“The single, easiest and fastest safety step that drivers and passengers can take is to buckle their seat belt. However, almost 16% of Ohio’s more than 1.8 million people are still not buckling up,” said Kara Hitchens, AAA Manager of Public and Government Affairs.
In Ohio during 2022, there were 264,826 vehicle crashes, in which almost 20% of those crashes occupants weren’t wearing a seat belt, Hitchens said. In Clark County alone, there were 708 crashes with unbelted occupants and nine were fatal because an occupant was not wearing a seat belt.
The participating schools include: Springfield-Clark Career Technology Center (CTC), today; Global Impact STEM Academy (GISA), Wednesday, April 12; Southeastern, Thursday, April 13; Tecumseh; Friday, April 14; Northeastern, Monday, April 17; Kenton Ridge, Tuesday, April 18; Greenon, Wednesday, April 19; Shawnee, Thursday, April 20; and Northwestern, Friday April 21.
When classes dismiss at the end of a school’s challenge day, students, law enforcement and CCCHD will stage checkpoints to evaluate how many drivers are wearing their seat belt.
The school with the highest percentage of drivers wearing seat belts will receive a $250 award from AAA that will go toward traffic safety for the school. Participants wearing seat belts will also receive a LifeSaver hard candy as a thank you for buckling up.
“Motorists and passengers are frequently reminded of the importance of wearing a seat belt anytime they are in the car, but each year too many injuries and even deaths occur that could potentially have been prevented if a seat had been worn,” said CCCHD Communications Coordinator Nate Smith.
In 2022, the national use rate of wearing a seat belt was 91.6%, and seatbelt use in passenger vehicles saved an estimated 14,955 lives in 2017, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
However, seat belt use is lowest among teen drivers, with most involved in fatal crashes being unbuckled as well as nine out of 10 of the passengers who died were also unbuckled. In 2020, 52% of teen drivers who died were unbuckled.
“While Ohio’s law states only the driver and front seat passenger must wear a seat belt, AAA recommends every passenger — including pets — wear their seatbelt every time. Unbelted occupants become projectiles inside vehicles and can cause more injury than if they had been wearing safety gear,” Hitchens said.
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