Holyoke pushing seat belt safety in May

On behalf of Aiken and Aiken P.C. Personal Injury Attorneys posted in Car Accidents, on Wednesday, May 11, 2016

Holyoke, Massachusetts motorists should be aware that the city is participating in a statewide “Click It or Ticket” campaign from May 2 through May 23. During this period, there will be increased enforcement of the state’s seat belt law in an effort to increase safety awareness. The state requires that all occupants of private passenger vehicles use a seat belt. According to a representative of the Holyoke Police Department Traffic Investigations Unit, two people were killed and another 328 were injured in car accidents in Holyoke in 2015, and a significant portion of those injured were not wearing seat belts. Statewide statistics show that seat belt use is particularly low among men between the ages of 18 and 34. Further, many drivers wrongly believe that large vehicles like SUVs and pickup trucks provide extra protection in the event of an accident. Crash statistics from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration show that 61 percent of people killed in pickup truck collisions were not wearing seat belts. Overall, vehicle occupants increase their risk of injuries or death by around 50 percent when they choose not to buckle up. Statistics show that in the Commonwealth, 349 people were killed and 4,384 people were injured in car accidents in 2012. This is a decrease from 2011, when 374 people were killed and 4,853 people were injured in motor vehicle crashes. Car accident victims can suffer serious injuries, including whiplash, broken bones, neck and back injuries and spinal cord injuries. These injuries often require expensive medical treatments and lengthy recovery periods. When the collision was caused by the negligence of another motorist, a personal injury attorney could assist in filing a lawsuit naming the at-fault driver as a defendant and seeking compensation for those losses. Source: Mass Live, “Seat belts can prevent ejection, injuries in crashes: Holyoke police reminder,” Mike Plaisance, May 5, 2016