Cranium Kruncher: 30 Years Ago Just 15% Did This, Now It’s 85%

I can barely remember what I did last weekend let alone 30 years ago. But, I'm pretty sure I was not among the 15% of people who were doing this. Today about  85% of us are doing this, and I am among them.The best answer I could come up with is exercise. It seems that by-and-large our society is more active now than they were in the early 80s when many of us were heading off to college. But, no, the answer is wearing seat belts. Eighty-five percent of us are wearing them.

It was 1968 when federal law mandated that all vehicles(except buses) be fitted with safety belts. But it wasn't until 1984 that the first mandatory seat belt law for vehicle occupants was implemented in the state of New York. Today every state except New Hampshire has seat belt laws, although in 18 states it is subject to secondary enforcement. That means violators can only be ticketed if they are stopped for another violation.

In Colorado, the seat belt law went into effect in 1987, but it remains a secondary offense.he infant seat, child safety seat and seat belt provisions of the law are primary enforcement, meaning the driver can be stopped and ticketed if an officer sees an unrestrained or improperly restrained child in the vehicle.The minimum fine in Colorado is $65.

The bottom line is this. In Colorado, you don't necessarily have to wear a seat belt, but it's a good idea. Statistics show wearing a seat belt reduces the risk of fatal injury by 45%. That's good enough for me. I don't plan on being in a serious accident - but neither did the 166 people who died in 2010 on Colorado roads and weren't wearing seat belts.