Seat Belts

Please allow me to jump on my soapbox and vent just a little.
People, please wear your damn seat belts!!!!
I know a lot of people think I am somewhat of a prick, but I do have a heart, it is just covered in a thick shell. But, I do care about people. I will be the first one to help someone when they are hurt or need help. But, if you choose to not wear your seat belt and get in a crash, what do you expect me to do? Do people think that when the ambulance shows up that we can wave a magic wand and everything will be better????
It is the law for a reason. I know, I know, “Big brother has no right to infringe on my rights”, blah, blah, blah.
Or, ” I have airbags so I don’t need to wear my seatbelt”. A lot of damn good that airbag does if the seat belt isn’t there to slow you down BEFORE you hit it.
Once again, I responded to a car accident in the area and the person was not wearing a seat belt and paid the ultimate price. I am starting to lose count on how many times I have been put in that position.
What do people honestly expect? I have bags full of equipment and life-saving drugs to help, but that only goes so far. When you rear-end a vehicle on the side of the road at 60 mph and not wearing a seatbelt, guess what happens? Your body slams into the steering wheel and crushes bones and tears internal organs. No matter how much we would like to save your life, massive internal bleeding cannot be controlled without surgery. All we can do is try our damndest and work our asses off to prolong the process.
Then when we deliver you to the hospital, dead or alive, then we have to deal with our own emotions. I know I can’t save everyone, but just a little help goes a long ways.
Do people understand it is just not their lives they are affecting? Anybody know what it is like to have to tell a loved one that their family member has died? It is not very enjoyable. Then we have to haunt ourselves with the, ” What if’s” and the “If only we did this…”. In the end, it doesn’t matter, we are not God.
I am going to get off my soapbox now and try and move on.

amen brother! not too hard to do but not always done….

I’ve never understood why people don’t. Mine’s always on pretty much first thing after I sit down.

Quote:

---

I’ve never understood why people don’t. Mine’s always on pretty much first thing after I sit down.

---

X2

I put my seatbelt on everytime…. hoping I never need it. I have seen some vehicles that you wonder how anybody could survive… and typically when they do, it’s because of that simple strap.

Kinda sorta started to wear my seatbelts full time after an accident. I was on the scene when the tow truck lifted a car up to get a victim out from under it.

The young girl stuck to the muffler.

I hear ya Wats, When you hit something with your car thats standing still you might as well be standing next too 5 sticks of dynamite that goes off. Imagine going 60 and hitting a solid rock wall,,,crunch,,,some people don’t get it. Fasten those seatbelts, can you guarantee the other person on the otherside of the whiteline isn’t going to come across it? Use your head, fasten your seatbelts!!!

I have always been terrible about wearing mine, don’t ask me why. I am doing better since the new truck beeps like he** at me till I put it on! I think Wats personal stories will help me even more!! No reason not to BUCKLE UP!

Seat belt ~ life jacket; nobody plans on needing it it but it sure comes in handy when sh!#t goes down.

i wear mine, and it is better for people to do it. but, me not wearing my seatbelt does not affect other drivers whatsoever, and therefore should not be policed like that.

If i have to wear a seatbelt, then a cycle rider should be mandated to wear a helmet…

and its not a bunch of “blah blah blah” when it comes to our rights and liberties being taken away.

Well said Am, I cant think of a reason that a person wouldn’t use them.

In a crash, when you fly out, because you are not buckled in… and the next car behind you swerves to miss running your already half dead body over, this can cause another accident. Sometimes you “have” to police those who do not think for themselves.

I believe that not wearing a seatbelt is a very poor choice and that people should wear them nearly ALL of the time. I don’t need big brother to tell me that. I can light up a cigarette and drive a motorcycle without a helmet, but driving a car without a seatbelt is gonna cost me?? WTF???

IMO, it is just another BS revenue stream. Nothing more, nothing less.

T

Yeah, alot more money is made writing out $90 tickets, than is spent on putting bodies back together on the operating table, after they are ejected from the vehicle. I don’t buy your theory

I actually have to agree with PHIGs for once.

It shouldn’t be a law. But then laws come into play when people don’t use common sense.

I will have to admit it’s hard to get into the habit of clicking in rural MN. Coming from a town where everything is five minutes away and not over 30 miles per hour it’s hard to get use to them (I’m thinking ’70’s here).

I was in a car that went into the ditch at 50 mph. The Malibu bounced on the passenger side (my side) and came to rest on it’s wheels.

I don’t remember what happened because it all happened so fast, but the door ended up being open and I was 1/2 way out of it when it stopped.

Under my belt was filled with dirt and so was my right ear.

It’s terribly surprising how fast things happen.

Quote:

---

and its not a bunch of “blah blah blah” when it comes to our rights and liberties being taken away.

---

Diving is not a right or a liberty. It’s a licensed privilege.

-J.

From a guy who has been there, I am sorry you had to go through this. From a responder standpoint it seems very easy, and I will not move from my garage without my belt on, and my kids will scream at me if we are backing out and they are not buckled. Habit for all of us.

Keep your head up. Every bad, crappy call we have, I always remember that they are much better just because we are there. Do the best you can for them while they are in your care, but accept that there is only so much you can do.

Sending our prayers for the family of this person and for the responders that are there for them

I hear ya Brian… I never used to wear mine, until I started working at a car dealer. I also learned the largest percentage of accidents happen with-in 5 miles of home. Makes sense since every trip, at least 10 miles of it is with-in 5 miles of home. To me the seatbelt law is kind of one of them “for the dumb” laws… yeah, most people who can rationalize, know it’s for your own good (same as quitting smoking, wearing a helmet(some just walking around ) and so on) I put it right there with smoking in the car with a kid in there… If you can’t make the tough easy decisions for yourself, someone else eventually will An infant/child cannot think for themselves, to get a car seat, hence the law… much the same theory with a seatbelt law for many so called adults

He used the P word! Cool!

Seat bealts I agree are a good thing, I also think if people were required to actually learn how to drive, you’d need them belts far less.

Al

Quote:

---

In a crash, when you fly out, because you are not buckled in… and the next car behind you swerves to miss running your already half dead body over, this can cause another accident.

---

if Ifs and Buts were candy and nuts, it would be Christmas all year long too…

Quote:

---

Sometimes you “have” to police those who do not think for themselves.

---

that is about as typical of a liberal statement as there is…

what else do you support the government forcing on us, since they know what’s best for us?

Quote:

---

Quote:

---

and its not a bunch of “blah blah blah” when it comes to our rights and liberties being taken away.

---

Diving is not a right or a liberty. It’s a licensed privilege.

-J.

---

it has to do with the government overstepping its boundaries on too many things, and it always starts as small things like this.

again, i agree with wearing a belt, as i wear one myself. but it is not the place of government to start enforcing something that does not have an adverse affect on other drivers on the road.

should they be able to ticket you for being an idiot and driving with your windows down in the winter? i mean, you could get frostbite…

Link for computers with small screens.

Here’s a good example from this last Monday. If you notice the one that died, ND Legislator Bob S., was not wearing a seat belt but his 11 year grandson was wearing his seat belt and was not injured.

How much does it cost the public every time someone is in a car accident and not wearing a seat belt and then they are air lifted to the hospital either die or end up spending weeks or months in the hospital and HAVE “0” insurance. Who do you think pays? Same thing goes for the helmet law for motorcycles. So for all you guys that say “big brother” is over stepping their roll as government, which normally on most issues I would agree, I say wake up and smell the coffee! IMHO

Phigs, not sure if you know this but the gov’t makes laws that require hospitals to treat EVERYONE that comes through the ER door. If they do not the fine is $100,000 PLUS they will loose medicare/medicade reimbursement for one year for EACH OFFENSE.

So passing seat belt laws to keep all of us healthy (including the uninsured) not only saves lives. It saves money.

If you think it’s not the government’s job to make sure we take care of ourselves. Maybe they should stop making us treat those that can’t pay as well.

Seat Belts Do save lives. I tested that premise. Rolled the car multiple times when I fell asleep at the wheel doing 70 MPH and walked away with nothing more than some scratches.

I used to respond to accidents where restraints weren’t used. It’s a shame.

Of course I’ve been to scenes where seat belts were used and it was still gruesome. It takes you a LONG time to get over the fact you had to look around in the ditch for someones head. It makes for some bad dreams.

I understand and feel your pain AmWatson.

Quote:

---

it has to do with the government overstepping its boundaries on too many things, and it always starts as small things like this.

---

Then you should now opt out of any government assistance when you find yourself a quadriplegic bound to a bed and wheel chair for the rest of your life.

One of our governaments number one functions. Public safety!

-J.

Quote:

---

How much does it cost the public every time someone is in a car accident and not wearing a seat belt and then they are air lifted to the hospital either die or end up spending weeks or months in the hospital and HAVE “0” insurance. Who do you think pays? Same thing goes for the helmet law for motorcycles. So for all you guys that say “big brother” is over stepping their roll as government, which normally on most issues I would agree, I say wake up and smell the coffee! IMHO

---

This is why there is a seatbelt law and should be a helmet law for motorcycles.

My dad is a retired state trooper and accident reconstructionist who responded to a lot of crashes. When I first started driving he put the fear of God into me by showing some pictures of crashes, not the gruesome ones though, and what actually happens when one doesn’t wear a seatbelt. He also told me he never unbuckled a dead body from a car. He did have the unenviable task of walking up to a parents door at night and telling them that their son was killed in a crash.

Wear your seatbelt, make it home safe and live a long happy life.

I am glad this was brought up and glad most have already defended the law. I generally don’t side with laws that seem over reaching and frivolous, but not on this one.

AmWatson’s cathartic post is one of the ways I defend the seat-belt law when people talk about the law being stupid or unnecessary. Obviously first responders see a lot of uneeded carnage. Also, as many have brought up, they drive up cost for all of us on many fronts. Not not only in medical, but in lawsuits that drive up the cost for all of us who “choose” (lol) to insure ourselves.

The deal is I can bad mouth big government all I want, but the 2 things there are needed for is to protect us from harm and protect us from others. I wouldn’t care if people chose not to wear their seat-belts and pay the price if anything happened to them. But we can’t place those people in a vacuum, thus their inaction can and does affect all of us.

And you can say all you want that having a seat-belt law doesn’t change any of this, but I beg to differ. I never gave much thought to seat-belts before the law, but now I wear one religiously. Does anyone think that the % of drivers now wearing seat-belts has not gone up at all?

Quote:

---

Quote:

---

In a crash, when you fly out, because you are not buckled in… and the next car behind you swerves to miss running your already half dead body over, this can cause another accident.

---

if Ifs and Buts were candy and nuts, it would be Christmas all year long too…

Quote:

---

Sometimes you “have” to police those who do not think for themselves.

---

that is about as typical of a liberal statement as there is…

what else do you support the government forcing on us, since they know what’s best for us?

---

Where did you learn to label someone you disagree with ??? Rush Limbaugh ??? No way around it you conservative anti-seatbelt nazi, you lose this time

Quote:

---

Where did you learn to label someone you disagree with ??? Rush Limbaugh ??? No way around it you conservative anti-seatbelt nazi, you lose this time

---

But I need to correct that statement. Liberals generally prefer to use the word fascist over nazi. Or the new one. Sociopath.