My dad just sent me this video and it is so incredible that I have to share it:
I, for one, always wear my seatbelt and am prone to freaking out on my kids if they don't have theirs on. See, I grew up very conscious of the fact that a seatbelt can save your life; it may have been in the days before you were required to wear one, but automobile accidents were very much part of our family folklore. My uncle and his family were all almost killed by a semi-truck that was driven by a man who was high and had fallen asleep. My uncle was in the hospital for ages, all the kids and my aunt were injured, and their little baby girl was actually thrown from the car into a field, still encased in her protective carseat thankfully, but extremely hurt.
Traumatic and seat-belt convincing enough? You betcha.
But even closer to home, my mom was driving very early in the morning one night, homeward bound from her short-lived night-shift chemist job at the milk-processing plant, and came over a hill on the windy road to find another car in her lane. She swerved to avoid being hit, ran off the road, jumped the ditch and fence and flipped the car three times before it came to a rest. Totaled.
And, for the love of all things holy, she had on a seatbelt. And walked away from the crash with only a small cut, from all the broken glass, on her pinky finger.
She said afterwards that she didn't know why she had put on her seatbelt that night, as she didn't wear one all the time, but thankfully she had. Because she would have most certainly been thrown from the car or killed if she hadn't had it on.
I was in third grade at the time and you better believe that that moment has stuck with me.
I was shocked to see a statistic attached to this video (when shown on CNN) that only 48% of American wear their seat belts. So, in true PSA-fashion: Please, please, please, please wear your seatbelt when you drive.
That is so dramatic, it moved me. Thanks for it.
ReplyDeleteSecretia
Yeah, but....
ReplyDeleteI didn't have my seatbelt on. And I'm glad. The truck that hit our car head-on caused me to go flying thru the car and smash into the windscreen. And then? That truck ran over the car and crushed the side I'd been sitting on. I'd have been dead. Screw seatbelts: when your number's up, your number's up.....sorry to mess with your history, but there's always another side isn't there? Same with your little relative....thrown from the car and safe, but possibly cos she was thrown....just a possibility....
Don't scoff at my douche-baggery then delete me!!!!
ReplyDeleteI am an always wear my seatbelt kind of girl. My kids know to just do it automatically. There is no debate.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I wear my seatbelt religiously, too. I actually feel a little naked without it when I'm in the car!
ReplyDeleteMy sister is a seatbelt NAZI! She will not take the car out of "park" until EVERYONE, adults and children, have theirs fastened! Chick's TOUGH!!
I have a similar story. When I was five, my dad's car was hit by a semi that ran a stop sign. Took the front end of my dad's car clean off. He took off his seat belt and got out. WHen the police arrived, one officer said, "You were wearing a seat belt, weren't you?" My dad asked how the officer knew, and he said, "Because I wouldn't be talking to you otherwise."
ReplyDeleteSo I am a total seat belt fanatic. I even put one on when backing my car out of the drive to park it on the street.
OMG, as my friends call me "Safety Police" I have to agree with you. WEAR YOUR SEAT BELT PEOPLE! I haven't experienced too many car accidents IN my family but was an E.M.T. in L.A. and saw some bad, bad things. I also have to say if you insist on riding a motorcycle WEAR A HELMET! It's no fun to see the body and go out looking for your head!
ReplyDeleteI also freak out on anyone that text's and drives, emails and drives, is distracted at all and drives, doesn't wear correct safety gear doing sports or other things. I'm a big safety dork!
Holla.
ReplyDeleteWhat a fantastic and powerful commercial. I always wear mine and too. Thank you Bitchin Wife!
ReplyDeleteI always wear a seatbelt. To me, the stories of people saying they would have died if they'd have had their seatbelt on are outnumbered by the stories of people who would have died if they hadn't been wearing one. It's all statistics, and I fall on the side of safety. If I'm in a wreck that causes my death, chances are it won't matter if I was wearing a seatbelt of not. And rarely do they report that if the victim had only left their seatbelt off...
ReplyDeletewhat freaks me out more than adults not wearing a seat belt, when they allow children to not wear one or be in a booster or car seat. i have seen so many toddlers climbing all over the back seat. i just wish i was a police officer, so i could pull them over and scare the bejeezus out of them for that. it's one thing to make a decision for yourself, it's another to make a decision for an uninformed child.
ReplyDeleteLike Braja, my family has had incidences where a wearing a seat belt would have done more harm than good; but then there are times where the seat belt was in use and did its job. That said, we wear our seat belts all the time.
ReplyDeleteI tend to believe as Braja does. When it's your time, it's just your time. Obvio it wasn't your mom's time and whatever 'made' her put on her seatbelt is proof of that in that she didn't always wear one.
ReplyDeleteIt's the law in Calif that you as well as your front seat passenger MUST have one on or the driver gets a ticket, even for the passenger. I will not let anyone ride in my car without one, even in the backseat. After Princess Di died, the back seat became more important in my head. But of course, see Braja comment and beginning of my comment.
ANYWAY, that video was really beautiful.
I've gotten so used to wearing a seat belt, that if I sit at my computer too long, I feel like I should have one on.
ReplyDeleteI've seen the vid, it is incredible.
Huh. I wouldn't have thought the % was so low. What's the law over there?
ReplyDeleteThe three year old reminds us to buckle her in all the time, even when she's buckled. We're a seatbelt family!
ReplyDeleteJust saw this earlier. Gotta tell you. Seatbelt in my car or get the fuck out.
ReplyDeleteIn 1973 my mother was thrown from her car and died in an accident. I was five. You'd think that would've done it for me, but I didn't start wearing a seatbelt regularly until it became law in California. Because of that law our kiddies would never get in a car without wearing theirs. Personal freedom bedamned, I'm very glad for that legislation.
ReplyDeleteCheers,
SLC
I never leave home without my seatbelt on... though my hubby survived an accident because he wasn't wearing his. It's a source of contention between us.
ReplyDeleteA,
ReplyDeleteTim and I have watched this a couple of times, always with both of us wiping away a few tears. Poweful enough for me to stop lurking for minute on your blog! :)
-H
A 17 year old boy in my community was just killed in an automobile accident. He wasn't wearing a seat belt and was thrown from the car.
ReplyDeleteI can't begin to tell you how bad it hurt to see the look on his parent's faces.
Fertilizer trucks with BIG WHEELS, telephone poles with guide wires , etc...have transformed me into a seatbelt freak !!! I too am a believer that when your time is up its up.......but I sure as shit am not going to use that philosphy with my children's lives or any other person's ! BUCKLE UP! SHIT HAPPENS !!! XXXXXXp
ReplyDeleteFertilizer trucks with BIG WHEELS, telephone poles with guide wires , etc...have transformed me into a seatbelt freak !!! I too am a believer that when your time is up its up.......but I sure as shit am not going to use that philosphy with my children's lives or any other person's ! BUCKLE UP! SHIT HAPPENS !!! XXXXXXp
ReplyDelete