Valentine’s Day is a good time to show your love by making sure that before you start your vehicle, all passengers- big and small- are always buckled up correctly. This is even more important as we continue to see an increase in traffic crash fatalities each year. Taking those few seconds to buckle up your children into their car seats and boosters, and making sure older children and adults are buckled up, is the most crucial step you can take to protect those you love in a crash. Those few seconds can save your family and friends from having to go through a needless tragedy. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), among passenger vehicle occupants killed in 2020, over half were unrestrained. This number of unrestrained occupants is the highest it has been in over ten years. So, we need to show a lot more love and respect for our seat belts.
Fortunately, most Texans now buckle up, but some groups of motorists continue to not take the message to heart by not consistently using their seat belts. And, unfortunately, most children are not correctly restrained in a car seat or booster seat. Using Valentine’s Day as an opportunity to make sure all your passengers are safely buckled up, and if you know someone who doesn’t wear their seat belt, use Valentine’s Day to remind them and ask them to buckle up for love!
Here is a gift suggestion for any friend or family member who does not wear their seat belt- especially your teens. Ask them to sign a pledge that they will always buckle up and have them present it to you as a Valentine’s Day gift. Vehicle crashes are the leading cause of teen deaths nationwide with teens involved in three times as many fatal crashes as all other drivers, according to NHTSA.
