There is a Minnesotan Crackdown On Seatbelt Use

The Minnesota Department of Public Safety reported that more than 300 law enforcement agencies in Minnesota will start extra seat belt law enforcement starting this weekend and continuing until the end of the month of October. As the Grand Forks Harold reported:

State statistics show that 54 percent of men killed in accidents the first six months of this year were not wearing a seat belt, compared with 40 percent of women.

Of the 183 men killed in car crashes last year, almost half or 89 men weren’t buckled up.

While 90% of Minnesota drivers are complying with the law there is still more to do.  The Brainard Dispatch included numbers that were of a concern:

Preliminary numbers show 48 percent of men seriously injured in a car crash from June through July were unbelted, while 26 percent of women failed to buckle up.

Of the 183 men killed in 2014 car crashes, 89 were not buckled. Of the 95 women who died in 2014 car crashes, 33 were not belted.

See also: Click It or Ticket – why the beat goes on Posted by Pierce Egerton May 25, 2012 12:01

Now there are those who will argue that not all of these people would have been saved. They will even come up with examples where people have driven into lakes, but were able to escape because they weren’t buckled. To that I say “Sure”, but clearly more people stay in the car when they are buckled up. Those people who are are thrown long distances and suffer major injuries and death. The limited examples will never outweigh that impact.

With any death in a Minnesota motor vehicle collision, there are many issues that will need to be reviewed. My partner, Joe Crumley, addressed this topic in a article for the Minnesota Lawyers Trial magazine. I was interviewed on the same topic. Hopefully, the study and the resulting suggested changes the future numbers for these deaths will go down.