100 Deadliest days of summer

Buckling your seat belt should be automatic. It should be the first thing done when you get in the car. Seat belt use should be as ingrained as tying your shoes or brushing your teeth. Still, nearly 10-20 percent of drivers and passengers go without their seat belts. Between 2013 and 2017, seat belts saved just over 69,000 lives in the United States.

With the Memorial Day holiday weekend marking the official start to summer, there will be thousands more families traveling the roads to and from their summer destinations and vacations getaways between now and Labor Day, so this is an important time to remind everyone why seat belts matter-they help save lives.

Contrary to popular belief, more crashes and more fatalities happen during the summer and warmer months and on clear and dry days, even here in Montana. The warmer weather means that there are more drivers on our roadways. It also means that families are going more places and doing more things. Getting everyone safely to their destinations is the Goal, so reminding everyone in the vehicle to buckle up is the most significant and effective way to reduce crash injuries and fatalities.

In addition to increased educational efforts, patrols, and zero-tolerance enforcement, we really want to get the right information out to motorists. There are too many false notions about seat belts:

• CHILDREN – Small children do not have strong bones and bodies until they reach closer to the age of 13, this is why our fragile passengers need to be properly secured in safety seats and in the back seat of the vehicle. Safety seats and booster seats pre-crash position these occupants and help to absorb and distribute crash forces and energy, and rear-seating areas have fewer hard surfaces to come in contact with.

• YOUTH and TEENS - Young adults in particular seem to think they are invincible in vehicles. Unfortunately, they are dying at a disproportionate rate because they are not wearing their seat belts. Young adults self-report that they forget to put their seat belts on, so it is OK as a parent or friend to remind them before they head out the door or before the car starts.

• MALES - Almost twice as many men are dying in vehicle crashes compared to women due to the lack of seat belts use. Males are strong and believe they can hold themselves in place and maintain complete control of their vehicle during a crash. Restraining force is weight x speed, then add in trajectory of other vehicles or objects the vehicle impacts and things within your vehicle that will be tossed around, this would take unnatural human abilities to control and maintain your seating position.

• PICKUP TRUCK DRIVERS AND PASSENGERS - Pickup truck occupants think that they don't need to wear their

seat belts because they believe their large vehicles will protect them in a crash. However, the numbers from NHTSA tell the truth: 60 percent of pickup truck occupants who died in crashes were not buckled up. That's compared to 42 percent of passenger car occupants who were unbuckled when they died in crashes.

As of May 20, 2019, there have been 41 lives lost on Montana's roadways compared to 46 for this time last year. The needle is moving in the right direction, but there are still lives being lost, so there is still work to be done. The number 1 contributing factor to the deaths of these drivers and their passengers is the lack of seat belt use. Our hope is that everyone will adopt the Vision Zero-Zero Deaths and Zero Serious Injuries Safety Commitment.

The habit of buckling up is simple, and it should be an automatic action for you, and for everyone in your vehicle. Even 1 unrestrained occupant can harm and injure other restrained occupants in the event of a crash. Do not just buckle up to avoid a ticket-your life, your friends' lives, and your families' lives are more important than that. Let's make this summer, and the 100 days between Memorial Day to Labor Day, the safest summer ever.

You can find out more about seat belts and efforts in Montana at http://www.mdt.mt.gov/visionzero or