Personal Injury Lawyer Blog
California, along with the rest of the nation, has a mandatory seat belt law. Everyone in the car over the age of 16 is susceptible to the law. Infants and small children must be in a car seat. Despite this nationwide law, California sees repeated auto fatalities each year, Sacramento included.
Moseley Collins, an experienced Sacramento attorney, is a proponent of the seat belt law for many reasons, mostly because of the many instances of avoidable horror that he has witnessed when riders do not use a seat belt. There are many political views involved in the merits of legislation that involves forcing someone to do something for their own safety. This particular topic, however, should never be considered without also considering the actual percentage of people that they influence to buckle up and prevent accidents.
According to a report by the prestigious Harvard University, increased use of seat belts resulted in a decrease of auto accident fatalities. An interesting note in the study is the introduction of the “compensating behavior theory” or the “Peltzman Effect”. This theory says that people who drive with seat belts drive less carefully because they feel safer. They are more careless and less attentive. This theory stated that the decline in fatalities among riders is accurate but a fatality for others is higher.
There is no evidence to support the Peltzman Effect. The study did, however, show that 10% increases in seatbelt usage rate resulted in a 1.35% declines in car accident-related fatalities. The study also addressed whether or not these laws impact the use of seat belts for all vehicle occupants. The deciding factor came down to primary and secondary seat belt laws. The states with primary seat belt laws, or those where a policeman can make a stop solely because the driver is not wearing a seatbelt, saw a high usage of seatbelt. States that have secondary seatbelt laws, or those where the policeman must have an additional reason to pull over the driver, showed a slightly lowered usage.
These findings prove to federal traffic safety experts mandatory seatbelt laws save lives.
No matter where one stands on the issue of mandatory safety laws, we must all agree that saving lives is a good thing. Seatbelt laws can often come into play when an auto accident occurs. Moseley Collins has the experience and knowledge it takes to tackle these types of cases.
Call the office for an honest consultation about your case.