I was not always a believer in seat belts years ago. I am a true believer in seat belts now. I wasn't always but there was a really bad experience that a friend of mine went through that will make me put it on every time. My friend has a 8 year old daughter, who always reminder mom to put her seat belt on. This one day, mom was in a hurry and forgot. They had a accident and mom died because part of her body ejected out of the drivers window when the vehicle rolled. Her 8 year old daughter was with her in this accident but was not injured in the accident but was traumatized for life. CHP said my friend would of probably survived the accident, if she had been wearing her seatbelt. Her 8 year old daughter blames herself for not reminding mommy to put her belt on and thinks that is why she died. My kids used to do the same thing by reminding me to put my seat belt on but to me but after this happened to my friend, there has not been a day I forget to put that belt on. If an accident occurred and something happened to me, it will not be because that seatbelt was not on. I would never want my kids to go through that but will not let them blame there self. It was not this 8 year olds fault but she lives with this feeling and has no mommy anymore. The statistics are so much higher for survival rate wearing your seatbelt than if you are not. I will take the odds in favor of surviving the accident but most importantly for my children's peace of mind. Every time I talk about this, it makes me cry. I miss her dearly.
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I think about seat belts all the time. I wear one religiously and require my charges to do so also. They really do save lives, in the majority of cases. My father is a truck driver who NEVER wears a seat belt. He used to wear one all the time, but he was in an accident when I was young that would have killed him if he had been held in his seat. It was back in the days when cars had those big bench seats, so he fell into the passengers seat on impact and the back of the seat came down over the top of him, cushioning him from the rest of the accident (it was a bad one). He hasn't worn one since. Then my brother was in an accident in which he didn't have a functioning seatbelt and he was tossed and broke his shoulder. A year later he was killed while wearing a seatbelt. I don't really know what my point with all this was, but your post got me thinking about it.
http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/ediblewoman
I could see how this would be a tough decision for you. Thank you for sharing this with me and you have definitely got me thinking now. I am so sorry you lost your brother. I think for me because of our personal experience with my friend, I have no other choice because of my children's interest. The day we found out about my friend, was the day I have religiously wore that seat belt everyday for my kids. If something happened to me with the seat belt, at least they will not have guilt thinking they didn't remind me and blame themselves. It would just be tragic either way. Thank You again for posting!
I completely agree with you. I guess maybe my point (it's starting to become clearer in my head now) is that every time I click the belt, I have all these incidents in my head. I think it influences the decisions I make when driving, too. I know the parents of my charges will talk on the phone or get in the carpool lane and drive 75 when the kids are late for school, but I won't. Why risk it? So the kids are late and the office doesn't get a call about it. A tardy beats a premature death. I think people who haven't been touched by death due to traffic accident don't think about vehicles the same way.
http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/ediblewoman
my mom's van has only one functioning seatbelt and thats the drivers side in the front so we dont normally carpool and if we do, the guest takes the front passenger seat and i take the back seat. i dont really like wearing the non functioning seatbelts because sometimes they get really tight and you cant move unless you unhook the seatbelt and hook it back in
Please be careful and I can understand you not liking to wear the non functioning seatbelt. Hopefully, it can get fixed soon..