Do you always buckle up in the back seat?

Using seat belts can save lives. Soon cars will remind you to do it, even in the back seat. A new rule will take effect in September 2027. Don’t buckle in back? All newly made cars in the United States will sound an alarm. 

Workers at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration study car safety. They guess the new rule will save around 50 lives per year. They also think it will prevent about 500 injuries.

The new rule will apply to passenger cars, trucks, buses (but not school buses), and multipurpose vehicles weighing up to 10,000 pounds.

You’ve likely heard seat belt warning bells before. They’re already required for the driver’s seats. Most front passenger seats have them too.

The rule will also change for the front seat alarms. Their warnings will last for longer periods of time.  

Rear passengers use seat belts less often than front seat passengers. In 2022, front belt use was just under 92 percent. (Imagine 10 people riding in front seats. Nine put their seat belts on.)  Rear use dropped to about 82 percent. (That’s about eight out of 10 people in the back seat wearing their belts.)

In 2022, about half of passengers who died in car crashes weren’t wearing seat belts.

Seat belts were first patented in 1885. But they didn’t make it into most regular cars until the 1950s. Even then, many people didn’t bother using them. Seat belt use didn’t become law until 1968. And even then many people refused to wear them. Ask your grandparents. They probably remember riding without seat belts as kids.

Listen to advice and accept instruction, that you may gain wisdom in the future. — Proverbs 19:20