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Seat Belt News
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May 26, 2010 at 9:57 pm #3997Jeff in KentuckyParticipant
From a longer article by Ken Thomas • Associated Press • May 24, 2010
The government estimated Monday that 45 million Americans are not using seat belts in their cars. An estimated 84 percent of motorists wore their seat belts in 2009, an all-time high. Eighty-three percent were buckled up in 2008.
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said an average of 38 unbelted people a day are killed in motor vehicle crashes. In 2008, nearly 14,000 motorists not wearing seat belts were killed in motor vehicle crashes. Half could have been saved if they had buckled up, he said.
“Wearing your seat belt costs you nothing and not wearing one costs everything,” LaHood said.
Statistics compiled by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration found that those least likely to buckle up are teens and young adults, males, nighttime riders, motorists traveling on rural roads and motorists riding in pickup trucks.
Among states, Michigan led the nation with 98 percent of its motorists buckling up, followed by Hawaii with 97.9 percent and Oregon with 96.6 percent.
Wyoming had the lowest rate, 67.6 percent, followed by New Hampshire with 68.9 percent and South Dakota with 72.1 percent.
Massachusetts, which had the nation’s worst seat belt rate of 66.8 percent in 2008, showed the largest improvement, raising its belt rate to 73.6 percent. Kentucky also made strides, improving to 79.7 percent in 2009, compared with 73.3 percent in 2008.
May 27, 2010 at 3:39 am #26760MunchParticipantpffft……they can’t even keep count of the population….and want to speculate on how much of the population is “buckled up” …palease….. oooh or even another way to waste tax money….lets figure out how many un licensed riders/drivers are out there….. or how bout Silver to Red car ratios…or…..novel idea…. Lets Fix the Friggin Roads!!!!!!!
May 28, 2010 at 4:58 pm #26791Jeff in KentuckyParticipant“An average of 38 unbelted people a day are killed in motor vehicle crashes. In 2008, nearly 14,000 motorists not wearing seat belts were killed in motor vehicle crashes.”
It is very easy to count the number of seat belts buckled or not when first arriving at a fatal accident scene. The nonaccident numbers are likely based on sample numbers by looking for the percentage of seat belts visibly in use or not when passing a place on one road for a certain amount of drivers. It is also very easy to do crash testing, and compare the impact forces on dummies with and without air bags and seat belts.
Our government is a lot smarter than many people give it credit for. For people who want to see what happens with a weak, stupid government, I suggest a vacation to Zimbabwe:
May 29, 2010 at 12:40 am #26812MunchParticipant….or we can wait and see what the next 2 years plays out with……..
Sorry….no go with your argument , or point of contention rather. GUESSING at what percentage of seat belts being worn is nothing but a guess. Notice also they do not put any focus on how many seat belts have also caused deaths due to trapment, failure to release and other causes. They have an agenda nothing more or less. As with anyone trying to prove that they were essentially right.
To ignorantly and blindly state the over a certain percentage of the population wears seat belts like it’s some kind of accomplishment is just a near sighted guesstimate that borders nothing short of yet another point of proof about how many “precentage statistics” are made up on the spot.
Get an accurate count of illegal immigrates, homeless, legal immigrates, pets, cars, kids, divorces, psychos, whatever else you wanna waste tax money on trying to figure out…. then , though I doubt it, would I come close to considering your guesstimate to be close to accurate. Hell lets throw the recent “intelligence” out there on just how bad the oil spill in the gulf is.
Am I slamming the government….Absolutely not, I am very much a person with all the love for the country in which I live and help support via my tax money, labor, and efforts via extra curricular activities…. but when you have to make cuts to education and other things due to “lacking funds” but have nothing but a guesstimate to show for what little funds you do have… .only thing I have for you is a swift pop in the back of the head and a question of “WTF were you thinking?”
I don’t want to see a weak government…. I don’t live in Zimbabwe or wherever…..don’t care to….however I don’t give in to the thought pattern of… “awww poor things everyone makes a mistake……give them another shot at it” kind of mentality…. DO THE FRIGGIN JOB YOU WERE HIRED FOR AND GET PAID FOR >>> GUESSING was not in the job description. If you deal with transportation …. improve or develop it! If your in the business of law…. quit trying to redefine the word illegal! If your hired to represent the people of your state, county , district…then F’in do it!
I get so tired of hearing “Oh sorry but look what we got right…..” Let me try that with one of my customers after they slam into the ditch after a wheel off ….. ” Hey Mr customer…sorry your head is busted up and your car is trashed….but hey your wipers now clean the windshield off really well so you could see what you slammed into! Next time I will be sure to properly torque your wheels to avoid it again. You shoulda seen the last car it happened to in Bumstuck east….man he really took a bad one.”
Give me a freaking break.
Tell ya what…..stick with your “it could be worse” philosophy while others do the hard work of trying to make it to where they aren’t.June 1, 2010 at 3:00 am #26844 -
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