Top 10 Excuses For Not Wearing A Seat Belt
1. I'm afraid of getting stuck in a crashed car. If you're not buckled up at the time of a crash, you're more likely to be killed or knocked unconscious and unable to get out of the car at all. I you are buckled up, you're more likely to stay in place and remain conscious, in control of the vehicle, and able to make smart decisions.
2. It irritates the skin on my neck or chest. Most newer vehicles have adjustable shoulder height positioners that let you to move the shoulder belt up or down for a more comfortable fit. In older cars, wear clothes with a higher neck to provide some extra padding. Store sell padded pieces to go around the belt as well.
3. It makes me feel restrained. That's what it's supposed to do. In a crash, it keeps you in your seat so you won't be thrown around or out of the vehicle where you're four times more likely to be killed than if you remain the car. Driver side seat belts are designed to allow free movement of the occupant until a crash occurs (or until you jam on your breaks!). The human body becomes a projectile in a crash if you aren't properly restrained. You can slam into a passenger and kill them even if they are buckled from the force of your body slamming into them.
4. I'm too large to wear a seat belt. It doesn't fit. You can purchase a seat belt extender, which can usually resolve this issue.
5. I can't look over my shoulder before turns. Yes, you can. A seat belt doesn't restrain your head; it restrains your chest.
6. I forgot. Most cars have annoying seat belt reminder systems that beep every minute or so when the seat belt isn't buckled. Did you remember to wear clothes today? It's a learned habit, just like everything else.
7. Nobody tells me what to do in my car. States have many traffic laws that mandate what people can or cannot do. It's illegal to drive drunk; it's illegal to speed; and it's illegal to drive or ride without a seat belt. It is still illegal even if nothing happens or you don't get caught! Illegal means against the law...period!
8. I have an air bag. I don't need a seat belt. Air bags are designed to work in conjunction with seat belts, not as a restraint system alone. They are not soft cushy pillows. They deploy at approximately 250 miles an hour (the blink of an eye) and begin to deflate immediately after deployment. If you're not buckled up, you will land in the air bag. Since it starts to deflate immediately, you will still be at risk for crashing into the steering column or through the windshield.
9. can't wear a seat belt because I can't feed my baby with it on. If you're driving, your eyes should be on the road. If you're trying to feed your baby in the backseat, you can't possibly be focusing your attention on the road and you are risking both of your lives. If you're a passenger and need to feed your baby a bottle, sit in the back seat with the baby. Both of you should be properly restrained. Nursing mothers should never feed a baby while the vehicle is moving. If someone crashes into your car, the laws of physics will make it impossible for you to hold onto your baby. Pull over to a safe location to nurse.
10. I have a medical condition. I can't wear it. This can be a valid excuse, but only if you have a written medical note from your doctor. Carry it in your purse or wallet so it remains with you if you are a passenger in someone else's vehicle.
Ok so now that we have all run through our excuses lets get down to brass tacks here. Seat belts save lives...PERIOD! Yes there are cases of people that have survived crashed and not had them on but they sustained injuries that were preventable, some that were lasting injuries.
I cannot explain how strongly this issues weighs on my heart. As the mother of 5, I have no clue how parents can allow their children to ride unsecured in cars, children they love, children they prayed for and struggled to get! Smart people, loving people everyday make the mistake of not making their loved ones buckle up and sadly, tragedy strikes.
I know here and in the last town I lived in it is a common site to see people driving without seatbelts and their babies in their lap as they drive or just standing up in the seat next to them. If they had even the smallest fender bender at say 20 miles an hour, that innocent child, who depends on it's parents to protect it, will be thrown into or out of the windshield or into the steering wheel. Can you live with that kind of guilt? Knowing your disregard for the law hurt or God forbid killed your child? You child is hurt because you were to lazy, yes I said it...lazy, to ensure their safety? No I don't think any of us could. I cannot imagine. Can you imagine the guilt if it was someone elses child you got hurt?
Children are a gift from God people! They are given to us to love and protect yet lots of us fail them daily by not teaching them to simply click a seatbelt every time they get in a car. It's not right!
Think of it this way, what kind of example are you setting for your child. Do you want your child to ignore laws? Do you want them to break into houses and stealing? No!
But we need to understand that we are teaching our children to break the law every time we do not make them buckle up or make them stay in that car seat no matter how much they scream!
It is ILLEGAL...I repeat ILLEGAL....to be in a moving vehicle without being buckled!!! ILLEGAL!!!!!! Every time we do not buckle ourselves or our children we break the law, even if we do not get caught we are still breaking the law! If you steal something and never get caught does that mean it is no longer a crime? No it is still a crime and breaking the law, any law, is a crime.
My children have had to stand up for themselves with other adults on this subject and I could not be prouder! They know they are not allowed to ride without a seatbelt, no excuses. If there is not room for everyone then they do not go. Their life is so worth the price of a couple of gallons of gas to go get them. They had to stand up to someone they love dearly and that person was not very nice to them about it at the time but they stood firm and did what was right!
Yes, I guess I am on a soap box today about this but until you walk by a child's coffin or hear that child's mother scream their name in the hospital waiting room after the doctor's tell her child is gone, then you cannot possibly understand the impact that not buckling up can have on a life , the one it takes and the ones it leaves behind. I have seen it more times than I ever care to and pray to never see it again.
People please, just secure your children. Secure yourself in your cars too. You are all SO important and every life is precious. Teach your children this is a point of no contention. You buckle or you don't go. Every child that goes anywhere with me knows that in Ms. Sandy's ride, you have to be buckled at all times. Even if their parents don't make them, they know it is a rule in my car and they do not even whimper a fuss about it! Because they KNOW they have no options!
We all need to do this because that next fatal crash could be one of us.
No comments:
Post a Comment