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Seat belts reduce or eliminate secondary collisions - the impact of your body on parts of the car, another occupant, or the pavement. And if you have an air bag, seat belts will help reduce the injury you could otherwise receive when the air bag is deployed.
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in the U.S., 63% of all those killed in vehicle collisions were not wearing their seat belt. Here in the NWT, the rates are similar.
Consider this. Every two years, Transport Canada surveys rural Canadians on their seat belt usage. The rate for the Northwest Territories in 2009 was 38.2% - the lowest in the country. Since then, NWT residents have been responding to road safety messages by increasingly using their seat belts, and the results have been dramatic - from three fatalities associated with a failure to wear a seat belt in 2009 to two in 2010 to zero in 2011.
Bottom line - seat belts can only help you if you make sure they're used - every time, every occupant. If you don't wear your seat belt, what's holding you back?
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