This summer season, the CDC is working with law enforcement agencies across the country to promote a summer campaign called “Click It or Ticket.” This US-wide seat belt enforcement program hopes to reduce the personal injuries and deaths that are caused by car crashes. Running from May 21 to June 3, the program will try to get everyone to buckle up each time they get into a car. Campaign organizers say that they hope the lessons learned will last far past June 3.
During 2005 alone, safety belts are estimated to have saved the lives of 15,632 Americans over 4 years of age. According to the same 2006 NHTSA findings, child-restraints helped to save 420 children ages 4 years and younger. Studies show that passengers and drivers alike have halve their risk of dying in car accident just by wearing a seat belt.
According to the CDC, personal injuries caused by car crashes kill more Americans between 1 and 34 years of age than any other cause. According to the NHTSA, 31,415 car occupants died in the United States in 2005 in car accidents. More than half of these victims were not wearing seat belts.
In addition to the fatalities, many more occupants sustained serious burn injuries, scarring, spinal cord injuries, broken bones, brain injuries, and other disfiguring and disabling injuries. Just as seat belts can help prevent deaths, so the CDC points out that seat belts and child restraints for younger passengers can dramatically reduce the instances of serious injury.
Now that the summer means more children home from school, the CDC and law enforcement officials across the country hope that more parents and children will buckle up. More children will be driven to camp, stores, and extracurricular activities at all hours of the day and night in the summer. It is imperative that everyone in every car is using seat belts to help prevent tragedies this summer.
If you or a loved one have been inured in a car accident, contact a Florida attorney today. Qualified Florida lawyers can help you get answers about the accident and can help ensure that you get all the assistance you are entitled to by law. If a seat belt or car part is proven defective, Florida attorneys can help ensure that other families do not suffer because of the unsafe product.