Thanksgiving is the beginning of the holiday season as well as the year’s busiest travel weekend. Whether you’re driving across the street or across the country to reach your Thanksgiving feast, it’s imperative to wear your seat belt as you travel. Increased traffic brings an increased possibility of a traffic crash.
Seat belts work!
- Proper seat belt use reduces the risk of fatal injury to front-seat passengers by 45 percent and the risk of moderate to serious injury by 50 percent.
- Males are more likely to be unbuckled than females in fatal crashes.
- Younger drivers are also at greater risk of being unbuckled. The 13- to 15-year-old age group had the highest percentage — 62 percent — of occupants killed who were not wearing their seat belts at the time of the crash.
- If you are ejected from a vehicle in a crash, odds are that you will not survive. In 2016, 8 out of 10 (81 percent) people who were totally ejected from vehicles were killed. Only 1 percent of occupants wearing seat belts were ejected in fatal crashes.
- There were 4 Iowans killed in traffic crashes over the 2017 Thanksgiving weekend, a reduction of 2 from 2016.
“Year after year, we are devastated by stories of family members who are killed on their way to Thanksgiving festivities,” said Pat Hoye, bureau chief of the Iowa Governor’s Traffic Safety Bureau. “Seat belts are the most basic vehicle technology that has, without a doubt, saved the most lives.”
Whether you’re a passenger or the driver, riding long distances or short, please buckle your seat belt. Doing so ensures everyone arrives safely to their Thanksgiving destinations. The Department of Public Safety and the Governor’s Traffic Safety Bureau ask, “Won’t you wear yours?”
Your loved ones will be thankful.
