Take the poll: How often do you buckle up?
Look for our three-day special report, “Making It Click: Lives on the Line,” which begins Sunday, Feb. 24.
Reporter Jeff Sturgeon (@SturgeonRT) spoke with public radio station WVTF (89.1 FM) about the series earlier this week. Find highlights from his interview here.
Video: Watch our series trailer
Reporter Jeff Sturgeon
To summarize:
Nearly 1,700 unbelted Virginians have died in vehicle wrecks in the past five years.
But 600 — maybe 700 — could have lived.
How?
By committing the simple act of fastening their seat belt — and following the law.
So many of us do belt nowadays — nearly 82 percent in our state, on average. But the message isn’t getting through to everyone, especially in rural Virginia, where in some communities up to three-fourths of traffic fatalities involved unbelted drivers or passengers.
In this Roanoke Times/roanoke.com special report, we explore why the disparities exist. We also retrace failed efforts to strengthen Virginia’s seat belt law and look at new initiatives to educate young drivers.
February 22, 2013 - 11:59 PM
I didn’t always buckle up, But back in the early 2000′s i got a job that required a lot of interstate travel so I got into the habit of doing so. Good thing I did because in 2004 i had a horrible accident on I-81 near Fort Chiswell and hit an 18 wheeler head on after having a seizure and crossing the median. I truly believe the seat belt and air bag saved my life and the man above.
I am guessing that it’s skewed because most of the people clicking to take it are the bucklers….
Never understood the logic behind not buckling up. I’ve heard the arguments about the one-in-a-gajillion chance of being in an accident in which buckling up could prove hazardous, but that doesn’t wash with me. What it boils down to is plain old stubbornness and not wanting some government flunky telling ME, a flag-waving American, what to do. Which, poor as it is, I guess is a better reason than sheer laziness. Personally, I think laziness is the real reason.
I don’t favor any law prohibiting a behavior that is clearly suicidal. In fact, I think it’s an exquisitly Darwinian way of cleansing the gene pool.
Besides, if we are really serious about prohibiting this behavior, mandate an interlock system that prevents a car from starting unless all the occupants are belted in.
Doesn’t matter how short distance or far distance I go; I always buckle up. I make sure all my passengers are buckled up before I pull out of my drive way. Also I am glad there was a law passed about using cell phones.
It’s so easy to do, if the vehicle has one, it seems to be the sensible thing to do.
In Illinois now you can be stopped and ticketed if no front seat occupants are belted while the vehicle is moving. Enforcement has had some success in setting up road blocks in rural areas in certain locations. Obviously more enforcement is needed in all states.