If You Don't Buckle Up, Read On About My Daughter

Vanity

[Hebrews 11:6]

are you sure about the respective speeds of the cars? Internal organs being slammed against the breastplate and all... Just wondering.

Yes. The speed limit on that road is 55.

[NJ_gent]

When I was little, my mother had me convinced that the car wouldn't start unless everyone inside had their seatbelt buckled. To this day, my car doesn't move until everyone inside is buckled, and I don't care who they are.

[Bogey78O]

Well it may have been he didn't have to unbuckle the belt so much as cut the strap.

[zlala]

I just read over the weekend, a story of a woman who was in an accident...she was the passenger in the vehicle and buckled up. She would have been fine, but the unbuckled driver was thrown into her and that resulted in serious injuries to the buckled woman. I thought that was freaky.

[sauropod]

Glad to hear your daughter and the others are ok, but I really don't like being lectured to on the virtues of buckling up and -I-am-so-stupid-if-I-don't.

See, some of us don't buy it that "buckling up" is safer.

[Hebrews 11:6]

So go ahead and preach, but don't cross the line into statist fanaticism.

Be prepared to vamoose, because I'm going to issue an altar call in a few minutes.

[RonF]

This kind of follows from the old saying they have in parachuting; "It's not the fall that kills you, it's that sudden stop at the end." Between seat belts and air bags, you don't get quite the sudden stop against a solid object you would if you were unrestrained.

[FreedomHasACost]

You are more likely to survive buckled, but I have seen that it does not always work that way.
And is no reason for another law!

[ThisLittleLightofMine]

When I was 15 California had just implemented the seat belt law. My boyfriend and I were out in the mountains, and I decided that we should buckle up before heading back down. Not even two minutes later we went off the mountain into a 100' embankment. The car was completely totaled, I had minor cuts that required stitches and he had a scratch. I am a believer in safety belt's (but still not sure about airbags, due to my petite frame).

[Hebrews 11:6]

I really don't like being lectured to on the virtues of buckling up and -I-am-so-stupid-if-I-don't.

Actually, you got it backwards, didn't you? What my lecture consisted of was lauding your intelligence (nonstupidity) but questioning your judgment. But I'll just suggest the title gave you plenty of warning what you'd see here. Your defensiveness wouldn't indicate anything in particular, would it? I hope you'll buckle up, and we'll forget the rest, OK?

[Angry Republican]

I feel naked in a car without a seat belt.

[SaltyJoe]

Knowing that you, badmatty, are smart enough to use the appropriate gear, I write this for others that refuse the safety margin (especially bikers).

Here's how I would handle those that refuse to buckle up or wear a helmet if riding a bike:

If you get into an accident, the insure company may deny payment to you (or surviving family) for not using the appropriate safety equipment.

Hypothetically speaking, if you and I pay into the same insurance handler, and you died in an auto accident, and it was found that a seat belt (or helmet) that you did not wear might have saved your life, then I will not have to pay my insurance money to your surviving family members for your taking and losing a risk you did not have to play.

And that's one way to avoid paying for others' stupidity/vanity.

[DCPatriot]

I'm not trying to be difficult here but I believe given the makes of the cars involved, it's very hard to believe there isn't acute internal bleeding or damage...that's all.

[Rakkasan1]

glad to hear they're OK. I'm not for gubmint mandated belts
for adults, but for minors under our roof, it's the rule.
BTW, I wear mine and my cycle helmet (not while driving my car) . If you think your "cool" not wearing , tell me the same while drooling on your bib in a wheelchair.

good luck.

[alnick]

I hit a telephone pole at 50 mph about 10 years ago, and walked away with a few bruises. I was run off the road by another driver.

I was wearing my seat belt and my air bag deployed.

[logic]

I started buckling with my first vehicle. A '68 Chevy stepside with vinyl bench seats. (kinda hard to drive from the right side when making a left turn...)

[PhiKapMom]

Very glad your daughter and everyone survived this crash with minimal injuries and mega thanks for pointing out to everyone how important it is to wear seatbelts.

Won't allow anyone to ride in my car that doesn't buckle up. No matter how short the trip, our whole family buckles up -- we have seen way too many kids killed that didn't buckle up and were thrown out of the car in wrecks. Now it is automatic -- get in the car and buckle up.

[Fierce Allegiance]

He must have been a rookie patrolman. That being said, I wear mine. My dad taught me young to emulate my hero race drivers. I feel more comfortable that way.

I used to run heavy equipment and refused to wear a belt in the cab. never got hurt, and could reach all the controls.

[Hebrews 11:6]

Actually, today it seems astounding that automakers were so slow in providing, and the public--not to mention the government--so slow in demanding, adequate safety features. When I was a kid riding in the back seat of our '51 Ford, we crashed into someone and I hit the (unpadded) dashboard, because not only did we not have seatbelts, but the seatbacks didn't even latch!

[Toespi]

In 1990, our son was in a horrible auto accident after school. His car flipped three times down a 75 foot embankment, he sustained life-threatening head injuries, in a coma for two weeks, broken collar bone and a broken rib cage and chest injuries caused by the seatbelt. Bottom line, he is alive today because of the seatbelt.