The risks of driving unbuckled

  • Published
  • 145th Flying Training Wing Safety Office
COLUMBUS AIR FORCE BASE, Miss. --  Team BLAZE -- Learning and mitigating risks is an integral part of our primary mission. BLAZE personnel are trained and ready to Produce Pilots, Advance Airmen and Feed the Fight - providing invaluable service both at home and abroad. But sometimes, the basics of safety aren't applied to personal lives outside of duty, and that's when tragedy strikes.

One of these times is during everyday, ordinary trips in personal vehicles. Motor vehicle crashes are actually the leading cause of death for everyone between the ages of 3 and 40. With so many threats to service members, it's shocking to think that the biggest danger is our own streets and highways. So for those not mitigating the risks themselves, the 14 SFS is joining with state and local law enforcement for the 2012 Click It or Ticket national mobilization.

Starting Monday, May 21st through June 3rd, our CAFB defenders will be aggressively patrolling the roads both day and night, on the lookout for unbelted drivers and passengers. Why? Because wearing a seat belt is the easiest way to protect against death or injury in a crash, and anyone caught without their seat belt properly buckled will face a ticket and suspension of base driving privileges.

"Seat belt use is required in all vehicles on base," said Maj Joe Ringer, "but that's not enough. We want to make sure that personnel also buckle up anytime they get in a motor vehicle. It's not about giving a ticket; it's about lowering risks and saving lives."

Year after year, seat belt use prevents thousands of fatalities, saving more than 12,000 lives nationwide annually. But many still don't use this easy defense. In 2010, more than 22,000 people in passenger vehicles were killed in traffic crashes nationwide, and over half of those killed were not buckled up.

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration research has shown that nighttime and pickup truck passenger vehicle occupants are among those least likely to buckle up. In 2010, well over half of the 10,647 passenger vehicle occupants who were killed in motor vehicle traffic crashes overnight (6 p.m. to 5:59 a.m.) were not wearing their seat belts at the time of the fatal crash. Pickup trucks rollover twice as often as cars and rollovers are one of the most deadly forms of crashes among passenger vehicles. Yet many feel safer in their trucks. However, in 2009, 68 percent of those killed in pickup truck crashes were unbuckled -- the highest percentage of unrestrained occupant deaths over all passenger vehicles.

"The most difficult aspect of dealing with traffic fatalities is the knowledge that so often they could have been prevented if the motorists had simply been wearing their seat belts," said Lt Col Lee Gentile. "It's heartbreaking to tell a parent or spouse that their loved one is gone, not due to combat, but from simply not taking a moment to buckle up on their drive home."

"It is absolutely necessary that all BLAZE team members are aware of the risks on the roadways," said Col Matt Isler. "Wearing a seat belt may seem inconsequential to you right now, but at the instant that it makes the difference between life and death, it's too late," he said.

And if the risk of a crash doesn't persuade you to buckle up, base law enforcement will be on the lookout to motivate you... with a ticket.