An Alarming Number of People Don’t Use Seat Belts in Rideshares
Whenever you get into a vehicle — whether you’re driving or not — you should put on your seat belt. According to the NHTSA, seat belts saved an estimated 14,955 lives in 2017 and that 47 percent of occupants who died in fatal crashes were not wearing seat belts. But for whatever insane reason, some people don’t think wearing a seat belt is necessary when riding in an Uber or Lyft. In fact, after conducting a survey of 1,000 Americans, The Zebra discovered that an alarming number of people don’t buckle up when using a rideshare service.
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Of the 1,000 people surveyed, 28 percent admitted that they don’t wear their seat belt in the back seat of a rideshare vehicle. However, 9 out of 10 said that they buckle up in their own cars. The reasoning for the difference is that these Americans stated that they believe it’s safer in the back seat than the front — and it’s not just young people coming to these conclusions. Passengers aged 45-54 (along with the 18-24 group) were least likely to wear their seat belts.
The notion that the back seat is safer than the front has been debunked by the IIHS, which found that rear-seat passengers are eight times more likely to be injured or killed in a crash. On top of that morbid statistic, rideshare drivers may actually be responsible for an uptick in fatal traffic accidents. After some of these companies launched in 2010, the previous downward trend of deadly crashes reversed by 3 percent.
Unsurprisingly, women were 18 percent more likely to buckle up than men, who are prone to engage in riskier driving practices. The safest age group was 35-44 followed by 25-34, which is the entire millennial generation with a handful of young Boomers. (We may be ruining the housing market, but at least we’re wearing our seat belts and living longer!)
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Ben never thought he’d be writing about cars for a living, but here he is, knowing more about the Kia Stinger than he’d care to admit. When he’s not devoting his time to researching engine specs and other oh-so-exciting car details, he can be found enjoying time with his wife and dogs. See more articles by Ben.