| Lack
of Seat Belt Use?? (A few words from the
NHTSA)
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. |