The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said in August that traffic deaths have spiked 7.2 percent, the largest single increase since 1966.
In fact, the NHTSA found traffic deaths rising in every segment of the population, including “passenger vehicle occupants, passengers of large trucks, pedestrians, pedal-cyclists, motorcyclists, alcohol-impaired driving fatalities, male/female, daytime/nighttime.”
Nearly half of passengers who died in crashes were not wearing a seatbelt.
Oddly, the use of seat belts reached a rate of more than 88 percent in 2015, up from 86.7 percent.
The dismaying reality is that while more people are wearing seatbelts, but there are also more people dying from not wearing them.
One explanation: Gas is cheap and more people are driving. According to NHTSA, in 2015 people drove 3.5 percent more miles than in 2014, the largest increase in nearly 25 years.
The Centers for Disease Control notes that primary enforcement actions by police can make a difference; this type of action allows a police officer to issue a ticket because a driver or passenger does not have their seatbelt on, but there are only 18 states that have primary enforcement laws for every seating position.
One other factor: People in the back seat don’t buckle up. “Rear-seat passengers are three times more likely to die in a crash if they’re unbelted,” according to Consumer Reports.
Some technologies in newer model cars may also encourage people to put their seatbelts on. For example, a driver who loves music may be more inclined to buckle up when they realize that their vehicle (particularly Chevrolet cars and GMC trucks, like the 2015 Cruz, Colorado, Silverado, and GMC Sierra) won’t allow them to turn up the radio or get on the road until their seatbelts are fastened. There’s an optional package for certain GM vehicles that won’t let the car out of park unless seatbelts are fastened
