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We hear the terms “seat belt safety” and “click it or ticket” all the time, but many motorists still choose not to wear their seat belts when they travel on South Carolina roadways. It’s a risky decision which can result in heavy fines, serious injuries, and even death. If you’ve ever wondered just how risky it is to skip the seat belt, this fact sheet has the answers.
1. Buckling up is the single most effective thing you can do to protect yourself in a car accident, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).
2. Seat belts saved an estimated 14,955 lives in 2017 alone.
3. An additional 2,549 lives could have been saved in 2017, if those people had been wearing seat belts.
4. Seat belts help keep you restrained in your car, rather than being ejected (which is almost always fatal).
5. Seat belts protect you against the force of the air bag, which can seriously injure or kill you if you’re not buckled up.
6. If you buckle up in the front seat of a passenger car, you can reduce your risk of fatal injury by 45%, and reduce the chances of moderate to critical injury by 50%.
7. Every hour, at least one person dies in the United States because he or she didn’t buckle up.
8. Failure to use a seat belt contributes to more fatalities than any other single traffic-related behavior, according to the South Carolina Department of Public Safety.
9. Fear of entrapment during a vehicle fire or submersion is not a valid reason for not wearing a seat belt – only one half of one percent of all crashes involve fire or submersion.
10. Most crash fatalities result from the force of impact or being thrown from the vehicle.
The statistics speak for themselves: seat belts save lives. Wearing them is also required by law in the state of South Carolina.
While it’s indisputable that thousands of lives are saved by seat belts each year, it’s also true that seat belt wearers can still face serious injuries or death when they’re involved in a car accident on a South Carolina roadway.
When a person is injured in a car accident in South Carolina due to no fault of their own, they are often eligible to file a lawsuit which can help cover current and future medical bills, lost wages, pain and suffering, punitive damages, and more. In these cases, the victim is advised to hire a personal injury attorney.
A qualified South Carolina personal injury lawyer knows how to fight for car accident victims and stand up to stubborn insurance companies who will do everything they can to avoid paying out a fair sum.
The attorneys at McWhirter, Bellinger & Associates have been representing South Carolina auto accident and wrongful death victims for decades, and would be happy to give you a free case evaluation.
McWhirter, Bellinger & Associates has offices across the Midlands of South Carolina, in Aiken, Camden, Columbia, Lexington, Newberry, Orangeburg, and Sumter.
Give us a call today at 803-590-9283. It won’t cost you anything to see if we can help.®
