Buckle up during busy holiday traveling

The Thanksgiving holiday is a time for long-held traditions. The Brain Injury Association of Iowa would like to you to start one more tradition this year: buckling your seat belt. Thanksgiving is North America's busiest travel holiday. In 2007, there were 16 fatalities in Iowa from motor vehicle crashes over the four-day Thanksgiving weekend.

Despite all the evidence that seat belts can prevent serious injury or death, there still are 180,000 drivers and 70,000 front seat passengers who go unbuckled every day on Iowa roadways.

Compliance among teens - who are at higher risk for distracted driving - is the lowest rate of any population group at 59 percent. As parents, we need to be vigilant about reminding our teens to buckle up.

Seat belts, worn correctly, reduce the risk of fatal injury to front-seat passenger car occupants by 45 percent - and by 60 percent in pickup trucks, SUVs and mini-vans. This message is especially important at this time of year when holiday travel increases congestion on roadways.

Geoffrey Lauer

Executive Director

Brain Injury Association of Iowa