A woman is dead after a single-vehicle rollover wreck on Interstate 55. The early morning crash happened as the woman was traveling south. As her vehicle rolled, she was ejected from it. She died from the injuries that resulted from the crash. An investigation into this terrible accident indicates that the woman was not wearing her seatbelt. It is unclear why the wreck occurred, and authorities continue to investigate.
For years, messages concerning seat belt use have been all over the news, especially whenever there is news coverage of an ejection accident, such as the one described above. Despite the frequent, tragic reminders of what can happen when someone does not use a seatbelt, people continue to drive and ride without them. Seat belt use has increased over the years, but it is still not at one hundred percent. Highway safety agencies and law enforcement officials plan to continue enforcing and reinforcing the importance of seat belt use as long as there are people on the roads who are not buckled up.
In Mississippi, as in many states, seat belt use is required by law. Under Mississippi law, drivers and passengers in the front seat who are age seven or older must wear seat belts. Kids who are over four and under seven years old must buckle up no matter where they sit in a vehicle. Small children who are less than four years old must be buckled in a properly-fitted, properly-installed child safety seat. Drivers who do not ensure that they and the other occupants of their vehicle follow the seat belt law may be required to pay a fine.
Seat belts have proven to be the device that prevents more car accident deaths and injuries than any other vehicle safety feature. One way that seat belts save lives is by keeping people inside of vehicles. Ejectment accidents like the one described above are horrific, and the survival of drivers and passengers who are ejected is uncommon. When someone is ejected from a vehicle during an accident, there is a seventy-five percent chance that they will die. Their death may be instantaneous, or it may occur hours or even days later, as a result of their injuries. The effectiveness of seatbelts in preventing ejection is overwhelming – fewer than one percent of the people who wear seatbelts are ejected from wrecked vehicles.
In addition to decreasing the risk of death by ejectment, seatbelts also lessen the severity of injuries that result from car accidents. Automobile accident victims who do not wear seat belts report medical bills that are, on average, fifty percent higher than the medical bills reported by car accident victims who were wearing their seat belts.
Adults who drive or ride with children in a vehicle are responsible for ensuring that they wear seatbelts or are buckled into properly-fitted, correctly-installed child safety seats. Children are more likely than adults are to be hurt or killed in car crashes. Child safety seats and seat belts can prevent up to eighty percent of the child and infant deaths that result from motor vehicle wrecks .
If you were hurt or you lost a loved one in a car crash, we’re here to help. Call the Mississippi Automobile Accident Attorneys of Barrett Law PLLC at 1 (800) 707-9577 to arrange a consultation.