It’s that time of year again, hiking, barbecues, camping and your favorite swimming hole. With all our favorite summertime activities ramping up into full swing, so is the summertime traffic. Now I know traffic safety isn’t the most exciting thing to talk about, but it goes without saying that it probably wouldn’t hurt to have the discussion.

While vehicle safety features have come a long way, the general purpose of the seat belt stays the same. We all know that wearing your seat belt is important, but what if I told you, it could reduce your chances of being fatally injured if involved in a vehicle accident by nearly 50 percent.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reported that in 2016, approximately 15,000 lives were saved by the use of seat belts and an estimated 2,500 more lives could have possibly been saved if everyone had simply wore their seat belts.

What about if you are just driving rural backroads like many of us do in the summer? As it turns out, you are more likely to be fatally injured in a vehicle collision in rural locations versus urban locations if you decide not to buckle up. According to the NHTSA, in 2016 alone, there were 13,732 vehicle fatalities in rural locations compared to 9,366 fatalities in urban locations. Approximately 49 percent of those fatalities in rural locations were unrestrained, and 46 percent of the fatalities in urban areas were unrestrained.

Wearing your seat belt is easily the single most important safety measure that you can take whenever you hop in a car, and it takes nearly no time or effort. So why not take the extra step and make sure you and your family get to your destination safely.

Remember, before you hit the road this summer, buckle up and save lives.

-Authored by: Trevor M. Coltrane, Skamania County Sheriff’s Office

Work Cited: (“Seat Belts Save Lives”, www.NHTSA.gov)