Drivers and passengers who buckle up are 50 percent more likely to survive serious motor vehicle crashes and avoid injuries, making safety belts the least expensive and most effective way to lower employer costs due to crashes and injuries.
Texas law states that all passengers in a vehicle must be secured by a safety belt. Despite this, in 2010 almost 900 Texans not wearing safety belts were killed in motor vehicle crashes. Encouraging employees to wear their safety belts will greatly increase their chances of surviving a traffic crash, and is the easiest way to lower crash-related costs.
Safety belt use has steadily increased in Texas, but more still needs to be done. In 2001, only about 76 percent of Texans buckled up. Now, nearly 93 percent of Texans are safely secured. As a result, experts say safety belts have helped Texas save an additional 7,923 lives over the past 5 years.
However, more than 1 million Texans still do not wear safety belts. In 2008, 56 percent of all people killed in vehicles were reported to be unrestrained. Passengers and pickup drivers are less likely to buckle up than other motorists, and men are less likely to use safety belts than women.
An estimated 223 additional lives could have been saved in 2009 if all vehicle drivers and passengers in Texas wore safety belts.
One out of every 4 vehicles in Texas is a pickup truck. In fatal crashes, pickups roll over almost twice as often as passenger cars. According to the National Occupant Use Survey, safety belt use was the lowest for pickup trucks among all types of vehicles. In 2008, over two-thirds of rural pickup truck occupants killed were unrestrained—the highest percentage of any passenger vehicle occupants killed among both rural and urban areas.
According to a report by the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration, safety belts prevent about 11,900 fatalities and 325,000 injuries every year, saving $50 billion in medical care, lost productivity and other injury-related costs. Not wearing a safety belt results in 9,200 avoidable deaths and 143,000 needless injuries nationally. The evidence is overwhelming that safety belts save lives and reduce the severity of injuries. Employers must make a commitment to increasing safety belt use among employees.
The average cost per unrestrained person involved in an on-the-job crash is $27,750.
A safety belt needs to be properly worn to fully protect the person wearing it.
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Make sure the lap and shoulder belts are secured across the pelvis and rib cage.
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If the safety belt does not fit properly, ask your car dealer about safety belt adjusters or extenders.
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Check with your vehicle manufacturer if your car only has a lap belt to see how you can install a lap and shoulder belt.
Businesses with a written policy requiring employees to buckle up in a company vehicle or on company business have higher on-the-job safety belt usage. Employees who are in the habit of using a safety belt during work hours also are more likely to buckle up when they are off the clock.
According to a National Highway Transportation Safety Administration report, among employees who drive as part of their jobs, the percentage that report wearing safety belts “all the time” (personal and work-related) is higher (86 percent) among those who thought their company had a safety belt use policy than among those who did not (72 percent).
The Texas Department of Transportation conducts its annual ‘Click It or Ticket’ campaign each May by combining extensive advertising with stepped up enforcement of the state’s safety belt laws. This is an ideal time for businesses to conduct a safety belt education program and remind employees that buckling up helps prevent serious injury and the chance of receiving an expensive ticket.
The 10th annual Click It or Ticket campaign will take place from May 23 to June 5, sponsored by the Texas Department of Transportation, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the Texas Department of Public Safety. These organizations will join police and sheriffs’ departments across Texas to save lives on Texas roads and increase safety belt use. Law enforcement officials will crack down on anyone who isn’t wearing their safety belt in the front or back seat, as Texas law requires.
Over the last decade of Click It or Ticket campaigns, the safety belt use rate in Texas has climbed 16 percent and the state now ranks seventh in the nation. The Click It or Ticket campaign has saved 2,843 lives and prevented more than 48,000 serious injuries over the past ten years. Safety belts are the most effective and least expensive way to lower employee costs due to crashes and injuries, saving an estimated $10 billion over the past ten years. However, more than 1 million Texans still do not wear safety belts, so use this campaign to encourage employees and loved ones to buckle up.
- Texas state law requires everyone in a vehicle, including passengers in the back seat, to be secured by a safety belt.
- Texas is a primary enforcement state, meaning you can be pulled over for failing to wear your safety belt.
- Children younger than 8 must be in a child safety seat until they are taller than 4 feet, 9 inches.
- Fines range from $25 to $250, plus court costs.
A December 2009 report from the Department of Transportation and NHTSA concluded that passengers who do not use a safety belt are almost 18 times more likely to be ejected from their vehicle when involved in a crash than occupants who are buckled up. Statistics show 35.3 percent of unrestrained vehicle occupants were ejected, compared with only 2 percent of restrained occupants.