OSHP reminder: Wear seat belts, they save lives

SOUTHINGTON — Wearing a seat belt is the single most-effective factor protecting a driver or passenger in a motor-vehicle crash, and belts save more than 13,000 lives every year, the Ohio State Highway Patrol says.

In 2011, nearly 65 percent of the people killed on Ohio’s roadways were not wearing a seat belt, the patrol says. It’s one reason troopers issued 19 percent more seat-belt citations during the first three months of this year, said Lt. Brian Holt, commander of the patrol’s Southington post.

According to Ohio’s 2010 Observational Seatbelt Survey, 83.8 percent of motorists were in compliance with Ohio’s seat-belt law, a significant increase from the 72.9 percent observed in 2002.