Buckle Up Montana spreads safety

It’s time to kiss the Blarney Stone!

St. Patrick’s Day will be here soon! Most of us enjoy celebrating with friends and family – having a traditional Irish dinner with all of the fixings and maybe having some green beer too. Every bar around seems to be full of leprechauns celebrating by doing a little Irish jig. It’s easy to get caught up in the festivities and lose track of how much you’ve had to drink.

If you start planning your night now, you should be able to find a designated driver and make arrangements for a safe ride home. Alternately, there are even some towing companies and taxi services that offer free rides home on St. Patty’s Day. Make some phone calls and have a plan, a plan to live!

Did you know that most people when they are impaired, either as the driver or the passenger usually do not buckle up? Montana Highway Patrol reports that in 2013, of the 228 fatalities, 189 were unbuckled at the time of their death. That is 83%! This number is just too high and we need to work on a goal of zero deaths on our roads.

A properly worn seat belt is the single most effective thing you can do to protect yourself in a motor vehicle crash? Yes, I said seat belt!

Here is Wikipedia’s definition of a seat belt: A seat belt, sometimes called a safety belt, is a safety harness designed to secure the occupant of a vehicle against harmful movement that may result during a collision or a sudden stop. A seat belt reduces the likelihood and severity of injury in a traffic collision by stopping the vehicle occupant from hitting hard against interior elements of the vehicle or other passengers (the so-called second impact), by keeping occupants positioned correctly for maximum benefit from the airbag, if the vehicle is so equipped, and by preventing occupants from being ejected from the vehicle.

Don’t leave it to the Luck o’ the Irish…...Buckle Up, Every Trip – Every Time!

For more information about occupant protection and the benefits of seatbelt use, please visit: www.buckleup.mt.gov and http://plan2live.mt.gov/default_seatbelt.shtml