Florida Back Seat Passenger Injury Attorneys
Buckle-Up Even If You’re a Backseat Passenger
The laws are a-changing again when it comes to using seat belts – this time it’s including the rear-seated passengers. New Jersey is set to become the 23rd state to require all rear passengers to wear their seat belt. The law goes into effect 2011 and was signed by former Gov. Jon Corzine just before he left office. He had good reason to sign this bill since he was severely injured in 2007 in a crash while not wearing his seat belt. Even though the rear seat belt violation will be a secondary offense, it will start the trend of back seat passengers to start using their seat belts.
Although laws vary from state to state, 19 states have secondary offenses for front and/or rear seat belt use. New Hampshire is the only state without any seat belt law. Florida’s current seat belt law makes it a primary offense for unrestrained front seat passengers and for passengers between the ages of 6-17 for all seats.
Even without primary law enforcement for rear seat belt use, the latest data from the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration (NHTSA) shows that rear passenger seat belt use is at 74 percent, up almost 50% since 2004. States where seat belt laws are stricter for both front and rear passengers have shown more lives have been saved.
Numbers don’t lie
In 2008, there were 707 deaths in cars where the back seat passengers were unrestrained compared to 425 deaths where they were restrained. In light trucks, the number was 529 deaths of unrestrained occupants compared to almost half that number of deaths (255) of restrained occupants.
Statistics controvert the old school of thought that the rear seat is the safest place in a car. Unrestrained rear-seat passengers can actually become projectiles in a crash and can seriously injure or kill other occupants in the vehicle and are more likely to be ejected from the vehicle.
The American Journal of Preventative Medicine supports these findings as well. They determined that a recent study showed the front seat passengers are actually safer than rear seat passengers due to the safety advancements of front seat technologies. Also, because rear seat belt use tends to be much lower than that of front seat passengers, the risk for injury or death for back seat passengers is much higher. Hence, the push for requiring back seat passengers to wear seat belts.
So how do we comply?
Reminders, reminders, reminders. NHTSA’s research shows that programs such as, "Click it or Ticket" work to increase awareness and therefore, increase compliance. Vehicle safety reminders, such as enhanced audio and visual alerts that last longer than eight seconds and are repetitive are great prompters to remind the occupants to fasten their seat belts. NHTSA showed that these reminders increased seat belt use by three percent.
However, designing rear seat reminders are a bit more challenging and costly due to removable seats and child safety seats. For now, law enforcement and driver enforcement are the best ways to increase the safety of back seat passengers.