Published: May 19, 2008 04:20 pm            

Monica Green: Buckle up for life

While searching for an idea of what to write my column on each week, I try different avenues such as asking my family and friends. Wednesday night I asked my dad what I should write about, and we spent some time debating current events.

Thursday morning he sent me an e-mail with an idea that was right up my alley — seat belts. There are so many topics that I could write about involving vehicles, from my annoyance about people who don’t use their blinkers to the frustration of people so distracted by other factors that they’re not focused on driving.

But the use of seat belts is a topic that should concern everyone, and it’s something Texas is trying to fix. The annual Click it or Ticket campaign begins Monday and continues until June 1.

For some, buckling up may not seem like that big of a deal, but when you take a look at the sheer numbers of those killed when not wearing a seat belt, it seems like a no-brainer.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said 15,046 fatalities occurred between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m. in 2006. Of those, 64 percent were not wearing their seat belts.

Those killed in traffic accidents in Texas in 2006 numbered 3,475. Nineteen of those were in Johnson County. The number of those who were not wearing seat belts was 21 percent, with 5 percent unknown.

So our county seems to be doing well, especially compared with our neighbors Tarrant County, where out of 106 crashes, 40 were unrestrained and 14 were unknown.

Vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for people ages 2 to 34. The number of crash fatalities is almost equal to the number of homicides, according to the NHTSA.

The obvious pluses of wearing a seat belt include surviving rollovers, not being ejected form the vehicle and surviving the crash. The number of occupants involved in a fatal crash who survived because they were buckled up? Seventy-seven percent.

So the choice is yours when you step into your vehicle. Do you want to be safe and alive for your family? The choice may be yours, but for the rest of this month, Texas law enforcement will help you decide by writing you a citation if you’re not buckled.

In Cleburne if you are pulled over for not wearing a seat belt, you will receive a $147 ticket. If a child in your vehicle is not restrained, it jumps up another $50 dollars.

If you get pulled over by a Johnson County Sheriff’s deputy, be prepared to shell out $150 for not wearing a seatbelt and $212 for a child not wearing one.

So take your chances or buckle up.

        

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