(Des Moines) The Iowa State Patrol is backing legislation in 2020 to change the occupant restraint law. The current law states; passenger’s 18-years and older are only legally mandated to wear seatbelts in the front seat of a vehicle.
Iowa State Patrol Trooper and Public Information Officer Shelby McCreedy said they’re pushing for total occupant restraint, meaning all occupants, regardless of their seating position inside of a vehicle must be restrained. “We’ve seen study after study indicating wearing seatbelts reduces serious injury and death in a crash,” said Trooper McCreedy. “Crash survivors stay where they start. The only thing that will to that is a seatbelt.”
According to Trooper McCreedy, the new law would help curb the fatalities coming from the backseat. The Iowa State Patrol refers to unrestrained backseat passengers as “backseat bullets.” McCreedy says some people feel safer unrestrained in the backseat because they don’t have the windshield directly in front of them. “Honestly, it’s not the windshield that’s the greatest risk in a crash,” stated McCreedy. “It’s the force generated by the movement inside the vehicle. People tend to think they’re safer in the backseat when in reality they’re not.”
McCreedy says studies indicate front seat passengers wearing seatbelts are two-and-a-half times more likely to die if someone in the backseat is unrestrained.
