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Greetings!
Records are made to be broken. It's sad to see this one come to an end though.
Nebraska has been seeing record low numbers of highway fatalities in August and September. With recent crash fatalities, however, that record is not continuing for October.
As always, there's as many reasons for crashes as there are crashes. One thing that does not change is the need for safety belts. Safety belts reduce serious injuries and fatalities by 45-50%.
Thanks to all of you for your work in promoting safety belts. Let's get our low fatality record back on track, and work toward eliminating fatalities altogether!
Read the World Herald article "No Easy Answers to Fatalaties"
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Are you checking the back seat?
| | Are you checking the back seat when you do your safety belt checks? Many people believe it's OK to not buckle up in the back seat, because laws tend to focus on the front and many people view the back seat as safer. They're forgetting one law though--the laws of Physics apply no matter where you're sitting in the car. An object in motion tends to remain in motion unless stopped by an equal and opposite force. This applies in the backseat as well as the front seat. And worse, the backseat person can fly into the front and land on someone who is buckled in the front, causing injury to that person.
In an August 2010 article in USA Today, Pam Fischer, the state highway traffic safety director in New Jersey, says "unbuckled backseat occupants "become a back-seat bullet" in a crash." The article continues, "In collisions, experts say, unbelted passengers in the back seat continue to move at the same rate of speed as the vehicle they're in until they hit something - seat back, dashboard, windshield or people in the front seat."
So, check out backseat occupants too when you're doing safety belt checks. It's not just the driver who can be ejected or worse.
read the full article
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October 4, 2010 OSHA news release
| | October 4, 2010 brought a news release from OSHA regarding distracted driving. In it, Assistant Secretary of Labor for OSHA, Dr. David A Michaels, said, "Year after year, the leading cause of worker fatalities is motor vehicle crashes." Distracted driving is a current hot topic when causes for those crashes are discussed. This is due to the nearly universal use of cell phones and other communication devices.
OSHA's release reminds employers that they have a legal obligation to prohibit workplace hazards. While they are specifically referring to employees who must use cell phones or text while they are driving for work reasons, the same could be said for requiring safety belt use.
What about your company? Do you require safety belt use? Requiring your employees to protect themselves in a car is even more important as the number of crash causes, such as distracted driving, increase.
Read the Press Release from OSHA.
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The "Click It Chronicle," our Click It Campaign e-letter, published whenever there is news, is available to all those interested in increasing safety belt usage. Please share this information freely. Take the information, copy to friends, businesses and organizations with the same concerns. Using the information provided will help reduce the needless fatalities and injuries on our highways and the associated costs. To subscribe to this e-letter, join the coalition, or be removed from the list, contact the Click It Team at cidri@safenebraska.org. |
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