Drivers in Montana who do not wear their seat belts will want to know about the results of a study conducted by researchers at NYU Langone Hospital-Brooklyn. This study shows that seat belt use can, in the event of an auto accident, decrease the risk of a severe liver injury by as much as 21 percent. Seat belt and airbag use together leads to 26 percent less risk even though seat belts alone seem to decrease the severity of the injury itself.
The study covered data from the National Trauma Data Bank for the years 2010 to 2015. All of the patients who were analyzed were over the age of 18 and involved in a vehicle crash, excluding motorcycles. They were either admitted to a hospital or died on the way to one. A total of 51,202 cases were given an injury severity score, and 15 percent were categorized as severe. Fifteen percent of the individuals with severe liver injuries died compared to 8 percent of those with mild or moderate liver injuries.
Every year, car accidents lead to over 2 million emergency room visits across the U.S. Many of them involve people who have sustained blunt abdominal trauma, which often causes liver and spleen injuries. Both of these types of injuries are characterized by internal bleeding. However, spleen injuries can be treated by removing, as a last resort, the organ itself, but that is not possible with the liver as it is critical for sustaining life.
When motor vehicle accidents occur and cause innocent victims to incur injuries and vehicle damage, they can consider filing a claim against the guilty parties’ auto insurance companies. These individuals should consider hiring lawyers for honest assessments of their cases. If a victim failed to wear a seat belt, this form of contributory negligence will necessarily lower the potential settlement. After calculating a fair amount, the lawyer can begin negotiations.
