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.
My mother got it so ingrained into my head that I put my seat belt on the second I sit down, even if I know we’re not moving for several minutes (waiting for people, others loading their stuff in the trunk, whatever). And I usually don’t take it off until I exit the car, even if we’ve parked and, once again, remain in the car for whatever reason. Mom’s other edicts: lock your doors, stay out of the left lane, don’t play the radio too loud. Loudness is subjective, I do drive in the left lane, but I absolutely always lock the doors. Twice I’ve had people try to get in my car at an intersection — in two of the supposedly safer cities where I’ve lived! I shudder to think of what mom would say if she had been alive in the day of people holding phones to their ears and texting!
I’m one of the 20% who do except in a foreign country when they don’t even work in the back seats
Not wearing a seatbelt in the back seat is just as dangerous as if you were in the front. You can still go over the seat & out the front or back windshields. I have always insisted everyone buckle up when they ride with me & I never go anywhere without my seatbelt on, irregardless of whether I am driving or a passenge. I trained my nephews when they were little to wear theirs & they made sure to tell their parents to put theirs on too. It’s definitely better to be safe than sorry!
Most people are so preoccupied with something that they never think about a seat belt when they sit in the back of a vehicle. It’s the law everywhere to buckle up but some sit in the back so they won’t have to adhere to the law. They feel confined. But un-forseen occurrences happen all the time. Driving isn’t a pleasure like it use to be so many drivers are on the road with a million distractions.
This is disturbing! People better wise up! Be safe!
My family always wear our seatbelts
I make everyone wear their seatbelts as soon as we get in or we dont go until we all are buckle in
THis, this, this is ridiculous. I hope these people never get in an accident. 🙁
I won’t even put the car in drive without my seatbelt on. It’s so second nature to me at this point.
Great post! I was in a car accident in college…me and a friend were in the backseat. He had just taken his seatbelt off. I still had mine on. He was in ICU for weeks with multipe broken ribs, internal damage, spleen removed, you name it. I walked away with a concussion and lingering shoulder pain. I’m a believer in the importance of wearing seatbelts no matter which seat you’re in!
You’ve been stumbled, too! 🙂
It’s so sad to think that if only she would of been wearing her seatbelt she would still be here, for her boys..
Stumbled you
I also added myself to your GFC, happy blogging!
I’m a Stumble Tumble Tuesday-Wednesday friend 😉
kellysluckyyou.com/2011/02/viewing-guide-to-the-oscars-in-the-know-for-the-2011-academy-awards/
That is just so unfortunate – everyone needs to buckle up!
I stumbled your post! Would love if you stumbled mine: texastypeamom.com/2011/02/all-by-myself.html
Stumbled this.
I refuse to drive unless everyone in the car has their seatbelt on. I even told my father to buckle up when he didn’t want to. I wasn’t moving until everyone was straped in. It’s jsut not worth the risk.
I stumbled you, scarymarythehamsterlady.blogspot.com/2011/02/my-rant-work-ethic-and-keeping.html
That’s insane. I have to admit that I have ridden int eh back of our family car without a belt, but only because after adding the second carseat it became impossible to fit your hand under the seat to do the belt up. Things are tight back there. We save letting anyone ride in the back for emergencies only. But other then that I ALWAYS wear a belt, and so does everyone else I know. I idea of driving around without one appalls me. I would never have guessed that the statistics for non-compliance would be so high.
Oh and I stumbled you, my post is mapleleafmommy.com/2011/02/independent-interview-lisa-from-giving.html
I just don’t understand why people don’t wear seatbelts. I don’t even back my car out of the garage or leave until my kids are buckled up!
Great post 🙂
I stumbled you!!
Shopper Gal
I still don’t get why people don’t wear seatbelts. They’ve been doing it since they were small children, it should be instinct by now. I can’t even drive around the block without a seatbelt it feels to weird.
Stumbled you from
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Getting a jump on STT, so I’m stumbling and reviewing your post – Heather from Acting Balanced
Here’s my post for this week: http://www.actingbalanced.com/2011/02/mmmmonday-roasted-portobello-mushrooms.html?utm_source=stt
Not a smart idea. If you are unrestrained in the back seat and are in an accident, you can become (or even your animals can become) a projectile which can hit and kill the passengers in the front seat, usually by breaking the front seat passengers necks while flying forward. You could even strike the front seat passengers back of their seats hard enough to cause serious injury to the front seat passengers spines, resulting in some form of paralysis.
We have dogs and even they ride in carriers when they are in the vehicle with us, so if we were ever in an accident they wouldn’t be flying out of the vehicle to get run over.
I hate seeing people in backs of trucks or animals in backs of trucks not belted or caged in a safe manner. Freaks me out.
You are exactly correct Lauralee. It’s amazing how so many people don’t see it as important.
The Chief Blonde