WCAX.COM Local Vermont News, Weather and Sports-N.H. Mother, Daughter Fight for Seat Belts
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Lebanon, New Hampshire - May 21, 2009
A mother-daughter team in the Upper Valley is trying to raise awareness about the importance of wearing seat belts.
Suzanne Prentiss and her daughter Phoebe were in a bad crash in December of 2007. Their car flipped end-over-end several times. Both were able to walk away with relatively minor injuries. They credit that to wearing their seat belts.
New Hampshire is the only state in the country without an adult seat belt law.
"I don't think there is any reason for us to be the last in the nation on this," Suzanne Prentiss said. "We are the first in the nation on so many issues. Knowing that lives will be saved, knowing what the cost associated with this, unfortunately for the people who do not survive, as well as those who survive, how we couldn't do this at times is very difficult for me to understand."
Studies show only about 63 percent of New Hampshire drivers and passengers wear their seat belts. That rate is 87 percent in Vermont.
Adam Sullivan - WCAX News
