Yes Indeed, Seat Belts Save Lives!
Hereês the Latest From DOT
Seat belts, air bags and other automotive safety features have saved 329,000 lives since 1960, according to a report released Tuesday by the U.S. Department of Transportation.
Of all the safety features introduced since 1960, one of them – safety belts – accounts for more than half of all the lives saved,” Dr. Jeffrey Runge, head of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), said in an address to the Automotive News World Conference in Dearborn.
Besides seat belts and air bags, the agency evaluated child safety seats, energy-absorbing steering columns, improved roofs and shatter-resistant windshields but did not include side airbags and electronic stability control systems, though Runge said they held promise, The Detroit News reports.
According to the study, the number of lives saved annually from safety devices increased from 115 per year in 1960 to 25,000 a year in 2002. In 2003, the number of U.S. road accident fatalities dipped for the first time in five years, to 42,643 from 43,005 in the previous year, Runge said, and the death rate per miles fell to a 29-year low. The data for 2004 are not yet available.
“The industry should be very proud of what it has accomplished,” said Runge, who also announced he had been asked recently by Secretary of Transportation Norman Y. Mineta to remain on the job as safety chief.
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