Despite the increased risk of death, hundreds of thousands of people die every year in car accidents because they choose not to wear their seat belts.

In East Mississippi, which is covered by Mississippi Highway Patrol’s District 6, 41 people died in 30 separate accidents so far this year. Roughly a third of those people died becasue they weren’t wearing seat belts, according to the Mississippi Highway Patrol.

In the last three months, at least nine people – ranging from as young as 13 months old to a pair of 57-year-old grandparents – weren’t wearing their seatbelts and died, according to the agency.

Though these are statistics, the number of lives forever changed can’t easily be calculated. 

• On July 19, an accident on Highway 45 in Clarke County claimed three lives: Gavin Thomas Toler, 16, and his grandparents Robert Earl Toler and Tyla Rhodes Toler, both 57. None of the vehicle’s seven occupants wore seat belts.

• On. Aug. 7, a crash on Highway 11, near Savoy, claimed three lives: Bonnie Lee Roberson, 41; Derrick Rashawn Moore, 18; and Carter Jace Little, 21. Moore and Little didn’t wear seatbelts and died at the scene

• On Sept. 25, a family of four died in a two-car collision in Kemper County: parents Richard and Naomi Fulton, both 34; Richard Jr., 13 months; and Emma, 3. Eleven-year-old Jaylen Fulton survived, but none of the family appeared to be restrained, according to the Highway Patrol.

Mississippi Highway Patrol Sgt. Andy West responds to many of these accidents in District 6, which covers Leake, Neshoba, Kemper, Scott, Newton, Lauderdale, Smith, Jasper and Clarke counties. He helps fill out reports, distributes information to media outlets and often meets with families of victims.

Additionally, he visits local schools to educate students on safe driving practices. 

Last week, West visited Enterprise High School, a small town in Clarke County with a population of 526, on an invitation from Students Against Destructive Decisions. 

In early August, the Enterprise community lost three people in a fatal accident on Highway 11 South near Savoy in Lauderdale County. Little and Moore both graduated from Enterprise High School and Roberson had children who attended the school.

The memory of this accident hung over the audience as West encouraged the students to buckle up and find a designated driver. 

Like too many others, Little, 21, and Moore, 18, didn’t use their seatbelts. 

West, whose wife teaches at Enterprise and whose children attend the school, knew many of the students in the assembly and appealed to them to drive safely.

“You know what it’s like to lose someone,” West told them. “I’ve been to two accidents in the last few years where you’ve lost a friend in an automobile accident.”

“If you lose your life in an accident, it’s my responsibility to go to your mom, your dad, your brother or your sister,” West said.

Senior Zane Black, the school’s SADD president, oversees the 116 students in the club, one of the biggest in a school of 270 students.

Black said they, as a club, hoped that hearing the message from West would leave an impact. 

“It’s one thing if you hear, ‘don’t do this’ from a student, but it’s another to hear it from someone with 20 years of experience,” Black said.

When asked if he thought the presentation made any difference, Black mentioned Moore, who graduated just a year ahead of him.

“I really hope so… I’ve already lost one of my classmates to a car wreck,” he said. “I don’t want to do it again. That was tough enough.”

Young adults at risk

Statistically, young adults are more likely to be unrestrained at the time of a crash than other age groups, but fatalities occur at every age.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “seat belt use is one of the most effective ways to save lives and reduce injuries in crashes” though more than half of those between the ages of 13 and 44 were unrestrained when they died in a crash.

Seat belt use has increased slightly since 2006, according to a 2016 U.S. Department of Transpoartion report, from 81.2 percent in 2006 to 90.1 percent in 2016. This accompanied a slight decrease in the number of unrestrained deaths – from 55 percent in 2006 to 48 percent in 2015 (there wasn’t a statistic for 2016).

Nearly six in 10 young adults between the ages of 21 and 34 ride or drive unrestrained, or 59 percent, while 57 percent of 13-15 year olds and 34-44 year olds are unrestrained during an accident in 2015. 

Seat belt use is the lowest in the Midwest, according to a 2016 report and the Southern states have a slightly higher number of restrained occupants at 90.9 percent.

‘Never too late to start’

In July, Mississippi introduced a law that requires all passengers to wear their seat belts, or face a potential penalty. 

West said that education was the best way to help people buckle up and students could start the habit young. 

“I think it’s easier to develop the habit with a school-age child,” West said. “But with adults it’s never too late to start a good habit.”

One way to reach older adults: classes for parents of newborns.

Both Anderson Regional Health System and Rush Health Systems offer classes to new parents. At Anderson, a nurse teaches the course to help parents naviagate child care. Car seat education is included in this course.

Rush offers online courses that cover a variety of topics, including one on car seat safety that pulls from the American Academy of Pediatrics.

One, called Car Safety Seats: A Guide for Families from the academy, ends with a few important reminders to parents.

“Be a good role model,” it says. “Make sure you always wear your seat belt. This will help your child form a lifelong habit of buckling up.”

Then, again, it stresses the importance of everyone buckling up.

“Make sure that everyone who transports your child uses the correct car seat or seat belt on every trip, every time,” the guide said.

‘We’re only driving a few miles’

West said adults sometimes tell troopers they didn’t use their seat belts because they were uncomfortable or didn’t like them.

“We’ll get (those) who say, ‘We’re only driving a few miles,’ ” West said. “But it’s equally important if you’re driving a few miles or if you’re driving somewhere on vacation.” 

Rather, West said, adults react to media accounts about people who weren’t wearing their seatbelts.  

“We’ll get a response when we release to the media that someone was ejected from a vehicle and it’s fatal,” West said. “We hope that they’ll take a tragic event for another family and apply it to their own family.”