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Wear Your Safety Belt

nunnnunn Forums Admins, Member, Moderator Posts: 36,085 ******
edited August 2002 in General Discussion
I had a chance to watch a short video that illustrates the need for wearing a safety belt. If the car rolls over more than once, and you are not fastened in, you are coming out, and FAST.

Now, I am not for seat belt laws. I think you should wear the belt because it is the smart thing to do, not because it is the law. The law SHOULD exist to protect us from each other, not from ourselves.

The tape was from a police in-car video. The car was in pursuit of a man driving a pickup truck. The speed was not extreme, maybe 70 mph.

The pickup driver went outside on a right turn, slid in the gravel on the left shoulder, crossed over to the right shoulder, slid again, over-corrected and ended up rolling the truck down the middle of the road. The truck rolled MANY times. On the second or third roll, the driver and his dog shot out of the truck. They came out so fast, that we had to slow motion the tape to catch them.

The dog went out the now-broken back window and about 30 feet in the air and came down in the roadway on its hips. Its back was broken immediately, and it died quickly, but it writhed about in obvious pain for several seconds first.

The driver was much luckier. He also shot out the driver-side window, and also went about 30 feet in the air. Fortunately for him, his trajectory took him toward the roadside, where there was a fortuitously-placed juniper tree. The tree broke his fall and he suffered broken bones and cuts, but the tree won't be the same again.

So, law or no law...WEAR THE BELT. Make your kids wear the belt. A humane restraint for old Fido mightn't be such a bad idea either. You can't count on a friendly juniper tree to be there when you need it.

SIG pistol armorer/FFL Dealer/Full time Peace Officer, Moderator of General Discussion Board on Gunbroker. Visit www.gunbroker.com, the best gun auction site on the Net! Email davidnunn@texoma.net

Comments

  • n/an/a Member Posts: 168,427
    edited November -1
    I wont wear a seat belt if I can get away with it... Reason is because of my accident....
    I was hit by a drunk driver.. hit my side (driver).. his mirror broke my window, and severed my carotid artery... I was told that if I had NOT have been wearing my seat belt, the mirror would have pushed me away from it and I would have been fine.. well no severed artery at least...
    I also had a sverely bruised rib cage from the belt.. the one that comes across the chest...so thanks to a belt, I now have to be monitored for scar tissue building up at the site of the artery where it was stitched..and that will involve surgery to clear away the scar tissue...
    Belts may be fine in some accidents, like a roll over.. but not in mine...


    One woman's opinion
  • UNIVERSITY50UNIVERSITY50 Member Posts: 1,705 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    BR,
    i wrote an accident almost the same as your, car was hit square in the drivers door at an intersection, both were doing about 30mph. the driver in the car that was hit in the door was not wearing her seat belt, so her body reacted to the force and the top half of her body went out thru the glass of driverside door window, first, then her whole body flew the other way across the front seat driving her head into the pass. side door frame. they do not know which inpact killer her, but if she was straped in the seat she most likely would be alive today. the mirror may have cut you but you were still alive to be taken to the hospital. dead at the accident is not good. i do not write seatbelt ticket, but i do write car seat tickets, the little ones can not made the choice.
  • AlpineAlpine Member Posts: 15,092 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Well no solution is 100%. But the odds are with you if you wear the belt. The inside of the vehicle is friendlier to you than the outside world, not to mention that I have seen people thrown out of their own vehicles and then be run over by their own, or someone else's car.
    My own sister was burned fatally in a car crash, because she could not get the belt off, and the two males in the car were cowards and exited the car, and did not help.
    But when everything is said and done,play the odds, wear the belt.

    "If you ain't got pictures, I wasn't there."
    ?The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money.?
    Margaret Thatcher

    "There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics."
    Mark Twain
  • IconoclastIconoclast Member Posts: 10,515 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I'm very certain that a seat belt saved me from any injury - and potentially death - in an incident many years ago. Because I was strapped down, I was able to steer around some things I would have struck head-on at very high speed after going through some drainage ditches and other obstacles that banged my head on the roof (yes, I was a teen & even dumber at the time). My youngest son walked away from an accident last spring where he would have been at least concussed if his belt had not been used. Yes, there are cases where someone lived who would have died if they'd been strapped in. But the odds are definitely in favor of the belt and until they equip cars with crystal balls, I for one will play the odds.
  • gunpaqgunpaq Member Posts: 4,607 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    I was hit head-on by a fellow who thought talking on a cell phone was more important that driving his car in the correct lane or wearing his seatbelt. Needless to say that he will never use a cell phone or drive a car again as he was ejected head first squarely into the grill of the truck I was driving. As for me, I was wearing my seatbelt, a lap belt in an older log truck, which caused crippling spinal damage but did prevent me from being ejected. Although not ejected, my head still busted through the windshield, internal injuries & sternum busted by the steering wheel, legs and arm/hand busted. If the truck was newer, like the tractors I usually drove, with a shoulder/lap seatbelt and crush points then my injuries would have been relatively less serious. If the other driver was wearing his seatbelt he may nor may not have survived anyways as his car was pretty much baled by the impact (I hope that the cell phone call was worth it). The point I am making in and response to this post is that if there is proper functioning safety equipment available, one is probably better off using it than not. I never left an aircraft without a reserve and will never drive on the road without a seatbelt.

    Pack slow, fall stable, pull high, hit dead center.

    Edited by - gunpaq on 08/08/2002 08:25:31
  • mudgemudge Member Posts: 4,225 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    Been in a couple of accidents myself. Some with and some without. I also raced stock cars for a couple of years.
    WEAR THE DAMN BELT!!!!

    Mudge the safe

    I can't come to work today. The voices said, STAY HOME AND CLEAN THE GUNS!

    Edited by - mudge on 08/08/2002 09:42:12
  • JustCJustC Member Posts: 16,056 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I swerved to miss a deer back in October and lost control and hit a building just off the road. I knocked it right off the foundation. The seatbelts in our suburban, kept us from even contacting the dashboard. We were only sore for a day or so, but what if we didn't have them on? Bodies on the hood, and blood on the building. I too, will play the odds with it on. Some crashes just don't matter, it appears that nothing would have worked, but in most, it is the determining factor. The new generation of airbags doesn't hurt either.

    A great rifle with a junk scope,....is junk.
  • n/an/a Member Posts: 168,427
    edited November -1
    A few years back, a Leo Friend of mine was taking his wife to work, in the police car, they were rear ended and the car caught fire. seat belts locked up and they were unable to get out, so they burned to death.

    Carry a knife with you. and use the seat belt

    "A wise man is a man that realizes just how little he knows"
  • dakotashooter2dakotashooter2 Member Posts: 6,186
    edited November -1
    WEAR YOUR SEAT BELT. I rear ended a twin axle truck (no lights on the truck). While I suffer minor head trama and back injury,had I been wearing my seat belt would have probably saved me from the head trama (my memory still is not the same). As is the fact that I drive sitting very close to the steering wheel and Gods will kept me from being tossed out of the vehicle and alive. On the other side of the coin had a passenger been with me he most likely would have not survived either way.WEAR YOUR SEATBELT.
  • TxsTxs Member Posts: 17,809 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I've witnessed a rollover ejection and can tell you, words cannot do it justice. I also saw the video that nunn describes and see it as a very educational piece of film. The first thing I did was go home and show my wife and kids a copy as an example of what I'd been trying to tell them about wearing their belts. It's pretty shocking, but hard to argue with. After this case is resolved you'll probably see what I'm talking about because it will undoubtedly be shown on some of the police video shows. It's pretty outrageous, but it's what happens in the real world.

    I don't mean to preach, but in my experience with rollovers where the occupants aren't secured it's not a freak situation if they're ejected, instead it's a freak deal if they're not. When I arrive at the scene of a bad rollover I expect to find victims outside or under the vehicle. At one accident scene I even located the driver on the roof of a restaurant about 75 ft. from where the car came to rest. If you're ejected during a rollover, even at low highway speeds, you'll stand a 90% chance or better of either breaking your neck or back and being paralyzed or becoming a fatality statistic.

    For those of you who can relate incidents where you survived without the use of belts, understand that this was just sheer luck or divine intervention. For each person who can tell these stories there are MANY more who can't. I'm happy to still have you folks around who made out okay, but I've seen a lot more who didn't. For whatever reason, it just wasn't your time.

    Be careful when relating your incident to others because you're a member of a very small group and should be giving thanks daily that you're still walking. These stories can be interesting, but if you don't put it in the proper context you're not doing people any favors.
  • dhdh Member Posts: 127 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I've had a couple accidents and each time I had my belt on,even before it became law here.I work for Schlumberger and it is a company policy to wear your seat belt at all times and there have been a couple of incidents were managers in company cars have been terminated for not wearing them.We never know when a manager may be in our parking lot watching for seat belt violators.An even newer policy is no phone calls while driving.We watch lots of safety films and we used to occasionally hear of someone on one our crews throughout the world being killed for lack of seat belts or cautious driving.A major problem used to be working 14 or 15 hours and then having to drive a long distance without any rest,not anymore,that is strictly a no no.
  • nunnnunn Forums Admins, Member, Moderator Posts: 36,085 ******
    edited November -1
    You should also not drive with the window down and your arm hanging out. A T-bone wreck with a pickup or van will often cause it to roll onto its side.

    I know one lady who goes around with an empty sleeve after such a crash, and a friend's father died from blood loss after his arm was crushed between the door and the ground.

    SIG pistol armorer/FFL Dealer/Full time Peace Officer, Moderator of General Discussion Board on Gunbroker. Visit www.gunbroker.com, the best gun auction site on the Net! Email davidnunn@texoma.net
  • susiesusie Member Posts: 7,667 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Also, I have noticed that a lot of people swerving to miss an animal have experienced untold grief resulting from the accident that followed the swerve. A family here in Arkansas was decimated when the driver swerved to miss a dog, ran off the road and into water. The driver escaped, the family didn't (they drowned). The driver actually had the chutzpah to sue the vehicle manufacturer-I assume in an attempt to place the blame somewhere else to escape the guilt. I will not endanger my life for the life of a wandering dog/cat/duck/goose, etc. Wrecked fenders and broken glass are small price to pay to avoid rollovers that may occur from loss of control during a swerve.

    ***There's a difference between living and living well!***
  • RickstirRickstir Member Posts: 574
    edited November -1
    Go with the law of averages. Wear the belt. I spent two years driving an ambulance. Never once had to take someone's belt off them to get them out of a wrecked vehicle. It was only those who did not wear the belt that we had to pick up and sometimes scrape up. For every person killed wearing a seatbelt, hundreds of others are who were not wearing one are goners.

    But it's a free country.....up to you.

    Like in the NFL, defense is the key.
  • Matt45Matt45 Member Posts: 3,185
    edited November -1
    Three winters ago, I was in a roll-over accident in my wife's car, a 96' Nissan Sentra. I was in the passenger seat, my wife was driving she caught a rut, the car * and she over-corrected. The car spun 1 1/2 times and we slid backwards, in the wrong lane, to the left side of the road where the tire caught the built up snow and sand and caused us to roll 3 times. I had the automatic chest restraint on, but no lap belt, on the first impact the chest retraints tore out of the mounting point on the door column, leaving me un-restrained. The fortunate part for me was that this all occured when we were traveling at about 35 MPH, and I am a "large-type" individual at 5'9" and 250lbs. These two factors made the whole thing more amusing for me rather than terrifying, I distinctly recall checking to see if my wife was okay (In mid-roll) and then noting a CD flying through the interior thinking to myself, "Hmmpf- That's where that went to!". When we stopped I blew the glass off of my travel cup of coffee, took a sip and thought to myself, "Kinda like a carnival ride, only more expensive!"
    As it all turned out, me and my wife had about 10 weeks of physical therepy in order to work out the torn muscles she suffered and the cracked vertibre I had recieved.

    I think I was especially lucky, and am pretty convinced that I will wear my belt whenever on the open road, because before that day, I never did.


    Reserving my Right to Arm Bears!!!!
  • nunnnunn Forums Admins, Member, Moderator Posts: 36,085 ******
    edited November -1
    Drive defensively. Don't just drive at 12 o'clock. KNOW what is at 3, 6, and 9 at all times, so that if something happens, you don't have to look around to see if you have a place to go. Always evaluate options and escape routes as you go.

    Given the choice of hitting an animal or a tree, take the animal.

    A sideswipe of a vehicle going the same direction as you is preferable to a collision with a car head-on, or a fixed object.

    Wife had a wreck one day by not knowing what was around her. She was following too close to the car ahead. Mistake #1. The car ahead stopped suddenly to avoid a dog. Mistake #2. Wife did not have time to check the lane to her right and she had not been keeping track of it. That lane was clear and had she simply changed lanes, she would have avoided the accident. Mistake #3. So, instead of just swerving around, she hit the car ahead. Bad move.

    Generally, jamming on the brakes and hoping for the best doesn't work.

    SIG pistol armorer/FFL Dealer/Full time Peace Officer, Moderator of General Discussion Board on Gunbroker. Visit www.gunbroker.com, the best gun auction site on the Net! Email davidnunn@texoma.net
  • interstatepawnllcinterstatepawnllc Member Posts: 9,390
    edited November -1
    I hope everybody reads this topic at least once. Nunn, please repost this topic on a bi-monthly basis. No telling how many future lives might be saved. Thanks.
  • ghotie_thumperghotie_thumper Member Posts: 1,561 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    In Northern Cal recently I had the misfortune to assist in a collision involving a U.S forest service fire engine. The vehicle was traveling a dirt logging road in the area of a forest fire. The vehicle ran off the road and rolled downhill a laser measured distance of 1059 feet. The hill was very steep and the fire engine struck several trees on the way down. Of the 5 people in the vehicle, 2 survived. The survivors rode it out to the bottom of the hill. The 3 that died were ejected. It appears that they were wearing their seatbelts but due to the extreme dynamic forces involved in the collision the people were ripped through or out of their seatbelts. It was utterly amazing that anyone survived at all. The fire engine was completely destroyed. I bow my head to these folks who gave their lives with their only thought the preservation of our wild lands and the safety of others. Seatbelts save lives.

    Common Sense is an Uncommon Virtue.
  • IconoclastIconoclast Member Posts: 10,515 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    David, my deepest, most sincere, thanks for the thread and the observations you have made from your professional / personal experience. It will be required reading for all the drivers in my family. Too damn many good people die every day because of this and inattention on the road.
  • BushobiBushobi Member Posts: 107 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I too have investigated and observed accidents which could have gone either way..some would have been saved..and some weren't because...the seat belt law was inacted for Insurance Company purposes..mainly ANOTHER REASON NOT TO PAY YOUR CLAIM..so stick with the law of averages..drive to arrive and drive defensively not offensively...
  • IconoclastIconoclast Member Posts: 10,515 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Just received a catalog today which features a tool one can mount on the dash which combines a sharp knife, a hammer & a flashlight. Might be a good investment & I believe after reading of the seat belt release failures, I will do so.
  • nunnnunn Forums Admins, Member, Moderator Posts: 36,085 ******
    edited November -1
    A lot of people don't like air bags, but I have seen them prevent VERY SERIOUS * injuries and death. They may bloody your nose, but that beats having a steering wheel driven through your face to the back of your head any day.

    SIG pistol armorer/FFL Dealer/Full time Peace Officer, Moderator of General Discussion Board on Gunbroker. Visit www.gunbroker.com, the best gun auction site on the Net! Email davidnunn@texoma.net
  • LightningLightning Member Posts: 945 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I usually dont wear a seat belt but I have nothing against them if thats what you like. I just dont like the law saying I have to.
    The news media is funny about seat belts. If someone is killed in a auto accident they will always say they was not wearing a seat belt or not mention it at all. I have yet to hear them say someone was killed while wearing one.
  • TxsTxs Member Posts: 17,809 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Let me make myself clear, I don't wear a seatbelt because any law says I have to. In my personal opinion, whether someone wears a belt or not is their own business. We're all big boys/girls and are capable of making our own decisions.

    I wore one before it was required by law in my state and if it was repealed tomorrow I'd continue to wear it. It's for the same reason that I purchased and wore body armor before it was required by departmental policy-common sense.

    Edited by - Txs on 08/10/2002 18:40:07
  • sfettysfetty Member Posts: 349 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I never used to wear a seatbelt because it felt too confining. My wife's first husband was killed in a work related accident, so when we started dating she asked me to wear a seatbelt whenever we went out. So out of respect for her, I began wearing a seatbelt. That was 12 years ago and now I feel "naked" if I don't buckle up when I get in a vehichle whether as a driver or a passenger. I don't believe it should be a law, but I do believe out of love for your family and loved ones you as well as they should buckle up. Please don't drink and drive and please buckle up. God Bless!
  • RembrandtRembrandt Member Posts: 4,486 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    Along the same line is wearing a motorcycle helmet, I know...I've heard all the reasons and why bikers feel their rights are infringed. Two weeks ago Mrs Rembrandt's brother was riding his Harley (no helmet) when he hit some water and lost the bike....he's now in a coma with massive head injuries and paralaysis,....if he survives, he will probably be in a vegetable state. The medical bills are soaring, he'll no doubt loose his home, vehicles, assets, and ability to ever earn a living....no way to explain how hard this has been on the entire family. My mother in-law sits by his side in the hospital each day watching her only son, breathing with tubes attached, hoping for the best....
  • Dyer_MakerDyer_Maker Member Posts: 1,018
    edited November -1
    Rembrandt, was that accident in Bridgeport , WV? I know in another post you said your wife was from Fairmont, WV.. Bridgeport is just 15 minutes away. I saw a accident on I79 involving a burgundy Harley about 2 weeks ago on a saturday. Would that have been him?
  • Big Sky RedneckBig Sky Redneck Member Posts: 19,752 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    NH has the best seatbelt law in the country. Only those under 18 are required to wear one. Iconclast can verify the age but I'm sure its 18.
  • RembrandtRembrandt Member Posts: 4,486 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    Dyer,
    No, although the rest of the family is from West Virginia, he's lived in Florida for some time.
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