>P.S. The few accidents I have been in (none of which involved another
>vehicle if I was at fault - I always steer for the ditch in times of
>trouble) I *never* wore the belt, and I *always* walked away from them.
And you are LUCKY!
I can say this, not from some "study" that was done, but from hands on
experience. In the last 13 years, I have operated roughly 6 major motor
vehicle accidents a year, so figure roughly 78 major car accidents.
Extricated an average of 3 people per accident, so I've cut roughly 230
people out of cars.
So out of 230 people... exactly TWO have sustained fewer injuries as a
direct result of not wearing a seat belt. I know both incidents well as
for both of them, we looked and said, "WOW, lucky they didn't wear their
seatbelt today or this could have been much worse".
I can't tell you how many I have looked at and said "if only they had
their seatbelt on, they would probably be walking away right now".
And I haven't seen an accident yet that the person sustained greater
injuries due to the seatbelt (this is a tough thing to judge, so I am
basing it off the types of injuries they sustained and where the car was
damaged and where they may have been thrown had they not worn their
seatbelt).
Much of the "myth" that seatbelts cause greater injuries are based on
facts BEFORE shoulder straps were in use. Lap belts only can cause
greater injuries, but that is why they moved to shoulder straps as well
(and airbags are a wonderful creation for the occupants... horrible for
EMS workers if they don't deploy on impact... they have a frightening
tendency to fail)
So if you want to continue to gamble on that 0.8% chance that you will
walk away because of not wearing a belt, go right ahead. Me... I buckle
up every time I am in a car, regardless of what seat I am in (and I won't
move a car I am driving until the front passenger is buckled in... I do
leave rear seats up to the riders).
Oh, but I do have to agree with you... if you fail to wear a belt, it is
you that gets hurt, no one else. I have not seen ONE accident where
someone that failed to wear a belt caused a greater injury on anyone but
themselves. (However, I can give you stories of load shift that have
caused greater injuries... in my opinion, it is more dangerous to have
unsecured objects in the car than unsecured passengers).
-chris
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Received on Thu Jun 12 2003 - 11:09:00 BST