While it may seem obvious to many that the importance of wearing one’s seatbelt could literally be life-saving one day, there are plenty of individuals residing in Minnesota who still don’t wear their seatbelts. The vast majority of Minnesota residents buckle up when in the front seat; in fact, statistics indicate that residents use their seat belts 92.4 % of the time. However, other statistics indicate that around 30% of individuals who die in crashes aren’t wearing their seat belts.

There are plenty of beneficial reasons that justify wearing a seat belt. Buckling up and protect a person from several types of disasters, including being thrown into the windshield, being thrown into other passengers which can result in several injuries, and being throw from the car during a crash. Seat belts are designed to restrain individuals in vehicles with their own protective areas in the car, providing people with the space around them that’s necessary to help save their lives in case there is a crash. As far as the driver of the vehicle is concerned, seat belts help to keep the driver in the right position so that he or she can keep control of the car in case of emergency.

Seat Belts and the Law

Drivers who have experienced crashes in the past often feel that their seat belts contributed to their survival. While you’d think the benefits of surviving a terrible crash would provide people with enough motivation to wear their seat belts, that isn’t always the case. As a result, making sure seat belts are utilized during drives has become an issue for law enforcement.

According to Minnesota’s Primary Seat Belt law, both drivers and passengers in all seated areas of the car must be buckled up. When children are passengers in a car, they must be seated in the correct type of child restraint. When people fail to follow these laws, they can be stopped by officers who can give tickets to unbelted drivers and passengers.

Also, even if you are sitting in the back seat of a car and riding as a passenger, you’ll still be required to wear your seat belt. If you wind up getting stopped by law enforcement and ticketed for not wearing your seat belt, you may wind up shelling out the cash for a fine more than $100.

Child Car Seats

While Minnesota law requires that all adults wear their seat belts when traveling in a car, children must also be placed safely into vehicles as well. Children in Minnesota are required to ride in a child restraint until they are 4’9” tall, or when they become 8-years-old, whichever happens first. Also, rear-facing child seats are required for newborns and children less than a year old, or who weigh less than twenty pounds.

In 2017, 78 people who did not wear a seat belt died in car crashes in Minnesota. 18 children under the age of seven were killed in car crashes, and out of those 18, 9 children, or half of the children who passed away, were not restrained correctly while the vehicle was in motion.