SEAT BELTS SAVE LIVES
That’s why Texas is drawing the line for drivers and passengers: Buckle up or face a fine! Not only is wearing a seat belt the single most important step you can take to protect yourself in a crash, drivers and adult passengers who aren’t wearing a seat belt can each receive a ticket and risk fines and court costs of up to $200.
Law enforcement officials statewide are participating in the “Click It or Ticket” campaign to increase seat belt use. From May 23 to June 5, Texas law enforcement officers will increase their efforts to ticket drivers and passengers not wearing their seat belt.
Memorial Day falls in the middle of this time period and marks the traditional start of summer, when many people take to the road to enjoy the long weekend with friends and family. All drivers and all passengers in the vehicle must be properly restrained.
Last year, 2,369 motor vehicle traffic crashes occurred in Texas in which unrestrained occupants sustained fatal or serious injuries. Wearing a seat belt increases your chance of surviving a crash by 45 percent. In pickup trucks, that number jumps to 60 percent, because pickups are twice as likely as cars to roll over in a crash.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates that since its inception, the “Click It or Ticket” campaign in Texas has resulted in 4,319 fewer traffic fatalities while preventing 72,926 serious injuries and saving more than $ 16.7 billion in related economic costs.
HOW DID THE MODERN SEATBELT COME ABOUT?
Seat belts were invented in the mid-19th century, but Edward J. Claghorn of New York, was granted the first patent in 1885 for a safety belt. Claghorn was granted the U.S. Patent for a Safety-Belt for painters, firemen, etc. who are being raised or lowered, described in the patent as “to be applied to the person, and provided with hooks and other attachments for securing the person to a fixed object.” During World War II seat belts were fully adopted in military aircraft.
In the early 1950s, Dr. C. Hunter Shelden had made a major contribution to the automotive industry with his idea of retractable seat belts. In the November 1955 Journal of the American Medical Association he proposed retractable seat belt, recessed steering wheels, reinforced roofs, roll bars, door locks and passive restraints such as the air bag.
In 1958, American car manufacturers (Nash and Ford) offered seat belts as options, while Swedish Saab first introduced seat belts as standard. It was just after the New York Motor Show in 1958 where safety belts were fitted as standard in the Saab, the practice became commonplace. Subsequently, in 1959, US Congress passed legislation requiring all automobiles to comply with additional automobile safety standards.
The modern three point seat belt (the so-called CIR-Griswold restraint) used in most consumer vehicles today was patented in 1955 by the Americans Roger W. Griswold and Hugh DeHaven.
The world’s first seat belt law was in 1970, in the state of Victoria, Australia, making the wearing of a seat belt compulsory for drivers and front-seat passengers. The first US seat belt law was a federal law, which took effect on January 1, 1968, that required all vehicles (except buses) to be fitted with seat belts in all designated seating positions. This law has since been modified to require three-point seat belts in all seating positions.
Initially, seat belt use was not compulsory. New York was the first state to pass a law, which required vehicle occupants to wear seat belts, a law that came into effect on December 1, 1984.