Dan Pruitt Injury Law Firm - 300 Pettigru St., Suite 100, Greenville, SC 29601

Seat Belts Are Proven to Save Lives on America’s Roads

For people between the ages of 1 and 54 years in the United States, car crashes are the number one cause of death. In 2012 there were over 2.2 million adult drivers and passengers who required treatment in an emergency room because of injuries that they suffered in car crashes. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), regular use of seat belts is the most effective means of preventing serious injury and death among adults in the event of a car crash.

Despite the proven effectiveness of seat belts in saving adult lives in car crashes, there are still millions of adults who fail to put on their seat belts every time they get into a motor vehicle. According to the NHTSA, the regular use of seat belts by adult drivers and passengers reduces the risk of serious injury and death by about 50 percent.

Many adults make the mistake of assuming that air bags are a suitable substitute for wearing seat belts. However, while air bags are a very effective supplemental restraint, they are intended as just that – a supplement. The combination of seat belts and air bags is the best possible protection for adults in the event of a car crash.

If you have been the victim of a negligent accident, contact our law offices immediately at (864) 280-7660 today or contact us online. We will be able to review your case and inspect the tire to see if it has been subject to a recall Especially in the case that said accident resulted in serious injury or death, you may be entitled to monetary compensation.

Falling Asleep at the Wheel Just as Dangerous as Driving While Intoxicated

According to a poll conducted by the National Sleep Foundation, fully 60 percent of American drivers admit to having driven a motor vehicle while feeling sleepy or drowsy at some point during the past year. That equates to nearly 170 million people, more than half of the total population in the United States. More than 37 percent admitted to actually having fallen asleep behind the wheel during that same period and of that number, 13 percent say that they had fallen asleep at least once per month during the year. And of those, 4 percent said that they had caused or nearly caused an accident because the fell asleep or were driving while drowsy.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), there are more than 100,000 car crashes reported annually that are the direct result of driver fatigue or driver’s falling asleep while driving. Of those, there are an estimated 71,000 serious injuries, more than 1,500 deaths, and over $12 billion in monetary and property losses. Driving while drowsy is considered just as dangerous as driving while intoxicated but is far more difficult to contain because there are no tests available to determine a driver’s level of sleepiness the way there is for alcohol or drug intoxication.

If you have been the victim of a negligent accident, contact our law offices immediately at (864) 280-7660 today or contact us online. We will be able to review your case and inspect the tire to see if it has been subject to a recall Especially in the case that said accident resulted in serious injury or death, you may be entitled to monetary compensation.

Modern Seat Belts are Part of a Total Car Safety System

There is nothing more effective in preventing death and serious injury from car crashes than wearing your seat belt. Seat belts are specifically designed by automakers to keep people retained in their seats during a car accident. They are meant to ensure that contact between drivers and passengers and the interior of the vehicle is kept to a bare minimum during a crash. They also substantially reduce the risk of individuals being thrown from the car. Until the early 1990s seat belts were designed with a shoulder and waist strap for the two front seat occupants and only waist straps for the rear occupants. In modern vehicles, however, safety regulations dictate that all seats in all passenger vehicles must be of the shoulder-and-waist strap variety.

Seat belts are also not just a lone safety measure anymore. They work in conjunction with other components in a vehicle such as head restraints and air bags as part of a complete injury prevention system. But within this system, the seat belt is considered by safety experts to be the most important element and the other components such as the air bag should not be relied on as a replacement for seal belts.