With school beginning in Miami-Dade County, it’s time to reinforce how important it is to wear a seat belt – no matter where you are sitting in a vehicle. According to many safety experts, we’re careless when it comes to buckling up, especially in the rear seats of a car. A new study released a short time ago finds that rear seat passengers can become human missiles in an accident, injuring not just themselves, but those in the front seats as well.
According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety survey, many rear-seat passengers don’t think seat belts are necessary because they perceive the back seat to be safer than the front. In fact, when a car crashes at 35 miles per hour, an unbelted back seat passenger can become a human projectile, slam into the front seats, and push those passengers dangerously into their airbags, steering wheel and dashboard.
In 2015, the most recent year for which data is available, seat belts saved 13,941 lives according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. However, an additional 2,800 deaths could have been prevented if everyone simply buckled up.
Per the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety Survey, 91 percent of people always use their seat belt while sitting in the front of a vehicle while only 72 percent use one in the back. That number drops precipitously to 57 percent for back seat riders when traveling in a taxi or in a ridesharing services such as Uber or Lyft.
The simple fact is that seat belts save lives and can prevent even more serious injuries in a traffic accident. This is especially important as our community heads back to school following the summer break. In Florida, it’s the law to buckle up.
If you, or someone you care about, have been injured in accident, contact Weinstein & Cohen, personal injury attorneys at 305-374-1011 or 239-793-3331, for a free and confidential legal consultation to learn more about your options.
