Buckling up, effective Oct. 1 with Connecticut’s new seat-belt law, applies to all rear-seat passengers. All occupants of a vehicle, regardless of age, must now wear a seat belt.
“This is an excellent safety initiative,” says Dr. Kyle McClaine, Chief of Emergency Services and EMS Medical Director at Backus Hospital and the Plainfield Backus Emergency Care Center. “The safety improvements in automobile design, airbag and seatbelt technology have changed the landscape in terms of trauma outcomes. To take advantage of all of the safety advancements, accident victims need to stay in their seats.
“A sudden stop, even at 20 or 30 mph, generates more force than a person is strong enough to resist, and can result in catastrophic injuries as the person is thrown about the vehicle.”
Most states already have rear-seat belt laws. Connecticut’s law had only required back-seat passengers 16 years old and up to wear a seat belt. More than 2,000 back-seat passengers without seat belts have been injured or killed since 2010, according to the Connecticut Crash Data Repository at the University of Connecticut.
A 2019 study by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, a review of 117 crashes in which the rear-seat passengers were killed or seriously injured, found the most common injury was to the chest. Drivers are also twice as likely to die in crashes when the passenger behind them is not wearing a seat belt.
“Requiring proper seat belts for every occupant is key to having the best possible outcome from a motor vehicle accident,” says Dr. McClaine.
The IIHS video below, using crash-test dummies, shows the impact on both the unbelted rear-seat passenger and the driver.
Connecticut’s new law is categorized as secondary enforcement, which prevents law enforcement from stopping any vehicle suspicion of a violation. But if pulled over for any other reason, both a passenger and the driver could receive a $50 ticket.
“Any motor vehicle law that increases survivability and safety can only be viewed in a positive light,” said Paul Pedchenko, EMS Program Manager/EMS Coordinator for the Windham Hospital Paramedic Program.
