Utah is doing better than average regarding seat belt safety — but not good enough.
The National Safety Council, which just issued a national report on seat belt use, gave Utah a C-plus. While Utah has taken some positive steps recently to toughen seat belt laws it could do more — especially for the adult population.
Police are not allowed to ticket drivers older than 19 for not wearing seat belts unless they are first stopped for another violation. Police may, however, stop any car with someone under 18 who is not properly restrained.
Failure to use seat belts — the report states that a quarter of all Utahns don't use them — may result in tragedy. Two-thirds of all people killed in Utah road accidents in 1999 were not using proper restraint devices.
According to the report, "Utah's grade of C-plus (tied for 15th highest in the nation) demonstrates that while some steps have been taken to get people buckled up, there is more work to be done.
"Utah's overall 'unrestrained' fatality rate of 8.59 per 100,000 people exceeds the national average of 6.72," the report said.
Nationally, more than 32,000 people died as occupants in vehicle crashes in 1999. The report estimates that more than 9,500 of the victims, many of them children, would be alive today if they had been properly restrained.
Motorists who don't wear their seat belts and parents who don't buckle up their children needlessly put themselves and others at risk. In Utah alone, a spokesman for the Utah Highway Safety Administration said, 120 lives could be saved each year if everybody put on a seat belt.
The best way to get children to wear their seat belts is for parents to set a proper example by buckling up themselves. According to the Highway Safety Office, 93 percent of children whose parents buckle up also use their seat belts.
Proper safety practices are particularly important during heavy travel periods. The holiday season always is a perilous one for travelers. Law enforcement officials use extra measures to try to ensure as many people as possible have safe journeys.
People can help themselves by buckling up. Parents need to first set the proper example and then make sure their children are buckled up, as well.