Traffic deaths without seatbelts double

AUSTIN (KXAN) - Police said they're seeing a scary traffic trend in Austin with people not wearing seatbelts while driving.

Austin Highway Enforcement Commander Stephen Baker said traffic fatalities involving people not wearing a seatbelt has doubled this year.

Despite these noted dangers, some motorists said they're not strapping in, while others said they know it's an important safety precaution.

"All I can tell you, is that everything went forward just like that," said Verta Thompson, an Austin motorist who was involved in a traffic accident near Kilgore, Texas, in 2006.

She said a tanker truck hit her Cadillac DeVille while she was sitting at a red light.

Wearing a seatbelt is what Verta said saved her life and her 10-year-old son's.

"The magnitude of the hit was so, at a large capacity, that had we not, we probably both would've been through the windshield,"Thompson explained.

Now, buckling up is the first thing Verta does when gets behind the wheel, but these dangers are still not driving other Austin motorists to buckle up.

Austin Police reported that the number of traffic fatalities involving people not wearing seatbelts doubled this year.

"It's a shocking realization to me after just taking over command that we're still having this problem," said Commander Stephen Baker, with the Austin Police Department.

This year, Baker said 12 people died in motor vehicles accidents as a result of not buckling up.

In 2008, that number was six.

Despite the doubling death toll, Evan Walker, 21, is still living life in the fast lane by not regularly buckling up when he gets behind the wheel.

 "It's not a conscious decision," said Walker.  "It's just like I hop in and I'm going and I don't know, I grew up not wearing a seatbelt."

Evan said he most likely won't change his ways behind the wheel and Thompson admitted she's not shocked some drivers still won't curb this bad driving habit.

"You can train someone to do things that are right, but it's up to them to do the right thing," Thompson added.

Police said they're hoping to halt this problem quickly and noted that during the "Click It or Ticket" campaign, 93 percent of Austin motorists were strapped in.