wearing a seat belt saved my grandsons life last night

[JitterbugPerfume]

He was stopped at an intersection and a drunken driver shoved him from behind into a five lane highway where he was hit by two other cars. If he had not been wearing his seat belt I am convinced that I would be in unbearable grief right now.

The trunk of his car is now in the back seat .


Please please please never get into a vehicle without fastening your seat belt

[Angry Dragon]

1. Very good advice

[SharonAnn]

20. "Wear Your Seat Belt" video - It's really terrific!

Perhaps the only "mass email" I received that had something wonderful in it.
---
This is the new "wear your seat belt" ad the UK is doing - started by
some dude not hired to do it, but because the cause is important to
him, he came up with this idea, and now it's being hailed across the
world as a ‘beautiful' commercial.
The video has become so popular with the general public that people
are forwarding it to friends/family on their own so quickly that it
has spread all over the world in a very short time.

GO TO:----> http://embracethis.co.uk//

[Tippy]

2. I'm glad your happy and your grandson is safe.....

[MrScorpio]

3. Never ride without it.

I ALWAYS wear mine

[ananda]

36. It's a law you can LIVE with.

nt

[Drale]

4. A few weeks ago

a SUV full of high school kids got in an accident a few blocks from my house, the driver was killed because he wasn't wearing a seat belt. Everyone else in the car was fine. When I hear people say that a seat belt isn't going to save your life, I really would love to force them to take an IQ test but it could be very high.

[notadmblnd]

5. I got rear ended myself about a year ago and thanks to my trailer hitch, only the car was

damaged. And I'm convinced, if every card had one, people would pay more attention and drive slower and further behind than they do. You should have see the car, it was totaled, while mine didn't have a scratch. I really felt sorry for the girl (she had no insurance).

Glad your grandson is safe.

[pansypoo53219]

50. no trailer hitch,

but i was slowly hit when in my '72 olds. but i suppose crumple zones are for safety when hit. driving a couch also seems smart, cause we didn't really feel it when a flying wheel hit it. or when i skidded + hit a concrete barrier.
i wish they would bring back the couch seating.

[PoiBoy]

6. So thankful that your grandson is safe....

...sounds like it was a bad accident that could have been much, much worse....

I was a seatbelt skeptic myself those many years ago when I was a young man... age, experience and several close calls of my own have convinced me otherwise...

I wish you and your grandson well.... Aloha..!

:hi:

[Odin2005]

7. I get pissed off at my mom because she still beleives the "seat belts are dangerous" myth...

...that was apparently popular when she was my age in the early 80s. :eyes:

[localroger]

12. That myth was once kindasortatrue

The old lap-only belts could hurt you worse than being ejected from the vehicle in some kinds of accidents, in particular paralyzing you. But that hasn't been the case since the 1970's; that very thing is the reason all seat belts are now three-point harnesses with a shoulder strap.

I was in an accident about a year ago where a Jeep (whose driver, I am fairly sure, was more involved with her cellphone than with the presence of cars coming from the other direction as she turned left) broadsided me. Driver's side door, dead center. I walked away and wasn't even sore the next day, but it was some days later that I realized just how carefully and deliberately the car had folded up to keep the Jeep's bumper away from my body.

Modern car safety systems work. Use them and be glad they are there.

[Odin2005]

14. Interesting, that makes sense, my mom graduated high school in 1976

Thanks!

[RedCloud]

58. Except when going over a cliff. Unbuckle, get on car, don't leap too soon!

[JitterbugPerfume]

15. I remember that!

[Enthusiast]

30. It persists. nt

[JitterbugPerfume]

16. dupe

[Enthusiast]

29. And it is a myth.

I know first hand.

[Wednesdays]

37. Snopes.com refutes the myth that seat belt use is dangerous:

http://www.snopes.com/autos/techno/seatbelt.asp

Claim: People shouldn't wear seat belts because they might not be able to escape from their vehicles in car fires.

Status: False.

A great quote from the Snopes article:
Ann Landers in 1994 and Dear Abby in 1991 both quoted a policeman who'd seen his share of accidents:
"I've never unbuckled a dead man."

[NEOhiodemocrat]

8. Thank goodness for his seatbelt!

You never know what the other guy is going to do when you are out on the road.

[Nikia]

9. A couple years ago, we witnessed a deer-car-ice accident

In which the car ended up flying acrossed the road and flipping multiple times. We called 911 right away and my husband stopped to see if they needed help. The occupants were able to climb out of their car and appeared to be fine. I know that if they had not been wearing their seat belts, they would have probably flown out of the car and died.

[lolly]

18. Happened to my daughter a few years ago

Van rolled over; landed upside down.

She walked away with some scratches on her arm and a little bruise on her cheek.

Seatbelts definitely save lives.

[LWolf]

10. This grandmother is thankful that your grandson is safe. nt

[elocs]

11. Where I live 4 or 5 times a year some teens tragically die because they did not wear their seatbelts

often in what should be very survivable rollovers. I read, "thrown from the vehicle and killed". What a waste and they do not seem to learn.

[Liberal_in_LA]

13. K&R

[JitterbugPerfume]

17. thank you for your thoughtful posts

and for the recommendations

[lolly]

19. Beautiful video spot for seatbelts

Somebody posted this here on a similar thread a while back. It's a good one to share with your loved ones.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-8PBx7isoM

[Canuckistanian]

21. There are really people who refuse to wear seatbelts?

After nearly five decades of proof that it works to save lives?

[TexasObserver]

22. They're life savers. No one rides unbuckled with me.

That's been a driving rule of mine for forty years.

[proteus_lives]

23. Someone needs to link this thread to DU's anti-seatbelt kook.

[SidDithers]

62. We have an anti-seatbelt kook?...

Someone I haven't run across yet :)

Sid

[Codeine]

66. Is there a flavor of kook we DON'T have? nt

[SidDithers]

67. True dat...

I stand admonished :)

Sid

[proteus_lives]

68. Google anti-seatbelt threads, you'll get a laugh!

[UpInArms]

24. ...

:hug:

[tblue37]

25. One of my students just wrote an essay for my English 101

class about how wearing his seatbelt saved his life--and he only started wearing one because his older brother's life was saved two years ago by wearing a seatbelt. He got some of his friends also to start wearing seatbelts, and that saved the life of his best friend just last year.

Seatbelts save lives.

[Mira]

26. h my God. Thank you for posting this, and I am beyond exhaling for you and.

Your grandson. Your family.
So much gratitude is needed on many fronts.

I am not one to buckle up. It irritates my grandson (18) beyond reason. I am terrified that he will smoke that first cigarette and become an addicted statistic.
So we made a pact. I buckle, and he won't take a drag.
Works for me, and works for him.

[Hekate]

27. Another grandma thankful on your behalf

We are big believers in car seats and seat belts, as they have been proven to save lives. An unrestrained person of any age can go rocketing through a windshield, often leaving brain damage if they live. We have extended-family members who are undoubtedly alive because of seat belts.

Hekate

[Enthusiast]

28. I'm happy for you

that he had his seatbelt on.

[Hubert Flottz]

31. I'm glad it turned out okay.

Seatbelts DO save lives.

[malaise]

32. Glad he's OK

And thank Ralph Nader for fighting for seat belts.

[skepticscott]

33. And this is news...why?

Anyone who doesn't wear a seatbelt every time they get into a car in this day and age is an idiot, deserving of a Darwin Award. And anyone who doesn't buckle their kids up ought to be in jail.

[laundry_queen]

44. What you said.

A seatbelt probably saved my life when I was a teen. I hesitated putting it on because, back then, it wasn't cool. My parents were, what I called, seatbelt nazis and my friends hated coming with us because my parents wouldn't move the car unless everyone was buckled. This was in the 80's and early 90's. Anyhow, I got in the car with a boyfriend, and ended up buckling up. Boy am I glad I did - he rear-ended someone while going very fast and the seatbelt held me in. I had seatbelt bruises but was otherwise OK. Some girls in the back didn't have their seatbelts on and slammed into the seats but were ok. I would've hit the windshield, however. My boyfriend hit the steering wheel with his chest and was ok (no airbags back then either). I was also in another collision with my ex, it was a slow-speed head on collision and it probably helped that I had my seatbelt on, although it didn't catch very quickly so I did slide some before the shoulder belt caught me and it injured my back. I have back pain to this day from that. I personally think all cars should have 5pt harnesses.

[Rozlee]

34. What really fries my fritters are these damn Libertarians that grouse about

having the government telling them what to do and making laws "forcing" them to wear seat belts. I hope no one jumps on me about this. (I know someone or someone are). I love Dean Koontz novels as much as the next person. But, the guy is a raving Libertarian and at one of his book signings, he was bitching about government taking away peoples' freedoms and used the seatbelt law as an example, stating that even if the person driving the vehicle or his passenger got seriously injured or killed, it was their choice and the burden to society was theirs alone. I had to jump in and argue about how the burden of their medical care might be passed on down to consumers in increased costs in health insurance to maintain the guy if he wound up years in a coma with expensive ventilator equipment or in lifelong maintance for brain damage for social services and the guy said the government shouldn't have to pay for it. God, I'm never buying another Dean Koontz novel unless it's second hand on Amazon and he won't profit! Sorry all you Dean Koontz fans out there. Jump on me all you want. But, that's my stand and I'm not budging from it.

[Rozlee]

35. And don't ask me why my post is lined out

Dean Koontz is probably responsible for it.
:mad:

[renegade000]

49. Anti-seatbeat libertarians annoy me tremendously as well

Not only do serious injuries/fatalities incur higher costs for medical treatment and rescue response, but I would think that the firefighters and EMTs would rather appreciate if they only had to treat you for some scraps and bruises instead of having to pick your brains off the asphalt. Why complain about seatbeat laws when the cost of compliance is so low (just two seconds of your time!) and the obvious benefits, not only to yourself, but to others are so clear?

There are just so many better discussions a libertarian could be focusing their time on, places we NEED a libertarian perspective, like with regard to privacy rights, government spying, etc.

[hedgehog]

38. Let me put my 2 cents in for bike helmets as well --

I had a neighbor who did one of the original studies on bicycle accidents 40 years ago. Two weeks into the study, he came home and put his toddlers' trikes into the trash - there were that many brain injuries from kids falling off the old high seat style trikes.


Unfortunately, these are being marketed again as a retro toy.

My daughter is alive, walking and talking today because she was wearing a helmet. She flipped her bike going down a steep hill and ended up with a ruptured spleen. Her helmet was scratched up and she had some scrapes on her cheek. Without the helmet, she would have had the equivalent of a pre-frontal lobotomy!

BTW- bike helmets should be worn forward to cover the forehead, not on the back of the head like a baseball cap.

[babydollhead]

39. Seat belt and an airbag saved my daughters life

16 year old, pretty beat up from the airbag and the seat belt, months of rehab, and still has headaches. She is ALIVE ALIVE ALIVE and she sure wouldn't have been

[MadHound]

40. Good advice,

A friend's daughter was killed a week ago. Riding with three other friends, they pulled out of a blind intersection and were T-boned and rolled. The other three kids were wearing seatbelts, she wasn't, got thrown from the SUV and was killed on the scene.

Always wear seatbelts.

[driver8]

41. My thirteen year old cousin was killed in a car accident because she wasn't wearing a seat belt.

A group of kids were crammed in a car and the driver started racing with another group of kids. The car my cousin was in went off the road and flipped over. She and another girl were thrown out of the car and were both killed. The kids in the car who were wearing seatbelts were banged up, but fine. In this case, there weren't enough seatbelts for everyone...very sad.

[JitterbugPerfume]

54. it is heart breaking when a young person dies needlessly

and if one person reads this post and decides to be more careful,I will be so thankful. My grandson is sore all over but he is still in my life and that is worth more than anything in the world to me right now

[driver8]

57. I am so glad that your grandson is ok.

Sounds like a nasty accident!!

[raccoon]

42. ITA--a seatbelt saved my life in the early 1970's. nt

[myrna minx]

43. .

:hug:

[deathrind]

45. It never hurts

....to be as proactive as possible when it comes to safety. But for every "seat belt saved my life" story there is an inverse story. Very glad to hear your Grandson is ok!

[Hassin Bin Sober]

55. What's the inverse story?

Seat belts DIDN"T save a life?

[X_Digger]

46. K&R! n/t

[The Uncola]

47. It's a no brainer.

I put my belt and shoulder strap on automatically as soon as I sit in a vehicle. If you are riding with me behind the wheel, you wear yours or you get out and walk. No exceptions. Because of well designed restraint systems, Nascar drivers have impacts at 180+ mph and walk away with no or minor injuries.

[underseasurveyor]

48. Whoa that's too close

SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Happy he's OK and funeral plans for your grandson are not the order of the day. My hearts racing at the thoughts.

Give him all our best. I'm sure the poor baby has to be, at the least, very sore today.

[Bluenorthwest]

51. Seat belts also saved my life, or at the very least

preserved the quality of life. Yep.

[ejpoeta]

52. I was in a car accident in 1997. I was driving a mark 7 that i had had for 2 months.

I was not wearing a seatbelt. In fact we did not have very far to go and were not far from where we started. My boyfriend was following me in his mustang. I have been told considering that I don't remember any of it besides grass and then impact. My boyfriend said he saw the brake lights go on and then the car went up in the air, went end over end three times and ejected me from the passenger window and landed on top of me. I woke up underneath the car staring up at the stars in the sky. I could hear my now husband calling me. He said he stepped on my hand but I do not remember that. I only remember hearing him talking and surmised that I must have had an accident and that it was the car that I was pinned under. Somehow I thought that knowing what was on me would make it possible to get it off. It did not. the volunteer fire department got the car off me and mercy flight took me to the hospital. my husband almost beat them there. I was lucky. I only sustained a broken leg and had glass along the side of my head that went through the glass and in my knuckles. I got thrown around in the car pretty good too before it spit me out because I had bruises all over my legs from the shifter.

I was not wearing a seatbelt. By all rights I probably should have been dead.

[Dappleganger]

53. A very timely reminder.

I'm going to share your story w/our two teen drivers if that's ok. It just cannot be said often enough that riders/drivers w/out seatbelts become missiles in accidents.

[spanone]

56. only a complete idiot would ride in a car without a belt

[Xithras]

59. I learned that lesson in high school.

Four of my friends were riding in a car when the driver lost control (road was wet and he swerved to void a cat), ran off the road, and rolled twice.

Three of them were wearing seatbelts. One wasn't.

The three wearing seatbelts unbuckled after the car came to a stop, opened the doors, and climbed out. The most serious injury was a scratch to a forehead from flying glass.

They spent the next ten minutes trying to locate the fourth friend, who had been ejected when the car started to flip. It wasn't until the police showed up that they found his body under the car.

There is no excuse for not wearing a seat belt.

[DesertFlower]

60. thank goodness he's okay.

i didn't wear mine until princess diana died. they showed a computer animation of how her body moved without the seat belt and another one if she were wearing it.

[joeybee12]

61. Very good advice and I am very happy your grandson is safe...I was plowed head on by

a drunk driver, sent my car tumbling over and onto a lawn. Had my seatbelt on...sore, but nothing broken.

[RobertSeattle]

63. My 4 year old twins FREAK OUT if I start moving the car and they haven't buckled themselves

Good training... :-)

[DollyM]

64. glad for your family but seat belts do not always save lives. . .

Our 19 year old son was killed last year when he swerved for a dog in the road and hit a tree. The only mark on him was the deep bruise left by the seat belt. It seems the seat belt tightened on impact and pressed in so much that it severed the aortic valve to his heart. We had always preached to him about wearing his seat belt and he was when he was killed. I can't say he would have lived otherwise, will never know but I know that seat belts don't always save lives. Even the paramedic that found him said he was going to have to revise his statistics about never pulling a dead person out of a seat belt.

[nadinbrzezinski]

65. Glad that ALL safety gear in that vehicle worked

not just the safety belt.. but also the collapsible stress points. Yes, the trunk is designed to do that to protect the driver by absorbing quite a bit of the force.

Oh and you can thank the much derided NASCAR for a lot of this. Yes, safety gear is tested at 200 MPH in that oval circle, as well as F-1 racing.