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OK, so for the most of us, putting on the seat belt has become a reflex, just like locking the door after we get inside the house. You gently set your behind into the car's seat, close the door, and then reach for the buckle. It's as simple as one, two, three.
However, even in the pinnacle of civilization, not everybody thinks this should be the case. A surprisingly high number of Americans believe that they should be allowed to choose whether they wear the seat belt or not. It's not called "land of the free" for nothing, we guess.
A survey carried out by Cheap Car Insurance revealed that over a quarter of the over 2,000 respondents felt wearing a seat belt or not should be a personal choice. Predictably, males were more likely to give that answer (28 percent compared to the females' 21 percent) as we're the sort that likes to take unnecessary risks.
The most staggering finding of the study is that over half of the Americans believe that wearing a seat belt can be dangerous in certain situations. 54.5 percent think they would be better off sitting unstrapped in their seats, with the rest of 45.5 percent begging to differ. However, when asked whether they have heard of a situation where someone was safe particularly for not wearing the seat belt, the results are almost reversed. 35.6 percent answered "yes," 16.6 percent were "unsure" (come on, man, you either know or you don't), and 47.8 percent said "no."
Despite all this, it turns out that nearly 94 percent of Americans responded that they fasten the seat belt "always" or "nearly always." The states with the highest percentage of seat belt usage were California, Washington, and Oregon, with New Hampshire, South Dakota, and Nebraska at the other end of the scale.
Data provided by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that almost half of the 35,000 motor vehicle fatalities in the U.S. last year (excluding motorcycles) were not wearing a seatbelt. Of those 17,000, it's very likely that at least a few could have been saved simply by taking a few seconds to buckle up after entering the vehicle. That's really something to think about.
We talk about needing autonomous cars to curb down the number of road casualties, but the truth is we could take a few more low-tech steps first toward achieving that goal. And using the seat belt for every trip, no matter how short or where we're seated, would be one of them.
A survey carried out by Cheap Car Insurance revealed that over a quarter of the over 2,000 respondents felt wearing a seat belt or not should be a personal choice. Predictably, males were more likely to give that answer (28 percent compared to the females' 21 percent) as we're the sort that likes to take unnecessary risks.
The most staggering finding of the study is that over half of the Americans believe that wearing a seat belt can be dangerous in certain situations. 54.5 percent think they would be better off sitting unstrapped in their seats, with the rest of 45.5 percent begging to differ. However, when asked whether they have heard of a situation where someone was safe particularly for not wearing the seat belt, the results are almost reversed. 35.6 percent answered "yes," 16.6 percent were "unsure" (come on, man, you either know or you don't), and 47.8 percent said "no."
Despite all this, it turns out that nearly 94 percent of Americans responded that they fasten the seat belt "always" or "nearly always." The states with the highest percentage of seat belt usage were California, Washington, and Oregon, with New Hampshire, South Dakota, and Nebraska at the other end of the scale.
Data provided by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that almost half of the 35,000 motor vehicle fatalities in the U.S. last year (excluding motorcycles) were not wearing a seatbelt. Of those 17,000, it's very likely that at least a few could have been saved simply by taking a few seconds to buckle up after entering the vehicle. That's really something to think about.
We talk about needing autonomous cars to curb down the number of road casualties, but the truth is we could take a few more low-tech steps first toward achieving that goal. And using the seat belt for every trip, no matter how short or where we're seated, would be one of them.
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