Dubois County Sheriff’s Deputies are reminding residents to buckle up and drive sober this holiday season.
Wearing a seat belt can prevent many traffic injuries and deaths.
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, seat belts have saved nearly 374,196 people between 1975 and 2017.
Although Indiana’s seat belt usage rate is above 90%, over half of the people killed in car crashes last year were not wearing a seat belt.
Drinking and driving can also be deadly and completely preventable. Nearly 30 people die from drunk driving crashes in the U.S. every day. That is approximately one person every 50 minutes.
106 people were killed in alcohol-impaired in Indiana last year. This is 13% of the state’s traffic fatalities.
Vehicle crashes are also the leading cause of death for kids between 8 and 15 years old.
For families with children, it’s important to have a properly installed child safety or booster seat for each child. For more information, visit childseat.in.gov.
For more driving safety tips, visit nhtsa.gov.