Everyone knows that using your seatbelt saves lives. Laws say you must wear your seatbelt while in a moving vehicle. Yet many people refuse or simply forget to use them. When I was just starting out driving in the mid 70’s I never used one, even after attending traffic school to get points for traffic violations removed from my record. During this class they showed the infamous movie “Red Asphalt” a bloody and gruesome film about the outcome of auto accidents. This got to me and for a couple of weeks I was diligent about using the seatbelt then it was back to my old ways of failing to buckle up.
Back somewhere in the late 80’s, I was again an unwilling attendee of traffic (Dum Dum) school for a speeding ticket. Instead of the old gruesome movies of the 70’S now they were showing in car cameras of staged crashes with test dummies. I remember wincing as I watched the 25 MPH low speed crash when the dummies knees smashed into the dash. The violent impact of the dummy’s body with the steering wheel and dash at only 35 MPH was devastating, that did it. I left that class, buckled up and rarely traveled again without my seat belt buckled. Seldom do I forget to use it and when I do it is only for a short distance before I realize and buckle up.
If you know someone who normally won’t use the seatbelt, I have a video gift for you. Watch this video yourself then show them. I bet they will start to use the seatbelt afterwards. It’s not gruesome but it is very powerful. It was produced by Montana State Dept. of Transportation in 2007, 73% of the drivers who were killed in car wrecks weren’t wearing seatbelts. This short video should convince anyone the importance of wearing your seatbelt. If you have teenagers or know anyone who does, you should encourage them to watch the video as well. It just might be one of them who survives a potential fatal accident. Thanks in advance for passing this on.