Don’t Become an Auto Accident Fatality- Buckle Up! Ring in the New Year Safely! The single most effective thing you can do to prevent serious injury or death in an Auto Accident, wear your seatbelt. Auto Accidents happen in the blink of an eye. Therefore, regular usage of seatbelts helps prevent serious injuries and save lives. Every year people die needlessly and suffer serious injuries because they failed to buckle up. Chuck Barnes & Glenn Cohen, Experienced Injury Attorneys at Barnes & Cohen have witnessed the devastating effects of a serious auto accidents when passengers and drivers have failed to buckle up. Serious injuries in minor auto accidents occur more often without the usage of seatbelts.
Auto Accidents in Jacksonville, Florida and South Georgia Turn Fatal When Passengers and Drivers Fail to Buckle Up! According to the National Highway Traffic Administration, 47% of the passengers killed in Auto Crashes were not wearing seatbelts. Here in Jacksonville, Florida we have seen accidents involving teens that died when they were ejected from their car in a crash. A father died when he was ejected from his vehicle while his one-year-old survived the crash with no injuries in his car seat. A South Georgia mother faced child cruelty charges after her infant was thrown from her car in an auto accident. The mother walked away from the crash. The infant was not in a car seat or restrained. The baby suffered serious life-threatening injuries. The sad stories continue to rob families of their loved ones. An estimated 2,549 people across our nation could have survived an auto accident in 2019 if they had buckled up. Not only does buckling up save lives it helps prevent serious injuries in minor accidents. NHSTA estimate 50% of people seriously injured in a crash could have walked away without a scratch if they had been wearing a seatbelt.
Fatalities Increase Dramatically when Passengers and Drivers Fail to Buckle Up! During the holidays we experience more accidents on our roads here in Jacksonville, Florida. While failure to buckle up happens in all age groups the largest segment of our population that fails to buckle up is our teens and children ages 8-12. When the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration studied fatalities over a one-year period they found half of the children ages 8-12 that died in an auto crash could have survived the auto accident if they had been wearing a seatbelt. Please Buckle Up! Make sure you children are always Buckled Up before you drive. Take the time to hug your teen driver, teach them- “Buckle Up! Arrive Alive!”
- Buckle Up! It is the single most effective thing you can do to prevent serious injury or death in an auto accident.
- Buckling up keeps you from being ejected from your vehicle in a serious Auto Accident.
- Air bags can seriously injure or kill when used without a seatbelt restraint. The force of the airbag deploying has been designed to work with seatbelts not alone. Air bags are especially dangerous for an unrestrained child or a smaller lightweight person. Small adults have died from the force of the airbag impact when they failed to Buckle Up!
- Wear your seatbelt correctly and make sure small children and infants are properly buckled in an approved car seat. Go to the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration website for help on finding an approved seat. Car Seats and Booster Seats | NHTSA
- Safety Check your child’s car seat. The Florida Highway Patrol will check to make sure your child’s car seat is properly secured in your vehicle. Contact the Florida Highway Patrol in your county. CHILDSAFETYMONTH-CARSEATINSTALLATION-FLYER-8.5×11-2019.indd (flhsmv.gov)
Seriously injured without a seatbelt can I still file a claim? Yes! Call us for a Free Consultation, Experienced Personal Injury Attorneys here to help. At Barnes & Cohen we hate to see good people seriously injured and facing big medical bills. Noone ever plans to be in an Auto Accident. The stress, the injury, dealing with the insurance company, should I call the police or seek medical treatment first.