Poll Finds Roughly 80% of Respondents Admit they Don’t Wear Restraints
HAVEN”T THEY EVER HEARD OF PRINCESS DIANA???? Many experts have stated that if she would have been wearing her seat belt, she would have survived the horrible accident which took her life!
It started out as a simple question – how often do people wear a seat belt in the back seat? Knowing that more states have enacted laws requiring rear-seat passengers to wear seat belts, a recent poll by LeaseTrader.com’s customer advisor specialists were curious to know how effective these laws are considering all the attention given to people in the front seat of a vehicle.
The survey polled more than 1,000 men and women each throughout the country, including states with and without rear-seat restraint laws. Adult participants in the poll said they rode in the back seat of a vehicle at least 25 times throughout 2010. Among states that have a rear-seat restraint law (Texas, Wash., Minn., Calif.), men said they wore a seat belt just 14.3 percent of the time, while women said they wore one 18.4 percent of the time. Among states that do not have a law in place (Ill., Ariz., Tenn., Neb., Penn.), the percentage dropped to 9.6 percent for men and 16.3 percent for women. Conversely, the same people polled said they wear a seat belt while in the front seat 75.2 percent of the time.
As for reasons why men and women opted against the use of a rear-seat restraint belt, forgetting to use the seat belt was the answer most often used (63.2% of all responses). Other reasons were cited, such as ‘felt it wasn’t necessary’ (13.4%), ‘didn’t think it was the law’ (9.8%) and ‘felt plenty safe without it’ (8.6%).
“What’s most disturbing is that in this day and age of always-on news coverage and awareness, there is no excuse why more people aren’t wearing seat belts in all parts of the vehicle,” said Sergio Stiberman, CEO and founder of LeaseTrader.com. “Whether it’s the local television news or an online news source, we see daily images and stories of people getting hurt while driving or riding in a vehicle which should serve as a remainder of why it’s important to buckle up.”
Does the driver have a responsibility to make sure all passengers are buckled up, including those in the rear seats? According to the poll, the driver did not remind back seat passengers to buckle up roughly 75 percent of the time.
Blog Note: The Chief Blonde provided this article as a service to her readers in hopes that they would always wear their seatbelts no matter where they sit in the car. She was not compensated for this post. The information in this post was provided by LeaseTrader.com, the most recognized name in car leasing, easily and affordably matches car shoppers with individuals looking to escape their auto lease. Visit www.LeaseTrader.com.
To my mind, the driver is responsible for making sure everyone is buckled up.
When I was younger there were far too many sad stories in the paper of folks who didn’t buckle up. Over the years I have pounded into my younger siblings’ and their kids’ heads to wear their seat belts. Thankfully they have taken it to heart. Now when we climb into the cars, the seat belts go on without conscious thought.
my car will not take off until every one is buckel up.
I always make sure everyone is buckled up before turning the car on. If I am a passenger, I insist everyone wear a seat belt whether they are in the front or the back of the vehicle. I’ve heard too many horror stories of people who didn’t.
I often travel with a couple of friends and the car won’t leave til everyone is buckled up.
It’s the drivers responsibility to make sure everyone is buckled before operating the vehicle. The driver is always ultimately responsible financially and morally!