Click it or ticket for safety
By Timothy Jones
[email protected]
Staff Writer
When was the last time you buckled up? Statistics show that over half (55 percent) of the passenger vehicle occupants in fatal accidents in 2004 were unrestrained.
The age group with the largest percentage of unrestrained passengers that were killed in a traffic fatality was teenagers ranging in ages from 13 to 15 years. The second largest age group of unrestrained passengers included young adults ages 21 to 24.
Last spring, the GHC-sponsored club known as TRASH (Teaching Responsible Alcohol, Sex and Highway Safety) conducted a study involving seatbelt usage. A part of their research included data collected from a survey they completed during the study.
The survey consisted of TRASH members observing cars entering the Floyd campus one day. The main goal was to see if students and faculty entering the campus were wearing their seatbelts or not. The data was also separated into two categories of students or faculty members. An overview of TRASH's research showed that only 72 percent of students and 84 percent of faculty members wore their seatbelts on the day of the survey.
Recently, students from the Cartersville campus were also interviewed and asked how often they use their seatbelts. Whitney Barber, a marketing major from Marietta, said, "I buckle up every time I get in a car." However, not all students share the same philosophy. Taylor McClure, a civil engineering major from Kennesaw, stated, "I never buckle up when I jump in my truck."
Wearing a seatbelt while in the front seat of a vehicle reduces the risk of a fatal accident by 45 percent.
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