Thursday 27 October 2011

Seatbelts!

There is a reason that many countries around the world (including mine, thankfully) have laws requiring seatbelts to be worn: China, Russia, Australia, EU, UK, United States (WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU WAITING FOR, NEW HAMPSHIRE??!).  They save lives.  Unless I'm moving my car from one position in my driveway to another position in my driveway, I put it on (and even then I usually automatically reach for it).  I have to consciously try NOT to put it on.  It takes 4 seconds and it doesn't hurt, although it may hamper your ability to get your cell phone that you accidentally dropped while you were texting while driving.  That's a whole other rant I'll get into some other time.

Three friends were coming back from a party at 1 AM.  The driver was a bit tipsy, the other two were flat-out drunk.  The driver and the front seat passenger were wearing their seatbelts when the driver lost control and flipped the car several times.  The rear-seat passenger wasn't.  The driver walked away with scratches and the passenger had a few broken ribs and a broken sternum.  He went home in a few days.  The rear-seat passenger wasn't wearing his seatbelt.  For comparison, here is what a relatively normal cervical spine looks like:
And this is his.  That his 6th cervical vertebra completely impinging his spinal cord.  He's now paralyzed from the neck down, forever, because he didn't put on his seatbelt.

7 comments:

  1. I live in Adelaide Australia, We are a country where a seatbelt is a legal requirement that if a vehicle is fitted with the belt the occupant of the seat MUST be wearing it and it can only be used for one person. (we also have horrific commercials showing what happens if you don't wear one..like killing your mother with brakes being slammed on...

    2 demerit point fine...per person not wearing a belt and even if you don't have a license you have the points which will be applied when you get your license...plus a hefty fine on top...i don't understand idiots who don't wear a belt like wft its not hard and at the end of the day 99% of accidents the belt saves your life (i do have a friend who wasn't wearing a belt when she flipped and screwed up the car but because of how the accident went if she was wearing one she would have been killed but thats a very small chance anyways..)

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  2. I'll never understand people who don't wear a seatbelt. For me it has become a habit, I get in a car, that's the first thing I do, seatbelt fastened. Add to that the fact that neither my housemate nor I own a car, the only cars we get in are a taxi once a week for grocery shopping, and occasionally his parents' car for other things.

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  3. There is a law here in the UK too requiring passengers to be belted and kids in restraints appropriate for their age and weight.

    An 80Kg (175lb) man traveling at 70MPH has 40KJ of keinetic energy. That's enough energy to lift a 500kg (half-ton) car 8 meters (25 feet) into the air.

    If you want to stop, that energy's gotta go somewhere. Stop fast (like crash) and it's got to go somewhere fast. Holding on is not going to cut it.

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  4. Its not ok to not wear a seatbelt in a car, but its perfectly ok for 30 somethin people not to be wearing one in a bus and over half are standing.
    I dont get why that is ok.

    Btw, i always wear a seatbelt.

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  5. This looks pretty close to my injury. Being a Quadriplegic sucks... Wear your seatbelt.

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  6. This looks pretty close to my injury. Being a Quadriplegic sucks... Wear your seatbelt.

    ReplyDelete
  7. This looks pretty close to my injury. Being a Quadriplegic sucks... Wear your seatbelt.

    ReplyDelete

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