Despite information and research showing the effectiveness of seat belts, some drivers still make excuses about why they fail to use this important safety device.
Colorado State Patrol (CSP) troopers share 10 reasons to wear your seat belt every time to close the gap between the 92 percent national seat belt use rate and Colorado’s 88 percent seat belt use rate.
Those reasons are:
1. Decreasing your chances of serious injury or death. The worst possible outcome is a crash. Last year, CSP troopers investigated more than 21,670 crashes across Colorado. Despite your driving skills, you share the road and crashes aren’t predictable. Seat belts are your best protection inside a vehicle and reduce your chance of being seriously injured or killed.
2. Lower personal injury claims. If you’re in a crash and weren’t wearing a seat belt, it could impact the outcome of your claim. A defense attorney could claim that your injuries would have been less severe had you buckled up.
3. Hurting your passengers. When you don’t wear a seat belt, you will crash against the vehicle and possibly other people inside your vehicle, injuring them.
4. Psychological consequences. Crashes are violent. When you sustain an injury or see the crash result in another person’s death, it can cause significant mental trauma and result in anxiety or post-traumatic stress disorder.
5. Higher medical costs. Injuries without a seat belt are often more severe than those wearing one. This means higher bills, extended hospital stays and potentially more extensive rehabilitation costs.
6. Long-term disabilities. Injuries that result from choosing not to wear a seat belt can lead to long-term disabilities that can impact your quality of life and ability to work.
7. Impact on auto insurance rates. Receiving a ticket or being involved in a crash while not wearing a seat belt can drive up your insurance.
8. Reduced effectiveness of other safety features. Your vehicle is likely equipped with multiple safety features, such as airbags. If you aren’t buckled in, your airbags will be far less effective in protecting you when you need them.
9. Impact on loved ones. Your decision not to wear a seat belt can quickly go beyond you. Whether severe injury or death, your family and loved ones will be left to cope with the trauma and financial expenses. This can also impact children, leading them to adopt your habits.
If those reasons don’t convince you, you are breaking a law designed to protect you. You will likely be cited if pulled over for another driving offense or involved in a property damage crash.
Please know and respect the law by following the rules below.
10. Colorado’s seat belt law:
• Adults: Colorado has a secondary enforcement law for adult drivers and front-seat passengers. Drivers can be ticketed for violating the seat belt law if they are stopped for another traffic violation.
• Teens: Colorado’s graduated driver’s licensing law requires all drivers under 18 and their passengers, regardless of age, to wear seat belts. This is a primary enforcement, meaning teens can be pulled over simply for not wearing a seat belt or having passengers without seat belts.
• Children: Colorado’s Child Passenger Safety law is a primary enforcement, meaning the driver can be stopped and ticketed if an officer sees an unrestrained or improperly restrained child under the age 18 in the vehicle.
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