Seat belts currently save more than 9,500 lives a year on average. Almost all fatalities associated with airbags happened to those who were not properly buckled up. Lapholder belts reduce the risk of fatal injury to front-seat passenger car occupants by 45 percent and the risk of moderate to critical injury by 50 percent. Wearing a seatbelt decreases your risk of being killed or seriously injured by approximately 50%. State highway safety agencies warns that 56 percent of the estimated 42,800 people killed on U.S. highways in 2004 were not wearing seat belts.