Straight Talk Law Blog: Surprise – Guess Who’s Not Using Seat Belts, By Seattle Personal Injury Lawyer Jason Epstein

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If you had a chance to look at my new article, “Buckling Up Keeps Fatalities Down,” you know that the age group that uses seat belts the least are those that are 16 to 24 years old, according to a new study by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).

While the national average of seat belt usage is 84%, this age group only uses safety restraints 80% of the time.

However, a more shocking statistic from the NHTSA shines a spotlight on a group of motorists that only uses seat belts 50% of the time. Yes, only half the time.

That group? Police officers.

Yes, 42 percent of U.S. police officers who were killed in car accidents during the past 30 years weren’t buckled up, according to an NHTSA analysis of 733 police car crashes from 1980 through 2008.

Not only that, but the number of police officers using safety restraints has actually gone down in the past decade. In the 1990’s, the usage rate was 56 percent.

So, why does half of the police force risk personal injury and wrongful death by not using seat belts? Well, according to Craig Floyd of the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund, officers resist wearing seat belts because they slow down getting in and out of their squad cars. They also complain that the straps get tangled up with their gun belts.

Well, despite all the gun battles we see the police involved in on prime time television, the leading cause of officer deaths in 2010 was fatal car accidents – for the 13^th straight year. And you can be sure the lack of seat belt usage is a big contributor to that total.

I certainly appreciate our country’s law enforcement officers who risk life and limb to keep our streets safe. I just wish they’d make those streets a little safer for themselves.

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