Re: Getting Students to Use Seatbelts

[Doug Craigen <dcc@ESCAPE.CA>]

> Can somebody share real statistical data? For example,
> comparing numbers of deaths in 10,000 accidents with
> and without wearing the belts. I will be happy to pass
> such information to students.

Check out http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/people/injury/airbags/seatbelt/
or the whole website http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/people/injury/
Among other figures...  "Research has found that lap/shoulder belts,
when used properly, reduce the risk of fatal injury to front seat
passenger car occupants by 45 percent and the risk of
moderate-to-critical injury by 50 percent (for occupants of light
trucks, 60 percent and 65 percent, respectively)."

For Americans:    The rate at which Americans are killed by motor
vehicle collisions is twice as high as the rate at which they are killed
by murder - hence the state interest in whether you are buckled up.

For Canadians:     (since I maintain the Canadian Brain Injury Coalition
website at http://www.cbic.ca/ I know this figure) "Each year in Canada
over 30,000 Canadians sustain a traumatic brain injury severe enough to
be admitted to hospital. Of those, 2,500 will die while hospitalized
while another 6,000 will live with some form of disability  preventing a
return to an everyday way of life."
The point is, about 50% of these are from motor vehicle collisions.