Seatbelts:

[divinnole]

I am not a big fan of the nanny state making laws to protect us from ourselves, but I don't understand why folks will not wear their seat belts. Today I attended a funeral of friend who attended the same church I do. She was killed last Friday when her husband did not see a car topping a hill and pulled out in front of the approaching car. Four folks were involved and 3 walked away. The car she was riding in spun around 2.5 times with her door coming open ejecting her. The only mark on her was a head injury. She was brain dead when she reached the hospital.

I know there are instances where not having a seat belt on works out best, but those instances are far exceeded by the times a seat belt has saved someone's life.

I posted on here about 15 years ago about the way deaths in automobile wrecks have impacted my life. The number sounds unreal but automobile deaths started when I was 4 when I lost an aunt and uncle and have continued thru this latest one. During this time I have lost nearly 50 either family or friends in wrecks, including my dad, a child and his mother, 4 classmates 2Xs in different wrecks, 6 students in 31 years of teaching. Of all of those only 6 were killed wearing a seatbelt. In one of the wrecks in which 4 classmates were killed all were wearing seatbelts but they were hit by a fully loaded log truck running over 70mph. My child and his mother were both wearing theirs but were also hit by a large truck which ran out of control and hit them head on. My dad if he had his on would have only suffered minor injuries. None of my six students were wearing seatbelts and 4 of those were roll over and ejections deaths. Can't help but believe most of the 4 would have survived if buckled up.

Like I said I don't understand not wearing seatbelts.

 

[Dr. Nole]

Hear you and agree. I am sorry about your friend.


Different but...you can't be holding a cell phone but having a dog, cat, bird in your lap is ok...?

 

[QuaZ2002]

I am not a big fan of the nanny state making laws to protect us from ourselves, but I don't understand why folks will not wear their seat belts. Today I attended a funeral of friend who attended the same church I do. She was killed last Friday when her husband did not see a car topping a hill and pulled out in front of the approaching car. Four folks were involved and 3 walked away. The car she was riding in spun around 2.5 times with her door coming open ejecting her. The only mark on her was a head injury. She was brain dead when she reached the hospital.

I know there are instances where not having a seat belt on works out best, but those instances are far exceeded by the times a seat belt has saved someone's life.

I posted on here about 15 years ago about the way deaths in automobile wrecks have impacted my life. The number sounds unreal but automobile deaths started when I was 4 when I lost an aunt and uncle and have continued thru this latest one. During this time I have lost nearly 50 either family or friends in wrecks, including my dad, a child and his mother, 4 classmates 2Xs in different wrecks, 6 students in 31 years of teaching. Of all of those only 6 were killed wearing a seatbelt. In one of the wrecks in which 4 classmates were killed all were wearing seatbelts but they were hit by a fully loaded log truck running over 70mph. My child and his mother were both wearing theirs but were also hit by a large truck which ran out of control and hit them head on. My dad if he had his on would have only suffered minor injuries. None of my six students were wearing seatbelts and 4 of those were roll over and ejections deaths. Can't help but believe most of the 4 would have survived if buckled up.

Like I said I don't understand not wearing seatbelts.

Wow. I feel very fortunate reading that. I dated a girl who would almost never wear her seat belt and it drove me absolutely insane. I’m sometimes not great about it in the backseat but 100% in the front seat. These days with the beeping you really have to be committed to not wearing it.

 

[goldmom]

Wow, what an awful statistic. So sorry to hear that.
I literally never leave my driveway without my seat belt on - over the years you just make it automatic.
And no one should be texting while driving either!

 

[hatsbo]

Your experience is tragic and I don't blame you for venting. I would say about 75% of the traffic fatalities I read about involve an unbelted driver or passenger. It's crazy, especially when they have to circumvent the unbelted alarm now. I've been working on not texting or using the phone in the car, the handsfree feature helps, and my phone has a feature diverting any messages while I'm driving.

 

[goldmom]

I depend on my hands free feature/blue tooth in the car. I also have the feature that reads any text to me out loud so I don’t even need to take my hands off the wheel or eyes off the road.

 

[divinnole]

I depend on my hands free feature/blue tooth in the car. I also have the feature that reads any text to me out loud so I don’t even need to take my hands off the wheel or eyes off the road.

My wife has that feature in her truck. Only problem with it is she is constantly calling me(I don't have the feature) and gets miffed when I won't answer. I can talk hands free but can't call, text or answer handsfree. I wish cars had the option of parents disabling ph service if the car is in drive. It seems every school year there is at least one Bay Co. student is killed while texting. One of my student deaths I listed was a kid texting while driving about 75mph. The largest school in Bay Co is a block away from my school and the main road feeds both schools. It is unreal the number of kids I see on hand held phones each morning. A phone disabling feature would give the parents the ability to keep kids from talking or texting while driving.

 

[MagNoleA]

I depend on my hands free feature/blue tooth in the car. I also have the feature that reads any text to me out loud so I don’t even need to take my hands off the wheel or eyes off the road.

Having those features are very important in the safety of driving any vehicle throughout this great nation of ours. I certainly maintain the need to have all hands free while in the front seat. However, rather than a blue tooth feature, I often succumb to my sweet tooth cravings.
In that front seat, I just want to eat everything in sight. Cherry sours, for example, help keep me awake on any long drives. In city traffic, I use red lights as a great opportunity to fulfill my ongoing cravings.

 

[s.f.]

Sorry about ur loss. Prayers sent. I’m one of those that my wife and I would not be alive today if I would have had a seat belt ON.

We were run off the road at a bridge and our car flipped and we ended up upside down in the river. The windshield was smashed and water was pouring in. My wife could not get her seatbelt off. I ended up in the back seat but was able to get her seatbelt undone and we both escaped out the broken windshield.

Because of that accident I hate wearing a seatbelt. I have gotten 3 tickets for not wearing one. Always tell the cop my story but they write the ticket anyway.

I’m sure they save lives however in my case not wearing one saved our lives.

 

[FSUATT]

Sorry about ur loss. Prayers sent. I’m one of those that my wife and I would not be alive today if I would have had a seat belt ON.

We were run off the road at a bridge and our car flipped and we ended up upside down in the river. The windshield was smashed and water was pouring in. My wife could not get her seatbelt off. I ended up in the back seat but was able to get her seatbelt undone and we both escaped out the broken windshield.

Because of that accident I hate wearing a seatbelt. I have gotten 3 tickets for not wearing one. Always tell the cop my story but they write the ticket anyway.

I’m sure they save lives however in my case not wearing one saved our lives.

You were very lucky that you were not seriously hurt or knocked unconscience because you were not wearing your seatbelt (you both would have died). You do know that the odds of not wearing a seatbelt and it saving your life are slim, right? You should put this behind you and WEAR YOUR SEATBELT.

 

[divinnole]

Sorry about ur loss. Prayers sent. I’m one of those that my wife and I would not be alive today if I would have had a seat belt ON.

We were run off the road at a bridge and our car flipped and we ended up upside down in the river. The windshield was smashed and water was pouring in. My wife could not get her seatbelt off. I ended up in the back seat but was able to get her seatbelt undone and we both escaped out the broken windshield.

Because of that accident I hate wearing a seatbelt. I have gotten 3 tickets for not wearing one. Always tell the cop my story but they write the ticket anyway.

I’m sure they save lives however in my case not wearing one saved our lives.

I can understand how you would feel that way. That was (being trapped in a submerging car) one of the arguments my dad would use to not wear seatbelts. Looking at car he was killed in you would not have thought anyone would have been seriously injured, much less died in it. His head hit the window post causing a fatal injury, something the seatbelt would have prevented. My thought on that would be, you were lucky not you have been knocked out being thrown around the car and ending up in the backseat. Of course there is no guarantee the airbags would not have knocked you also. We all have to decide what we are more comfortable with. Unfortunately I have vast experience in losing friends and family in car wrecks and I know many of them would have survived if wearing a seatbelt and I don't think any of the ones who died would have survived if not wearing the seatbelt.

 

[MagNoleA]

I am not a big fan of the nanny state making laws to protect us from ourselves, but I don't understand why folks will not wear their seat belts. Today I attended a funeral of friend who attended the same church I do. She was killed last Friday when her husband did not see a car topping a hill and pulled out in front of the approaching car. Four folks were involved and 3 walked away. The car she was riding in spun around 2.5 times with her door coming open ejecting her. The only mark on her was a head injury. She was brain dead when she reached the hospital.

I know there are instances where not having a seat belt on works out best, but those instances are far exceeded by the times a seat belt has saved someone's life.

I posted on here about 15 years ago about the way deaths in automobile wrecks have impacted my life. The number sounds unreal but automobile deaths started when I was 4 when I lost an aunt and uncle and have continued thru this latest one. During this time I have lost nearly 50 either family or friends in wrecks, including my dad, a child and his mother, 4 classmates 2Xs in different wrecks, 6 students in 31 years of teaching. Of all of those only 6 were killed wearing a seatbelt. In one of the wrecks in which 4 classmates were killed all were wearing seatbelts but they were hit by a fully loaded log truck running over 70mph. My child and his mother were both wearing theirs but were also hit by a large truck which ran out of control and hit them head on. My dad if he had his on would have only suffered minor injuries. None of my six students were wearing seatbelts and 4 of those were roll over and ejections deaths. Can't help but believe most of the 4 would have survived if buckled up.

Like I said I don't understand not wearing seatbelts.

So sorry to hear of your loss. Believe me, I know how traumatic car accidents can be. I simply don't understand why buses of children don't have seat belts.

 

[LLOYD72]

I've had two fairly major accidents that totaled two different vehicles - one complete roll over down an embankment on ice and one complete flip (end over end) while towing a jet ski on I80 outside of Chicago. Fortunately, we all escaped without injury. If we were not wearing seatbelts I wouldn't be here to talk about it today.

 

[F4Gary]

I hit a tree and rolled my 240Z when I lived in Holland. Ended up upside down. All we did was unstrap our seatbelts and crawl out. Not injuries what so ever.