Why buckle a dog up in a car?

For decades, laws have required people to put on seat belts while the car is on the road.  This is to protect both all the car drivers and passengers on the road.  So for pet lovers, it would make sense for them to buckle their pets up for the same safety considerations.  But in fact, buckling pets up have a lot more advantages that many car drivers may not be aware of.

The same statement can be applied to pets.  The only difference is that, buckling up pets can save not only your pet’s life, but also yours.  As car accident lawyers, we are concerned with the safety of all car drivers and passengers, so we believe it is very important that all state laws require pets traveling in cars to be buckled up or restrained.

So how exactly can making your dog wear a seat belt save your life?

First, your pets may be a serious distraction to your attention while driver.  Pets often want to be petted or to catch the attention of their owners, without realizing the dangers of bothering a car driver while driving.  If dogs and cats are restrained in the back seat of cars, there is less likely a chance the car driver will be distracted by the pet.  Also, it will not be able to get back and forth between the front and back passenger seats, which could otherwise possibly bump the car driver and cause a loss of control over the steering wheel.

From another point of view, dogs become lethal weapons in a car accident.  As shown in this video, even at 15 miles-per-hour, a car accident could cause one person to severely injure and possibly kill another occupant of the car by being thrown against them.

How about our pets?  In an auto accident at a speed of only 15 mph, a 15-pound dog would create an impact of the equivalent of an object that weighs 675 pounds.  At the same speed, a 60 pound dog would hit you with the weight of a 2,700 pound object.  In essence, that is a massive flying bullet, and that could easily kill other occupants in the car.

The final method that pets may interfere with the general safety of the human occupants in a car is when they get injured themselves.  Since injured pets often become disoriented and anxious, they may disrupt the rescue workers’ efforts to save people.  Cases have occurred where, following an accident, unrestrained pets have escaped and gotten hit by another car, causing a chain of car accidents.  Furthermore, frightened dogs may end up attacking anyone they come across, worsening the car accident situation.

Our car accident attorneys believe that to protect everyone in the case of a car accident, all occupants, humans or pets, have to be buckled up.  We strongly encourage all states to pass laws on restraining pets in moving cars.

Please contact us for a free consultation with an experienced car accident attorney — we speak both English and Spanish — at (800) 655-6585. Click here and you may also submit your case for a Free Review. No fee if no recovery.