A 22-year-old Specialist assigned to Fort Bliss, Texas was the single occupant in a PMV-4 rollover on 3 July 2023 at 0715 local. The Soldier was ejected and was found unconscious 50 feet from his vehicle. Emergency medical services life flighted the Solider to a local hospital where the medical trauma team performed emergency surgery due to traumatic brain injury. The Soldier was placed in intensive care following surgery but died later that evening from his injuries. The Soldier was not wearing a seat belt at the time of the rollover. Drugs and alcohol are not considered contributing factors in this mishap.

Since FY18, the Army has lost an average of 35 Soldiers a year to PMV-4 mishaps. This mishap was the 23rd PMV-4 fatality of FY23 and above the number of fatalities for the same time last year.

Safety tip
If someone told you there’s a secret to significantly cutting your chance of a fatal injury in a motor vehicle crash, you’d want to know it, right?

It’s called a seat belt. Spread the word.

In the instant you buckle up before driving or riding in the front seat of a car or truck, you cut your risk of a fatal injury in a crash nearly in half. That’s a huge return on the investment of the mere seconds it takes to put on a seat belt.

One of the safest choices drivers and passengers can make is to buckle up. Many Americans understand the lifesaving value of the seat belt – the national use rate was at 91.6% in 2022. Seat belt use in passenger vehicles saved an estimated 14,955 lives in 2017. Understand the potentially fatal consequences of not wearing a seat belt and learn what you can do to make sure you and your family are properly buckled up every time.

Overview
One of the safest choices drivers and passengers can make is to buckle up. Many Americans understand the lifesaving value of the seat belt – the national use rate was at 91.6% in 2022. Seat belt use in passenger vehicles saved an estimated 14,955 lives in 2017. Understand the potentially fatal consequences of not wearing a seat belt and learn what you can do to make sure you and your family are properly buckled up every time.

Seat belts save lives
Seat belt use rate in 2022 was at 91.6% 50% percentage of passenger vehicle occupants killed in 2021 who were unrestrained.

In 2021, 26,325 passenger vehicle occupants were killed. About 50% of those killed were not buckled (based on known seat belt use.)

Seat belts saved an estimated 14,955 lives and could have saved an additional 2,549 people if they had been wearing seat belts, in 2017 alone.

The consequences of not wearing, or improperly wearing, a seat belt are clear:

Traffic safety facts

1. Buckling up helps keep you safe and secure inside your vehicle, whereas not buckling up can result in being totally ejected from the vehicle in a crash, which is almost always deadly.

2. Air bags are not enough to protect you; in fact, the force of an air bag can seriously injure or even kill you if you’re not buckled up.

3. Improperly wearing a seat belt, such as putting the strap below your arm, puts you and your children at risk in a crash.

The benefits of buckling up are equally clear:

a. If you buckle up in the front seat of a passenger car, you can reduce your risk of:

• Fatal injury by 45% (Kahane, 2015)


• Moderate to critical injury by 50%


 

b. If you buckle up in a light truck, you can reduce your risk of:

• Fatal injury by 60% (Kahane, 2015)


• Moderate to critical injury by 65% (NHTSA, 1984)


 

The top 5 things you should know about buckling up

57% of those killed during the nighttime in 2021 were unrestrained

1. Buckling up is the single most effective thing you can do to protect yourself in a crash.
Seat belts are the best defense against impaired, aggressive, and distracted drivers. Being buckled up during a crash helps keep you safe and secure inside your vehicle; being completely ejected from a vehicle is almost always deadly.

2. Air bags are designed to work with seat belts, not replace them.
If you don’t wear your seat belt, you could be thrown into a rapidly opening frontal air bag. Such force could injure or even kill you. Learn about air bag safety.

3. Guidelines to buckle up safely.
The lap belt and shoulder belt are secured across the pelvis and rib cage, which are better able to withstand crash forces than other parts of your body.
Place the shoulder belt across the middle of your chest and away from your neck.
The lap belt rests across your hips, not your stomach.
NEVER put the shoulder belt behind your back or under an arm.

4. Fit matters.
Before you buy a new car, check to see that its seat belts are a good fit for you.
Ask your dealer about seat belt adjusters, which can help you get the best fit.
If you need a roomier belt, contact your vehicle manufacturer to obtain seat belt extenders.
If you drive an older or classic car with lap belts only, check with your vehicle manufacturer about how to retrofit your car with today’s safer lap/shoulder belts.

5. Seat belt safety for children and pregnant women.
Find out when your child is ready to use an adult seat belt and learn about seat belt safety when you’re pregnant.