Rural Traffic Accidents More Likely Fatal

BY GENA HUFF, Editor

e Pickens County Herald o ce receives press releases from all over the country, from all types of people and agencies. is includes press releases from Alabama State Trooper’s public information o cer regarding tra c fatalities in Pickens and the neighbor- ing counties. All too o en, those press releases state a seat belt was not in use.

Because of inertia, meaning an object will con- tinue to move at its current velocity until a force causes

it to change, the belt is criti- cal in holding the occupant in place. is helps prevent the occupant from hitting the dashboard, being eject- ed from the car, or crashing through the windshield. A seat belt has proven to re- duce injury in a crash. And those living in rural areas, such as Pickens County, should pay even more at- tention, making sure to buckle in every time you drive or ride in a vehicle.

A study was conducted in 2017 by the Center for Disease Control and Pre- vention (CDC) showing adult drivers and passen-

gers in America’s most rural counties have tra c fatality rates 3 to 10 times higher than those in the most ur- ban counties.

e study found seat belt usage was lower, there were higher death rates, and a higher percentage of drivers and passengers were not buckled up at the time of the crash in rural areas.

In the South, the num- bers of death rates in vehic- ular accidents went from 6.8 out of 100,000 adults in urban areas, to 29.2 out of 100,000 in the most ru- ral areas. In the West, the numbers went from 3.9

in the most urban areas, to 40.0 in the most rural. In the Midwest, from 5.3 in the most urban areas to 25.28 in most rural. In the Northeast, from 3.5 in the most urban to 10.8 in the most rural.

e proportion of driv- ers and passengers who were not buckled up at the time of a fatal crash was 44.4 percent in the most urban counties, compared with 61.3 percent in the most rural counties. Even self-re- ported seat belt usage was lower in rural counties, go- ing from 74.7 percent in the rural areas to 88.8 percent in

urban areas.