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Seats Belts Save Lives
Whether you're traveling across town or across the country, it's always essential to wear your seat belt.
- Thanksgiving weekend, millions of Americans will hit the roads, eager to spend time with family and friends. It's one of the busiest travel times of the year, and unfortunately that means more crashes.
- The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is reminding everyone that seat belts save lives. Buckling up gives you your best defense against injury or death in a crash.
- In 2012, there were 21,667 passenger vehicle occupants (in passenger cars, pickup trucks, vans, or SUVs) killed in traffic crashes in the United States. More than half (52%) of those who were killed were not wearing seat belts.
- NHTSA estimates that seat belts saved the lives of 12,l74 passenger vehicle occupants age 5 and older in 2012. But if everyone had worn their seat belts on every trip that year, an additional 3,031 lives could have been saved.
- The facts don't lie: when you wear your seat belt as a front-seat occupant of a passenger car, your risk of fatal injury goes down by 45 percent. For light-truck occupants, that risk is reduced by 60 percent.
Source: NHTSA
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Drowsy Driving is Dangerous
Your eyelids droop and your head starts to nod. Yawning becomes almost constant and your vision seems blurry. You blink hard, focus your eyes and suddenly realize that you've veered onto the shoulder or into oncoming traffic for a moment and quickly straighten the wheel. This time you were lucky; next time you could become the latest victim of the tragedy of drowsy driving.
According to the National Sleep Foundation's Sleep in America poll, 60% of Americans have driven while feeling sleepy and 37% admit to actually having fallen asleep at the wheel in the past year. However, many people cannot tell if or when they are about to fall asleep. And if sleepiness comes on while driving, many say to themselves, "I can handle this, I'll be fine." Yet they're putting themselves and others in danger. What they really need is a nap or a good night's sleep.
Here are some signs that should tell a driver to stop and rest:
- Difficulty focusing, frequent blinking, or heavy eyelids
- Daydreaming; wandering/disconnected thoughts
- Trouble remembering the last few miles driven; missing exits or traffic signs
- Yawning repeatedly or rubbing your eyes
- Trouble keeping your head up
- Drifting from your lane, tailgating, or hitting a shoulder rumble strip
- Feeling restless and irritable
Source: Drowsydriving.org
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Buzzed Driving is Drunk Driving
Even if you've had just a little bit to drink, you can still get a DUI and be involved in a crash. Only drive when you are sober. Too many people wait until they've been drinking to figure out their ride home. By then, it's too late to make a clear-headed decision.
You might think you're just "buzzed" and that you're "okay to drive," but remember this: Buzzed Driving Is Drunk Driving. With the holidays coming up, there will be an increase in social events that involve alcohol. Data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration shows that this results in an increase in DUIs and fatal drunk-driving crashes around the holidays.
Source: NHTSA
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What is Distracted Driving?
Distracted driving is any activity that could divert a person's attention away from the primary task of driving. All distractions endanger driver, passenger, and bystander safety. These types of distractions include:
- Texting
- Using a cell phone or smartphone
- Eating and drinking
- Talking to passengers
- Grooming
- Reading, including maps
- Using a navigation system
- Watching a video
- Adjusting a radio, CD player, or MP3 player
Source: Distraction.gov
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