We’re not buckling up like we’re used to. Kendall Wingrove of the Michigan Office of Highway Planning says seat belt use has slipped significantly over the past two years.
“The seatbelt compliance numbers are moving in the wrong direction,” Wingrove said. “Back in 2019, our seatbelt compliance rate was 94.4%. In 2021, that has dipped to 92.6%.”
Wingrove says each 1% drop in seat belt use can be linked to ten fatalities. The state is going to begin an education campaign to get more people to buckle up. That will be followed by increased enforcement.
State Aims For Increased Seatbelt Use
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Seat Belt Usage Down In Michigan
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Michigan State Police warning drivers to wear their seatbelts
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The office’s Communications Section Chief, Kendall Wingrove, says the overall number of crashes dropped by over 20 percent, but the number of deaths increased.
“So, even though there were fewer crashes, more crashes were severe. You were more likely to be killed in a crash, even though there were fewer crashes in 2020,” Wingrove says.
Wingrove says they’re still trying to determine the cause of the increase, but they speculate an increase in speed caused by there being fewer people on the road may have contributed to it.
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