At the medical rehabilitation center where I work, I see teens, seniors or working-age adults struggling to piece their lives back together after a traumatic brain injury. I see heroic efforts by our patients and their families to reconstruct their daily activities, learning again how to speak or how to stand or how to get back to their job. We also help families learn to care for those who will never regain these skills. The toll that brain injuries exact is astronomical - in medical costs, in life care, in lost wages and in the exhaustion of friends and families who become caregivers. Each year, over two million traumatic brain injuries occur in the United States.
Vehicle crashes are the leading cause.
Teens, infants and the elderly are at highest risk. Still, there is ample evidence that the incidence and severity of traumatic brain injury can be reduced by proper use of seat belts. You probably know people who don t use their seat belts correctly or consistently. If they are passengers, don t start the car until everyone is buckled. Do it until they know you mean it.