to save lives, Fambro said.
Statistics have shown that if you're a front seat passenger or driver and you're in a crash
you have a 50 percent better chance of surviving if you're wearing a safety belt
he said. It's the simplest form of protection you can use and it's the easiest to apply.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reported in August 2003 that 4,200 lives could be saved each year if 90 percent of the population wore seat belts.
Cummings said a seat belt, even with its problems, is still more effective than an airbag.
Certainly if I had a choice between having a seat belt or airbag
