Compiled from NHTSA and the Utah Highway Safety Office's Crash Report
National Costs:• Traffic crashes cost the nation about $230 billion each year in medical expenses, lost productivity, property damage and related costs.
o Utah pays $1.6 billion of these costs.
o That is $714 for every resident of Utah, each year.
o About 74% of that cost is paid by citizens not involved in the crashes.
• Crashes cost employers more than $300 million annually in the state, and about $320 per employee.
Medical Costs are Paid by Taxpayers• The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reports that 85% of all medical costs of crashes fall on society, not on the individuals involved. When crash victims are unbuckled, their medical costs are 55 percent higher.
• Research from NHTSA reveals that the majority of crash victims are Medicaid patients, meaning their costs go directly to the state for payment.
Utah Crash Costs in 2007• According to the Utah Highway Safety Office, in 2007 there were 61,245 crashes in Utah, involving 155,049 people, with 27,420 injuries and 299 deaths.
According to the Utah Department of Health, $99,365,068 was spent on hospital and emergency room charges alone for the treatment of Utah residents in motor vehicle crashes.
Costs for previous years are: 2006 - $90,471,461
2005 - $81,388,835
2004 - $67,877,697
2003 - $61,139,863
These costs do not include physicians, medications, therapy, surgeries or other expenses associated with the injury or recuperation.
Usage Data• 14% of Utah’s population (over 370,000 people) is still not buckling up.
• NHTSA estimates that if Utah were to pass a primary belt law, seat belt usage could increase by approximately 6 percentage points.
• With a primary law, Utah will save an estimated 13 lives, 185 serious injuries, and $38 million in costs each year. (Based on a 5.6 percentage point increase from the 2008 seat belt use rate)
• An estimated 137 lives were saved by seat belts in Utah in 2007 and 38 additional lives could have been saved with 100 percent seat belt use.
Taxpayers have the right to laws that protect lives and save tax dollars – A Supreme Court Justice wrote in a decision -
“From the moment of injury, society picks the person up off the highway; delivers him to a municipal hospital and municipal doctors; provides him with unemployment compensation if, after recovery, he cannot replace his lost job; and, if the injury caused disability, may assume the responsibility for his and his family’s continued subsistence. We do not understand a state of mind that permits a plaintiff to think that only he himself is concerned.”
Frequently Asked Questions
What will change if Utah passes a primary seat belt law?In states with primary seat belt laws, law enforcement officers may stop a vehicle and issue a citation when the officer observes an unbelted driver or passenger. Officers in states with secondary enforcement seat belt laws may only write a citation after the officer stops the vehicle or cites the offender for another infraction.
How many states now have a primary seat belt law? 30 states now have a primary seat belt law.
Why do we need a primary seat belt law?The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration research finds that seatbelts reduce the risk of fatal injury to front seat passenger car occupants by 45% and the risk of moderate-to-critical injury by 50%. For light truck occupants, seatbelts reduce the risk of fatal injury by 60% and moderate-to-critical injury by 65%.
What does a seat belt do to protect occupants?Seat belts are designed to protect occupants from the forces of a crash and to keep them in the compartment of the vehicle. The compartment is designed to withstand the forces of a crash and to act as a protective cage for the occupants. If occupants can stay in the vehicle they are far safer in a crash but in 2007, unbelted occupants were 48 times more likely to be fully ejected than belted occupants.
Is there a difference between rural and urban areas concerning crashes?Over 63 percent (189/299) of the State’s motor vehicle traffic fatalities occur in rural areas, and the fatality rate per 100 million vehicle miles traveled is 3.9 times higher in rural Utah than in urban areas. (2007 FARS Data)
Utah already has high usage rates, why do we need to change the law?First of all, usage rates are determined in the six most populated counties, not in rural Utah. When an observational study was done in the next most populated counties in 2008, the usage rate was found to be 63.8%.
Even in Utah’s most populated counties the seatbelt usage rate has dropped from 88.6% in 2006 to 86.1% in 2009. This is a dangerous trend that could be corrected if the state had a primary seat belt law.
What group is most likely to be unbelted?According to the Utah Highway Safety Office the highest percentage of unbelted crash occupants in 2007 were ages 10-24. Of those killed in crashes, those ages 15-49 had the highest percentage of not being belted. Crash occupants in rural counties were twice as likely to be unbelted as urban occupants.
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