Many fatalities could have been avoided had seat belts been used. All vehicles, regardless of age, should be equipped with seat belts. All fire agencies have mandatory seat belt policies. The issue is voluntary compliance. People need to be aware of recent statistics that show while only twenty-five percent of people still do not wear seat belts, this one person in four minority accounts for a whopping sixty percent of all vehicle deaths. A study by the NHTSA in 2001 identified a seventy-five percent death rate of occupant ejections involving passenger car fatalities. Only one percent of those occupants had been wearing seat belts. During the past 26 years, seat belts have prevented over 135,000 fatalities. It has been estimated that during this same period, if all vehicle occupants had been wearing seat belts, a further 315,000 deaths and 5.2 million injuries could have been prevented. A fact sheet prepared by the NHTSA detailing those statistic and other seat belt facts can be accessed HERE.
CONCLUSION
The keys to avoiding the pitfalls of these human factor accidents are driver education, hands on training and refresher training. Vehicle operators should receive supervised driver education in a controlled environment and become completely familiar with each vehicle's characteristics. Hands on training should include completing a pre-trip vehicle safety inspection and knowledge of the vehicles load capacity. The training should conclude with a road test to demonstrate the operator proficiency of each vehicle to be driven. Refresher training should also be provided since another human factor, redundancy, often leads to complacency. For further recommendations relating to vehicle operator training, go HERE.