Buckle Up!

November 15, 2011  |  Jon P. Erickson

I recently read two different articles about the rate of traffic accident deaths where seat belts were not being used. One was about the motor vehicle accident (MVA) death rate in MN, and the other involved the statistics nationally. Both articles stated that some 50{a0c01d20c42349884e67ff80c137866b0a9fe47aaae8f8a86a605a369ae487c3} of the people who died in MVA’s were not wearing seat belts. We see this in many of the MVA cases where we represent the deceased’s family or where there have been serious injuries.
That percentage to me is very disturbing! It tells us that many of our MVA deaths are preventable simply by fastening a seat belt before driving and/or when getting into a car. There are very few cars if any that don’t have seat belts. I am taking this time to remind all of us how easy it would be to lower the death rate….FASTEN YOUR SEAT BELTS!!
The other disturbing part of these articles was how many of these deaths involved our young drivers, young men and women under the age of twenty five. We have to take the time to try to get these young people to remember to fasten their seat belts when they get in their cars.
Here are some very easy things we all can do to prevent these deaths:

• Fasten your seat belts all the time.
• Make sure all your passengers fasten their seat belts when they get in your car.
• Always, always tell your children to fasten their seat belts. If they are too young, do it for them!
• Remind your teenage drivers when you give them the keys to a car to fasten their seat belts. And to have any passengers do the same.
• Get a bumper sticker for all your cars that simply says; FASTEN YOUR SEATBELTS.
• Support all public safety efforts by law enforcement or otherwise to get out the message, FASTEN YOUR SEATBELTS.

I am confident there are other things we can do. If you think of others, I would like to know what you are suggesting to add to my list.
Let’s all do better – FASTEN YOUR SEATBELTS!
~Jon P. Erickson
Attorney at Law