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© Copyright 1998, Jim Loy
I tell people who ride in my car, "Seat belts save lives; buckle up, or I'll kill you." They don't think that is funny, either. Anyway, it should be obvious, to the simplest dolt, that seat belts do save lives. You increase your chance of surviving a crash, by wearing seat belts. So, why don't people buckle up?
A woman, who I know, did not want to be trapped unconscious, under water, after her car plunged into a lake or river. She would apparently rather take her chances being thrown through the trees and rocks. She would apparently rather be thrown out of the car, or part way out of the car, and have the car roll over her. Can you imagine going part way out of a rolling car. Seat belts, uncomfortable and unhandy or not, are preferable.
How about those airbags. Imagine your ideal crash. You are driving along, and an oncoming car swerves into your lane, and hits you head on. Your airbag saves you, and your car stops dead on the road. Don't bet on it. Your car went flying off the road, probably rolling several times. Does the airbag reinflate? No. Does your airbag keep you from going part way out the door?
A friend of mine doesn't buckle up his many children. He considers seat belts an insult to his driving ability. That sounds so stupid to me. He should be in jail, right now, before he does kill his kids. Even if he is a great driver, the other drivers are stupid. A deer might jump out in front of his car. And his daughter doesn't buckle up her kids. The stupidity is passed on from generation to generation.
You can die, from going half way through a windshield, at 20 miles per hour.
A friend of mine, and her husband, were passengers in a car driven by her brother. Her brother was the only one not wearing a seat belt. They had an accident. He was killed. They were not injured. He now has a crater on the moon named after him. He was a famous astro-physicist. You have to be dead, to have a crater on the moon named after you.
In the Montana Highway Patrol van, at the Montana Winter Fair, I saw a gruesome photograph of a traffic accident. The husband was driving, and was buckled up. The wife was not buckled up. The baby was in a child restraint device. They were hit by another car. The baby survived, without injury. The wife died immediately. The husband was struck in the ribs, by his wife's head, suffered internal injuries, and bled to death.