Holiday Travels: Buckle Up That Seat Belt For Thanksgiving!

With Thanksgiving right around the corner and more people hitting the roads, one of the keys to safe holiday travels: buckle up! You may not always think that way, but a seat belt can help save your life!

Holiday Travels

With gas prices so low right now, that means more and more people are going to be hitting the road when traveling home for the holidays. Yes, the roads are always busy during this time of the year, but we can probably expect them to be even busier now. With that being said, we have to stay safe on the roads, especially with slick roads because of that snow!

Keep It Simple

While there can be many distractions on the road, we can also do our part to keep the roads safe. One of the easiest things you can do to keep yourself safe is buckle up that seat belt. This simple act can help increase your chances of surviving a crash! According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, seat belts saved 14,668 lives in 2016 alone! If every driver would have worn a seat belt in 2016, there could have been 2,456 more lives saved. This is why you must buckle up on those holiday travels.

Busy Roads

With Thanksgiving and Black Friday shopping, the roads are going to be hectic next week. NHTSA stated that during this holiday weekend in 2016 (6 p.m. on Wednesday, November 23, to 5:59 a.m. on Monday, November 28), there were 341 people killed in traffic across the nation. That is a very high number, but add in the fact that half of those people killed were NOT wearing a seat belt!

The Rule Breakers

So, which group is out there not following the rules of wearing their seat belts? That would be younger people and men! In 2016, 62 percent of the 13- to 15-year-olds killed in crashes weren’t wearing seat belts. We saw 59 percent of the 25- to 34-year-olds killed in crashes not wearing seat belts either. Also in 2016, a little more than half the men killed in crashes did not have seat belts on. That is compared to 40 percent of women.

Just remind your loved ones to drive safe this Thanksgiving and to buckle up for their holiday travels!