According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), car accidents are a leading cause of death among people between the ages of 1 and 54 in the U.S. In 2012, over 2.2 million people sought medical treatment in emergency rooms after being injured in a car crash.

One of the best ways to save lives and reduce injuries is to buckle up, but millions of adults and older children don't wear seat belts every time they hit the road.

What difference do seat belts make?

The CDC strongly encourages seat belts, especially since buckling up prevents so many injuries and fatalities.

• Wearing a seat belt reduces the risk of crash-related injuries and deaths by around 50%.
• While airbags provide added protection, they are no substitute for seatbelts.
• The greatest protection in a crash comes from airbags plus seatbelts (for adults).

The CDC reports that of the teens (13 to 20 years) who died in auto accidents in 2012, around 55% were not wearing a seatbelt. What's more, adults who live in rural areas are 10% less likely to wear seatbelts than adults in suburban and urban areas: 78% and 87% respectively.

Men wear seatbelts 10% less often than women according to 2010 CDC published data, and the 18-34 age group is less likely to wear a seatbelt than people over 35.

Primary Enforcement Laws Help

Research shows that primary enforcement seat belt laws are excellent tools for getting people to buckle up. A primary enforcement seat belt law allows a police officer to pull over a vehicle and issue a ticket just because the driver or a passenger isn't buckled up.

In contrast, a secondary enforcement law only allows an officer to issue a ticket for not wearing a seat belt when a driver has been stopped for another offense.

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