Studies

Fat People More Likely to Die in Car Crashes Than Skinny People

This guy's a goner.
This guy’s a goner. Photo: iStockphoto

We all know that far too many Americans are overweight, and that with all those extra pounds come all kinds of calamities. As if heart disease, diabetes, gout, and impotence weren’t enough to worry your plump little head about, here’s some more bad news for fat folks: They don’t survive car accidents quite as well as skinny people. Researchers at University of Buffalo — who wondered why morbidly obese people are 56 percent more likely to die in car accidents than people of normal weight — released a study at yesterday’s annual meeting of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine, the Atlantic reports. In it lies the reason why chubby drivers die more frequently than their more slender counterparts.

It’s simple ,really. Fat people hate seat belts! Seems those who are overweight are less likely to buckle up because seat belts aren’t big enough to span some drivers’ super-sized proportions. Which is why Grub Street is now hard at work on its proposal for a new product innovation: stretchy seat belts.

Study of the Day: Why Obese Drivers Are Less Likely to Survive a Car Crash [Atlantic]

Fat People More Likely to Die in Car Crashes Than Skinny People