Seat Belt Usage

It’s the law. Belt use if required and is not optional.
Properly wearing a safety belt reduces the risk of fatal injury to front seat occupants in a car by 45 percent and by 60 percent in a light truck.
Overall, rollovers affect about three percent of passenger vehicles involved in crashes but account for 32 percent of passenger vehicle occupant fatalities. Seat belts are 80 percent effective in preventing deaths in rollovers involving light trucks, and 74 percent effective in rollovers involving passenger cars. Yet, 72 percent of the occupants of these vehicles who die in rollover crashes are not wearing safety belts.
Crashes are the leading cause of death for children and teens in Minnesota. Studies show that in order to get kids properly restrained, adults must buckle up.
Crash victims who are not wearing their safety belts have medical bills that are 50 percent higher than those victims who wore a belt. One average, those injured pay only 26 percent of total costs. The remaining amount is paid by society through higher insurance rates and through public assistance programs funded with tax revenues.

For more information on seat belt usage, please contact the Minnesota Safety Council at http://www.minnesotasafetycouncil.org/home.cfm
And the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration at http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/