Seat belts. For the vast majority of us, putting on a seat belt when entering the car is second nature.

But for some, apparently, the act remains optional — and that’s leading to fatal results.

In West Virginia, the latest figures for seat belt use come from the end of 2024, where a 91.98 percent usage rate was recorded by the West Virginia Governor’s Highway Safety Program. That means 8 percent of West Virginians — that’s more than 100,000 people — don’t wear seat belts on a regular basis.

It’s worse in Ohio, where the statewide seatbelt usage rate of 85.2 percent is lower than the national average of 91.2 percent.

During the Fourth of July weekend, 10 people died in car crashes, according to the Ohio State Highway Patrol.

Of those 10 fatalities, six were not wearing seat belts.

The issue goes deeper. According to the Columbus Dispatch, during the Fourth of July weekend troopers issued 2,286 seat belt and child safety seat violations. How is that possible in 2025?

The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, meanwhile, reports that a statewide survey shows that 87.6 percent of motorists wore their seat belts last year. Of the 1,127 highway fatalities recorded in the commonwealth in 2024, 311 were not wearing their seat belt.

It’s 2025. Decades of data is available showing seat belts save lives. So why?

Buckle up, folks. It’s really simple. It saves lives.