Seat Belts

817 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Importance of seatbelts essay 300 word

A seat belt is “a restraining device used to secure passengers in motorized vehicles” (“Seat Belts F”). Some people believe that the government should not be able to control if a passenger wears a seat belt; it is their personal right and decision. Others believe that to keep everyone safe, the government should require all passengers to wear a seat belt, no matter if you are an adult, teenager, child, or an infant. Seat belts were invented in the 1930’s when physicians decided that they were needed for safety and less injuries (“Seat Belt F”). Although the seat belt was invented in 1930, the 1960’s was when the number of driving-related deaths increased, causing many countries, including the United States, to create laws for seat belts that were loosely enforced (“Seat Belt F”). In 1966, Congress passed the Highway Safety Act that created the Department of Transportation and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) (“Seat Belts A”). The seat belt laws were increasingly enforced first in the 1990’s (“Seat Belts F”). As of 2009, 49 out of 50 states required passengers to wear a seat belt (“Seat Belts A”). New Hampshire was the only state who did not have a seat belt law for adults (“Seat Belts A”). However, in all 50 states, laws declare that children must ride in certified seats such as car seats, booster seats, or backwards car seats, depending on their age, and when they outgrow those, an adult seat belt is required (“Seat Belts A”). Highway crashes cause more than 90 percent of transportation-related deaths, and exactly 19 percent of passengers in our nation choose not to wear their seat belt (Roeber). That means that 19 percent of America’s population is at risk of losin...

... middle of paper ...

...way to increase the amount of people that wear seat belts (Tilton).
You cannot put a price on life. Would you rather be a little uncomfortable in a seat belt or dead? Would you rather have a minor infringement of personal rights or be dead? It’s true that seat belts can cause severe damage, but most likely, if you didn’t have a seat belt on at all, you could be killed instead of being injured. Ever heard the phrase ‘better safe than sorry?’ I think that best defines my opinion. I agree that more lives are saved by seat belts than the amount of lives lost or injured by a seat belt. As I said earlier, from 1996-2003, there were 77,084 passenger vehicle driver deaths, but 5,390 lives would have been saved with the use of seat belts (“Strengthening”). That is enough lives lost to convince me that everyone should wear a seat belt and that it should be enforced by the law.

Show More
Related

  • Is It Proper to place someone in jail for a seatbelt violation

    1523 Words  | 4 Pages

    In North Carolina, the “Click It or Ticket” program was put into place in 1993 by former Governor Jim Hunt to increase safety belt and child safety use rates through stepped up enforcement of the state’s safety belt law. According to North Carolina’s safety belt law all drivers and front seat passengers over the age of 16 are required to wear safety belts. Children less than age 16 are covered under the North Carolina Child Restraint Law. This law requires that children must be buckled up no matter where they are seated in the vehicle. Violators of the safety belt law are issued tickets and are subject to a fine of $25 plus $50 court costs. These violations have been defined as “infractions” and are not entered on driving records. In addition to this, effective January 1, 2005, any child less than 8 years old or 80 pounds in weight must ride in a booster seat. Violations of this law will result in a $25 fine plus court costs as well as having 2 points placed against driver’s license. However, drivers cited for this violation of this law for a 5,6, or 7 year old will be able to have the charges dismissed if they present proof to the court that they have acquired an appropriate restraint for that child. Statistics have been gathered on safety belt use since this program began and has shown that seat belt use has increased from 65 percent to 84 percent. It has also shown that fatal and serious injuries in North Carolina have been cut by 14 percent. Resulting in a savings of at least $135 million in health care related costs. Other positive ef...

    Read More

  • Pros and Cons of the Mandatory Seatbelt Law

    1453 Words  | 3 Pages

    An enormous division currently exists between the people who believe that automobile safety should be an option and those that feel it must be a requirement. The federal government feels the morally obligated to create the safest driving environment possible. On the other end of the spectrum, opinions exist that the average driver has ability to make the choice of safety on their own. Editorials, political assemblies, debates, and conversations have arrived on the concept of click it or ticket. This idea refers to ticketing any motor vehicle driver and passenger that is not fastened by a seat belt. Arguments have been made for both sides, and have been reviewed in multiple states.

    Read More

  • Seatbelts on School Buses: a Necessity or a Daily Threat to Our Students?

    1129 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the late 1920’s, school buses and larger industrial vehicles became a popular source of transportation that started from Ford dealership owner, A.L. Luce. Luce had plans to extend the school bus frame (from a Model T) to accompany more students per one bus. As school buses and city buses became more common throughout America’s cities for daily transportation, safety regulations and precautions were put in place. Safety features, including flashing caution lights, visors outside of the vehicle, and motorized stop signs and stop arms were all installed within the next 80 years to make the journey to and from school safer. Although many of these precautions were taken, many citizens believe that not enough action was taken to promote safety on school buses. Because a variety of school bus companies do not have a stance on whether seatbelts should be installed or not, the safety concerns mainly impact parents and school leaders. A good solution for many of those concerned would be the installation of seatbelts on every school bus within the United States, but the reality of seatbelts being on buses is quite the opposite of what people believe. Seatbelts are not the justification to these safety issues concerning school corporations and parents nationwide, as the seatbelts are a costly and dangerous factor.

    Read More

  • Teenage Drivers Be Very Afraid: Article Analysis

    638 Words  | 2 Pages

    In this article written by the author Bruce Feiler, titled “Teenage Drivers? Be Very Afraid”, he talks about how he suggest the parents to stop being helicopter parents and allow their children to be independent. However, other professionals’ suggestions are the opposite when teenagers start to drive. As a result of the teenagers’ immaturity, the parents are told to be more involved because their child’s life may be in danger. As stated in the article by Nichole Moris “the most dangerous two years of your life are between 16 and 17, and the reason for that is driving.” There are various factors that play huge roles through this phrase of the teenagers’ life: other passengers, cellphones, and parents. In 2013, under a million teenage drivers were involved in police-reported crashes, according to AAA. The accidents could have been more but many teenage accidents go unreported. As a result, one of their recommendations to the parents is to not allow their children to drive with other passengers: other passengers can big a huge distraction and could increase the rate of crashes by 44 percent. That risk doubles with a second passenger and quadruples with three or more. Furthermore, as technology has taken over teenagers’ lives, the parents should suggest to those teenagers who insists on using the phones that the only safe place for it to be: in a dock, at eye level, on the dashboard. The worst place is the cup holder, the driver’s lap, and the passenger’s seat. Next, professionals also suggest that the parents implement their own rule and even continue the ones like the graduated driver’s licenses regulations. This regulation includes restrictions like not allowing their children to drive between 9 p.m. and 5 a.m. To

    Read More

  • Evolution of Public Health: A Century's Progress

    727 Words  | 2 Pages

    In 1966, the National Highway Safety Bureau (NHSB) was designed by the Highway Act. NHSB’s director, Dr. William Haddon, noticed that he could prevent motor-vehicle injuries by applying public health methods and epidemiology. Various passages demanded the government to set standards for the highway and motor vehicles. The federal government responded by developing new safety features in cars such as safety belts, head rests, and shatter-resistant windshields. Barriers, reflectors, and center line strips were placed on roadways to provide direction and illumination. Traffic safety laws, wearing a safety belt, and public education encouraged drivers to make safer decisions. The use of safety belts has skyrocketed from 11% in 1981 to 68% in 1997 and decreases When the community and government understood the necessity for motor-vehicle safety, various programs such as Prior to the implementation, the rate stood at 18 per 100 million vehicle miles traveled in 1925; however, the rate stood at 1.7 per 100 million vehicle miles traveled in 1997. With all of the new safety features with cars, public education and enforcement of safety laws, “motor-vehicle crashes remain the leading cause of injury-related deaths in the United States.” Over 23.9 million vehicle crashes were reported in 1997; estimated costs were around $200 billion.

    Read More

  • Car Accidents in America

    1275 Words  | 3 Pages

    Despite the many efforts that automobile industries have created, research has shown that many individuals disable these reinforcements although "seat belt use is the most effective way to save lives and reduce injuries in crashes" (http://www.cdc.gov/). Geller et al...

    Read More

  • Mandating Seat Belt Usage vs. Freedom of Choice

    941 Words  | 2 Pages

    Even though there are some statistics that may show a lower rate of injury or death if you wear a seat belt when in an automobile accident, I do not feel that the government has the right to make wearing a seat belt mandatory for adults because by making seat belts mandatory it takes away from our right to freedom of choice, and wearing a seat belt does not eliminate the risk of injury or death as people have been injured and/or killed due to wearing a seat belt Current seat belt law originated from federal legislation in the 1960s that made it mandatory for all automobile manufacturers to include seat belts in their vehicles as a standard feature. Originally, the purpose of a seat belt was not to protect the occupants in the case of a crash, but rather to physically keep them in the vehicle, as driving was bumpy business. However, in today’s times, mandatory use of a seat belt falls under various states purview. Each state implements its own laws regarding enforcement of seat belt use.

    Read More

  • Reasons to wear a seatbelt

    767 Words  | 2 Pages

    This woman’s story may not be one that will ever happen to many people, but if it did a seatbelt is one of the only defenses one has against it. A seatbelt is not a new development and seatbelt laws are not new either and refusing to wear a seatbelt is disregard for the law and one’s own safety. Everyone has to wear a seatbelt, no one is picked, and people from celebrities down to a common sixteen-year-old driver have to wear one. No one is exempt from the law and no one should be aloud to break it. It’s not hard to do and shouldn’t be hard to remember because all it takes is a click and even though some have come up with many reasons not to wear them the benefits of wearing a seatbelt outweigh the disadvantages by far.

    Read More

  • The Benefits and Risks of Airbags

    782 Words  | 2 Pages

    In 1966, President Johnson signed the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety act. This act required the government to come up with new safety standards for motor vehicles. Four years or so later, in the 1970s, General Motors and Ford placed new airbags in small fleet cars (Moore). The concept of this new device was to totally inflate stopping the rapid forward motion of a person not wearing a seat belt before they would hit the dashboard or be thrown from a car during a crash. The airbags soon proved to be helpful, but in some cases they were still very dangerous (The Truth). Airbags, to me, are an important part of car safety; they saved my relatives lives. But, complications still arise from the force of an airbag deploying when a car is hit at a low speed. And the fact that some motor companies only test airbags on large dummies resembling males is upsetting because not everyone is the same size. The companies also waited five months before acknowledging that there were safety problems with the airbags.

    Read More

  • The Importance of Wearing a Seatbelt

    978 Words  | 2 Pages

    Car accidents are the leading cause of death for people under the age of 35. Wearing a seat belt can prevent death in about half of these accidents. Did you know that every 15 seconds someone is injured in an automobile accident if they are not buckled up, or that every 13 minutes someone is killed in a crash. Failure to wear a seat belt contributes to more fatalities than any other single traffic safety related behavior. According to the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration seatbelts saved nearly 12,000 lives in the United States in the year 2000. The NHTSA estimates that more than 9,000 U.S. car accident fatalities in 2000 would have been avoided if the victims had been wearing seatbelts. Sixty three percent of the people killed in accidents were not wearing seat belts. The NHTSA a...

    Read More

  • Persuasive Essay On Car Safety

    1720 Words  | 4 Pages

    Seatbelts have been around since the 1950s and have proven to save lives over the years. The teenage stigma is that they do not need to wear one because they will be fine. After thousands of accidents where the occupants did not wear their seatbelt, the Supreme Court decided to pass some laws. “In 1972, the agency requires dull passive restraints for front seat occupants” (Supreme Court). The agency that the Supreme Court is referring to is the Department of Transportation. This law is a staple in automobile safety and sets a level of precedents for future laws. After this law was passed, the amount of fatalities from traffic incident relating to seat belts usage had dropped. The Supreme Court did not stop there, they continued to add more laws. “...new motor vehicles produced after September 1982 will be equipped with passive restraints to protect the safety of the occupants of the vehicle in the event of a collision” (Supreme Court). Now all new motor vehicles must have a form of passive restraint added to their vehicles before they can sell them to the public. The government hoped to protect more lives of young drivers who did not insist on wearing seat belts by making them mandatory and being enforced by police officers. Since 1972, hundreds of thousands of teenage lives have been saved with this simple safety

    Read More

  • Blunt Trauma in Pregnancy

    1800 Words  | 4 Pages

    Although motor vehicle crashes are responsible for most severe maternal injuries and fetal losses form trauma, pregnant women have low rates of seat belt use. Proper seat belt use is the most significant modifiable factor in decreasing maternal and fetal injury and mortality after motor vehicle crashes. Seat belt-restrained women who are in motor vehicle crashes have the same fetal mortality rate as women who are not in motor vehicle crashes, but unrestrained women who are in crashes are 2.8 times more likely to lose their fetuses.

    Read More

  • Persuasive Speech: Everyone Should Use a Seat Belt While in a Car

    714 Words  | 2 Pages

    Using seat belt when driving can help us to prevent death when an accident occurs.

    Read More

  • Persuasive Essay On Road Safety

    1109 Words  | 3 Pages

    There is a massive amount of car accidents that occur every day, that consequently become fatal. In many cases, the driver and the passengers do not have on a seat belt to prevent them from being thrown out of the car or colliding with another car, causing them to be thrown against the dashboard or some other tragic accident. Some people may think, “Wearing a seatbelt isn’t cool”, “I’m only going down the street” or sometimes just irresponsibly forget to put on their seatbelt when they are inside of a vehicle. You may think that wearing a seatbelt is not trendy and you are only making a quick trip going down the street to the corner store, however, you cannot control others actions on the road anything can happen in the blink of an eye.

    Read More

  • Persuasive Essay On Seatbelts

    588 Words  | 2 Pages

    We have all heard the excuses before, “do I have to wear it? It isn’t like it’s going to protect me,” “it’s uncomfortable, I’m only going around the corner,” or “I’d rather be thrown out of the vehicle than to be stuck in a seat belt.” No matter how good of a driver you are, or you think you might be, there are always situations that are beyond your control. Such as, bad weather, drunk drivers, and road conditions. Sometimes, seat belts can be a life or death in an automobile accident. Not only is wearing your seat belt every time you get in a vehicle, but it is required by law in 49 states, with the exception of New Hampshire. Although seat belts are known to lock up and wrinkle your clothes, I believe that wearing your seat belt is beneficial because every fourteen seconds someone is injured in a traffic crash. Seat belts are not only known for holding you in place during a collision, but more importantly the are known to save the lives of the occupants in the vehicle.

    Read More

More about Seat Belts

Open Document