Seat belts are one of the most effective safety measures for anyone involved in a St. Louis car accident, significantly reducing the likelihood of serious injuries and fatalities. Across the country, data continues to show how important usage is.
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), properly worn seat belts cut the risk of death for front-seat car passengers by 45% and reduce moderate to critical injuries by 50%. In nearly every crash, using a seat belt gives you a much better chance of walking away with less severe injuries.
How Seat Belts Protect Vehicle Occupants
Understanding exactly how seat belts protect you is important, as it will probably make you more likely to wear one every time you get into a vehicle. Here’s how seat belts help shield occupants from severe harm:
Preventing Ejection
Being thrown from a vehicle during an accident nearly always leads to life-threatening or fatal injuries. Seat belts keep occupants inside the car in most cases, preventing ejections through the windshield.
Minimizing Secondary Collisions Inside the Vehicle
If someone isn’t wearing a seat belt during a crash, they’re much more likely to get injured not just from the crash but also from secondary injuries related to not wearing the belt. For example, an unrestrained driver or occupant may hit their head on hard surfaces when they’re thrown around the car. Seat belts help prevent this.
Reducing Impact Forces
Seat belts work by distributing the force of a crash over the stronger parts of your body, like your chest and pelvis. This reduces the chance of serious injuries and the likelihood of hitting the dashboard, windshield, or other passengers.
Supporting Airbag Effectiveness
Although airbags provide another layer of protection, they are designed to work together with seat belts, not as a replacement. If you don’t have your seat belt on while the airbag deploys, you could end up sliding under or forward into the deploying airbag, which can lead to serious facial, neck, and chest injuries. An airbag can actually do more harm than good if you aren’t using a seat belt.
Common Injuries That Occur When Seat Belts Are Not Used
Some common injuries that occur in car accidents when seat belts aren’t used include the following:
- Traumatic brain injuries: Head impacts from hitting windows, dashboards, or even being thrown from the vehicle can lead to lasting brain damage.
- Spinal cord injuries: High-speed collisions frequently result in neck or back trauma that may cause paralysis or lifelong disability.
- Facial injuries: Striking the steering wheel or windshield can easily break facial bones and lead to deep cuts or even vision loss.
- Internal organ damage: Without restraint, blunt force from being jerked around the vehicle can harm the liver, spleen, and other organs, sometimes requiring emergency surgery.
- Ejection injuries: One of the most serious risks of not wearing a seat belt is the possibility of being ejected during a crash. This can lead to severe injuries and sometimes fatalities.
Wearing a seat belt is one of the simplest choices you can make to help protect yourself in the event of a car accident, which occurs far more frequently than any of us would like.
If you have suffered serious injuries, contact our St. Louis catastrophic injury lawyer to seek the compensation you deserve. Schedule your free consultation today.
You Can Usually Still Recover Compensation Even if You Weren’t Wearing a Seat Belt
If you were injured in a car accident in Missouri and weren’t wearing your seatbelt, you might think you can’t get any compensation, even if someone else was responsible for the accident. Fortunately, that isn’t the case.
Missouri follows a system called pure comparative negligence, which means even if your injuries were partially caused by some of your choices, you can recover monetary damages. Your damages will just be reduced by the percentage of fault that is allotted to you and your choices.
For example, if the court finds you 20% responsible because you didn’t wear a seatbelt, you can still recover 80% of your damages.
If you’re dealing with an injury from a car accident and have any questions or need help with your case, we can help. Contact us for a free consultation to discuss the details of your case.