Belts Not Used in Majority of Alabama Traffic Deaths

More than half of the people killed so far this year in traffic accidents on Alabama highways were not wearing seatbelts when they were available.

The state Department of Public Safety reports 367 traffic deaths through September. The department says 302 of the fatalities were in vehicles equipped with seatbelts, and 178 of them were not using the seatbelts.

That’s on par with 2012, when 59 percent of the people killed in traffic accidents were not wearing seatbelts.