Each year, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration releases a list of lives saved due to seat belts, child restraints, motorcycle helmets, and drinking laws. NHTSA has just released the results for 2014.
The study estimates that in 2014:
- 12,802 people 5 and older were saved by seat belts
- 252 children 4 and under were saved by child restraints
- 2,396 people 13 and over were saved by frontal airbags
- 1,669 people were saved by motorcycle helmets
That’s a lot of people still alive today thanks to safety measures. Imagine how many people would have been saved with 100% compliance!
Actually, NHTSA has numbers for that, too. If everyone would have worn seat belts, and additional 2,814 lives would have been saved. Motorcycle helmets would have saved another 660 people.
We recently wrote about how 2015 was shaping up to be the deadliest driving year since 2007. We’ll have to wait a while to see if that’s true. In the meantime, make sure you and your family don’t become a statistic. Seat belts and helmets do save lives.