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Alabama troopers say seat belts save lives

If you’re traveling back home after Thanksgiving, make sure to wear your seat belt. The National Transportation Safety Board estimates seat belts saved ne...

If you’re traveling back home after Thanksgiving, make sure to wear your seat belt.

The National Transportation Safety Board estimates seat belts saved nearly 15,000 lives in 2017. In the same year, nearly 50% of people in Alabama not wearing a seat belt were hurt when in a crash.

RELATED: Gov. Ivey signs bill requiring seat belts for backseat passengers

The new seat belt law went into effect in September. The law requires every person in the car to wear a seat belt, even if you’re an adult in the back seat.

Trooper Curtis Summerville said, “If a vehicle is going 70 miles per hour and you’re not restrained and that vehicle comes to a sudden stop, whether you have a crash with another vehicle or a tree or an embankment or a bridge or something, you’re body is going to continue to move at the exact same speed that vehicle was moving, so if you’re not restrained, you’re going to slam into something, crash into something at 70 miles per hour.”

RELATED: ALEA encourages drivers to be patient while traveling for Thanksgiving

ALEA says they will be out patrolling heavily this weekend and looking for distracted drivers and drivers under the influence.

For more Alabama drive statistics, click here.

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