- posted: Sep. 24, 2012
- auto accidents, car accidents
According to a report issued by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), passengers in the back seat of a vehicle are 9 percent less likely to buckle their seat belts than front seat passengers. The NHTSA hopes to change this percentage with legislation that requires new vehicles to be manufactured to sound an alert until both front and back seat belts are fastened. The proposed legislation has the ability to reduce the risk of injuries or fatalities for all passengers by as much as 40 percent.
Data compiled by the NHTSA indicates that people who ride in the back seat often have the mistaken notion that they are safer in a car accident than the driver and front-seat passenger. When questioned about car accidents after the fact, a large percentage of back-seat passengers responded that they felt protected by the seat in front of them.
Unfortunately, this is not true — back-seat passengers are just as prone to injury and they can endanger the driver and front-seat passenger by not wearing a seat belt. In a crash, an unbelted back-seat passenger is thrown forward and may collide with other people in the car or be thrown out the front window.
Even when you do wear your seat belt every time you get in a car, you still face the possibility of getting into a motor vehicle collision. If you or a close family member has sustained injuries in a car accident, you may be eligible for financial compensation.
