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68% of youths killed in night crashes unbuckled
More than two-thirds of young drivers and passengers killed in nighttime car crashes were not wearing seat belts, deadly evidence of what can happen when young people do not heed parents' pleas and authorities' threats to buckle up.
- AP
- Published: 00:15 May 21, 2008
Washington: More than two-thirds of young drivers and passengers killed in nighttime car crashes were not wearing seat belts, deadly evidence of what can happen when young people do not heed parents' pleas and authorities' threats to buckle up.
Although seat belt use is rising slightly in the United States, fatality figures published on Monday offered a sombre contrast as law enforcers launched its annual pre-Memorial Day drive to persuade Americans to buckle up. Memorial Day, next Monday, traditionally is one of the highest-density traffic days in the year; because of that, it also annually ranks among the bloodiest.
Hardly encouraging
Total belt use rose to 82 per cent last year, from 81 per cent in 2006, the government said. Twelve states had rates of 90 per cent or better, led by Hawaii and Washington. Only three were below 70 per cent: Arkansas, Massachusetts and New Hampshire.
But the news hardly was all encouraging.
Sixty-eight per cent of drivers and passengers between the ages of 16 and 20 who were killed in car crashes at night in 2006 were unbuckled, said the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. During daytime, 57 per cent of the young motorists and passengers who were killed were not wearing seat belts.
That portion of the study focused on 2006 data and did not evaluate other years. Most of the 50 US states allow youngsters of 16 to obtain driver's licenses.
The problem is not just with teens. The percentage of unbuckled drivers and passengers who died at night was well up in the 60s through the age of 44. It declines to 52 per cent for people 55-64 and 41 per cent for those older than that.
Safety officials say they are emphasising seat belt use by young people between 16 and 20 during this year's "Click It or Ticket" publicity campaign through June 1. Police say they will be issuing tickets to motorists who fail to wear their seat belts, a message that will be supported by a $7.5 million (Dh27.5 million) advertising campaign.
Gabriela Sazon, a senior at Calvin Coolidge High School in the nation's capital, Washington, is a believer from personal experience. She also understands the generalised problem among teenagers.
She and her mother avoided injuries two years ago when their car flipped on its side on a rain-slicked road. Both were wearing seat belts.
Sazon said peer pressure can sometimes play a role in teens not buckling up. "They don't want to seem like a nerd around their friends," she said.
Said NHTSA administrator Nicole Nason: Teenagers frequently bring a "combination of inexperience and fearlessness" when they fail to buckle up in their cars.
"It's a deadly combination." Nason said the agency is urging states to adopt licensing programmes for new drivers that prevent them from driving with other teenagers in the car.
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