Seatbelts: If You Don’t Think or Think Seatbelts Don’t Save Lives, Think Again. Traveling on July 4 – Buckle Up
July 1, 2024 3:00
pm | 2 min read
FLORIDA – For July 4, nearly 4.5 million Floridians are expected to travel more than 50 miles from home; nationwide, nearly 71 million will hit the road. Many will not buckle up. Some, along with family members and friends, will needlessly die.
If you are between 21 and 34, your chances of being killed in a crash without your seatbelt are 60%, the highest of any age group.
If you are a man, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has found that men are more likely to “die unrestrained” [seatbelt not buckled] than women.
In 2022, the total number of passenger vehicle occupant deaths in Florida was 1,748, or almost 5, every day.
In 2022, if one was not buckled up, you may
have been one of the 777 fatalities or one of
the two people every day who died without their
seatbelt on.
Every day, the Columbia County Observer receives press releases from the Florida Highway Patrol detailing yet another fatal accident where someone without their seatbelt buckled up.
Everyone knows seatbelts save lives
If you are not sure how effective seatbelts
are, ask Kaille Randolph, a Mississippi
firefighter who survived a fire engine rollover.
On the way to a call, the fire engine in which she was riding rolled over several times, trapping her legs between the vehicle and the roadway when it finally came to a stop.
Ms. Randolph was extricated from the fire engine and then flown to a nearby hospital.
Firefighter Randolph told WLOX news, “Had I not taken the time to put my bunker pants on, then get in the truck, actually put my seat belt on… I probably wouldn’t be here today.”
Ms. Randolph sustained three fractures in her
right foot and three fractures in her left leg.
She is in physical therapy and expects to go back to fighting fires when she is all healed.
