News Conference Story

Talia Gutierrez

COM 3330

Atlanta, Ga-The director of the CDC, told in a press briefing on Tuesday about the CDC's release of Vital Signs on Non-Fatal Motor Vehicle Occupant Injuries and Seat Belt Use Among U.S. Adults, covering the rapid decline in motor vehicle injuries and deaths due to the regularity of seat belt use.

Vital Signs discusses the utilization for seatbelts and how they have become a social norm in America. According to CDC’s director, Thomas Frieden, in 2008 the overall seat belt use reached a high of 85 percent with seven states achieving a rate of 90 percent in seat belt wearing.

"We also know that today's data shows that strong seat belt laws save lives and save money," Frieden says.

Frieden explains that each state has different seat belt laws. Seat belt use is much higher in states that have primary and secondary seat belt laws, compared to the state of New Hampshire, which does not have any seat belt laws in effect.  Primary and secondary laws relate to whether or not you are required to wear a seat belt in the front seat versus the back seat.

Epidemiologist Laurie Beck verifies research by telling the caller that seatbelts, “…reduce the death of injury in [a] crash by about 50 percent.”

"We cannot afford to continue to lose the money and lives that are being lost to motor vehicle crashes, Frieden said.

Although motor vehicle crashes remain the leading cause of death in the United States among people age 5 to 34, the use of the seat belt is the most effective way to reduce this.

Frieden ends the press briefing by noting that more progress is still possible and advises states that do not have primary seat belt laws to consider adopting them.