According to a recent study by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety a shocking number of adults don’t bother using their seat belts when traveling in the rear seats.
Citing the results of 1,172 respondents, the IIHS found 91 percent of adults always use their belt when seated in the front seats but that number drops to 72 percent when the rear seats are factored in. Among the respondents who said they didn’t always buckle up in back, four out of five said they did it mostly during short trips or while using ride-hailing service such as Lyft and Uber.
Seat belt usage has increased significantly over the years but the IIHS says “many rear-seat passengers don’t think belts are necessary because they perceive the back seat to be safer than the front.” The agency noted “This shows a clear misunderstanding about why belts are important, no matter where a person sits in a vehicle.”
While seating in the rear seats used to be safer, the IIHS says advances in design combined with modern technologies – such as airbags and belt tensioners – have narrowed the safety advantages of riding in the rear seat.
Not using seat belts is obviously a bad idea as more than half of the people who died in passenger vehicle crashes in the United States didn’t buckle up. The report went on to say if everyone buckled up, an additional 2,800 deaths could be prevented.
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