Star Team encourages and enforces seat belt usage!
See how to properly wear a seatbelt
Seat belts are the most important safety equipment in
cars and trucks, but they can benefit travelers who crash only
if they are used.
According to the National Highway
Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), from 1982 through 1995
safety belts are estimated to have saved 74,769 lives. Even more
lives could be saved and serious injuries avoided if seat belt
use in the United States, currently at 68 percent, could be increased
to 90 percent, levels that are common in many other countries.
Not using a seat belt heightens risk to an unacceptable level -- it doubles your chance of being killed in a serious crash. On the other hand, motorists who use their lap/shoulder safety belts reduce the risk of fatal injury in the front seat by 45 percent and the risk of moderate-to-critical injury by 50 percent.
All states have laws requiring infants and toddlers
to ride in safety seats, but even with existing seat belt use
laws, 40 percent of children still ride unprotected. According
to NHTSA, 55 percent of children fatally injured in the front
seat were riding unrestrained by child safety seats or seat belts.
All children should ride protected with a safety
seat or seat belt -- every trip. Never place a rear-facing infant
seat in front of an air bag. The rear seat is the safest place
for children of any age to ride.
In Georgia, all children (anywhere in vehicle)
below 18 years of age must be properly secured in a seat belt
or car seat. Children 1 and 2 years old must be in a car seat
(properly used), children 3 and 4 years old may be either a car
seat or a seat belt (properly used). Adults in the front seat
must also be seat belted. A violation observed by the police,
can result in a citation being written to the driver. Effective
July 1, 1996, no other violation needs to be observed by the police
to be stopped.
Consumers with questions on seat belt and child
safety seat use can contact NHTSAs toll-free Auto Safety Hotline:
(800) 424-9393 or, contact the DeKalb Police Star Team