Untitled Document

Safety restraints reduce fatalities, serious injuries

Brent Jennings, PE
Highway Safety Manager
I recently got a report from the Idaho Hospital Association (IHA) that said falls were the leading cause of injury followed by motor vehicle crashes. It also mentioned the use of safety restraints were shown to decrease moderate injuries among drivers using airbag plus lap-shoulder belts by 73 percent, and by 60 percent among drivers using just the shoulder-lap belt. Use of air bag plus lap-shoulder belts reduced serious and greater injuries among drivers by 67 percent, and by 69 percent among drivers using just the shoulder-lap belt.

In 2011, single vehicle rollovers (primarily caused by lane departure) resulted in 52 fatalities and 1,648 injuries. Of the 52 people killed in single-vehicle roll-over crashes, 45 were occupants of passenger motor vehicles and represented 27 percent of all motor-vehicle crash fatalities in 2011. Of the 45 passenger fatalities in roll-overs, 76 percent were unrestrained and 85 percent of those unrestrained were totally or partially ejected.

Other findings:

Males were 1.5 times as likely to be injured in motor vehicles collisions as females.
Motor vehicle collision injuries peaked at 15 to 24 years of age at 60 percent.
Unrestrained drivers aged 15 to 24 were three times as likely to sustain very severe injuries as those who were restrained.
If restrained, drivers were more likely to have a minor injury than if unrestrained and less likely to have a severe or very severe injury (26 percent versus 37 percent).

This points out that use of all the vehicle safety restraint (lap-shoulder belts and air bags) can reduce fatalities and serious injuries in motor vehicle crashes. The use of seatbelts has remained steady in the upper 70-percent range for several years. Other secondary seat belt law states have usage rates in the mid- to upper 80 percent range and the challenge is for Idaho to join them.

It will not be easy, but efforts that are outlined in the recently updated Strategic Highway Safety Plan are under way to increase seatbelt usage so that we can all continue to move Toward Zero Deaths.