Click It or Ticket- The In's and Out's of Seatbelt Safety

By Alexandria Penta

EASTON,Mass -- Wearing a seatbelt likely saved Brian Nowak’s life in one car crash. But the 21 year old of Wayland, Mass still doesn’t buckle up of the all the time.

Nowak said “it depends on who’s driving.”

Nowak isn’t the only one who is guilty of not buckling up.

The National Occupant Protection Use Survey, conducted annually by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, (NHSTA) showed that 15 percent of the population still does not wear their seat belt in 2010. The survey found the nation’s current seatbelt use is at 85 percent, a 27 percent increase since 2004.

This increase can be attributed to the institution of primary and secondary seat belt laws starting in New York in 1984.

New Hampshire is currently the only state that doesn’t enforce any seat belt laws.

The primary seat belt law, enforced in 31 states, allows police officers to directly issue citations to vehicle operators not wearing their seatbelts. Massachusetts and 18 other states have the secondary seat belt law in which a police officer can only issue a seatbelt citation when being ticketed for a different reason.

The National Safety Council found that seatbelt use is 13 percent higher in states with primary enforcement, than in states with secondary enforcement.

The “Click It or Ticket” campaign, created and sponsored by the NHSTA and the safety council, has yielded the highest results in seatbelt usage. According to the Governors Highway Association, over 30 states participated in the 2008 “Click It or Ticket” campaign.

In 2008, NHTSA reported that seatbelts saved more than 13,000 lives nationwide. They also found that in 2006, of the 30,521 fatalities, 55 percent (16,792) were not wearing their seatbelt.

Lieutenant Catherine Farrington of the Stonehill College Police said wearing seatbelts is important. “They are rated the number one safety device. Sure sometimes it can be a hassle, but I would urge everyone to take a few seconds to buckle up.”

According to NHTSA, only 76 percent of teens were buckling up in 2006.

Leah Zwemke, from Newburyport, Mass., a sophomore at Northeastern University said that she rarely wears her seatbelt. “I’m usually rushing to wherever I’m going and don’t even think to put it on” she said.

Elizabeth Iorio of Boxford, Mass., wears her seat belt because it is the law. But the loss of a high school friend made Iorio acknowledge the importance of always buckling up.

“Mike’s best friend, Evan, was driving and Mike was thrown from the car when they crashed,” Iorio said. He died on the scene, she said, “If he was wearing the seat belt Evan would’ve been saved from all the pain he has to live with and Mike would still be here.”

“When Mike died in that car accident last year, it was really eye opening how important it is to wear it and how quickly a life can be taken. A silly little piece of cloth may have kept him here,” Iorio said.

Brandon Massaro, from Trumbull, Conn., a sophomore at Stonehill College, says he only wears a seatbelt when exceeding speeds over 100 miles per hour. “They’re really uncomfortable, I hate the strap that goes by neck and around my shoulder, so I only wear it in extreme circumstances,” he said.

According to a survey done by SADD in 2001, nearly 90 percent of teens use seat belts for "safety" reasons where only 13 percent say they wear a seat belt because "it’s the law.

For Charlie MacDonald, of Dover, Mass., wearing his seatbelt occasionally has become a bad habit he admits. Macdonald said “I wear it sometimes. If make the effort to think about it, I will defiantly wear it but usually I’m thinking about something else, or I get sidetracked so I won’t even think to put it on.”

In one of the three accidents Nowak has been in, a seat belt has been his lifesaver.

“I was taking a left hand turn and a car coming from the opposite direction was in the right turn lane and went straight through the intersection and completely t-boned my car,” Nowak said. All of the airbags went off. The axle and all the windows on the passenger side were broken.

Even after such a near death experience, Nowak still chooses not to wear his seatbelt all of the time.

“I’d definitely wear one all the time if I had one of those cars that beeped until you buckle in. Those are so annoying,” he said.