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Passenger Kyle Smith uttered a swear word. In the back seat, Mary Reinhart squeezed her friend Jeremy Budahn's hand and told him she loved him. "I love you, too, sweety," he said.

Then Reinhart - knowing that a night of partying with a few friends was about to take a tragic turn - made a last-minute decision that probably saved her life: "I clicked my seat belt and covered my face."

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Posts: 1640 | From: New Haven, CT | Registered: Dec 2002  |  IP: Logged | 

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Originally posted by Publius:

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Passenger Kyle Smith uttered a swear word. In the back seat, Mary Reinhart squeezed her friend Jeremy Budahn's hand and told him she loved him. "I love you, too, sweety," he said.

Then Reinhart - knowing that a night of partying with a few friends was about to take a tragic turn - made a last-minute decision that probably saved her life: "I clicked my seat belt and covered my face."

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I don't understand. The girl had time to say good-bye to people at length, and fasten her seat belt, but no one else had time to fasten their own belts and the driver couldn't slow down?

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A classroom survey released earlier this year by car maker Volkswagen found that about a third of high school students deemed seat belt use "uncool."

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Those must be the same people who called me "gay" for wearing a bike helmet.

When I was in high school, I overheard a girl talking about her friend who was in the hospital after some sort of car accident. I don't remember the details, but she was saying that her friend would have been injured worse for some reason if she had been wearing a seat belt, therefore seatbelts are bad and you should never wear one. I concede that there might be some very rare situations where a seat belt would cause more injuries, but that doesn't negate all the cases where they've saved lives!

After I graduated and my sister was a senior, I boy who was a year behind her was killed while driving to school when he ran off the road and hit a tree. He was thrown from the car and killed; the other passengers, were wearing their seatbelts, only had minor injuries. I really hope that this taught some people a lesson.

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"Unseasonable is an odd word to begin with. It sounds like it's describing something that it's impossible to sprinkle pepper on." -- Nonny

Posts: 5483 | From: Just south of Folsom Prison, CA | Registered: Jul 2002  |  IP: Logged | 

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Originally posted by DemonWolf:
My wife's cousin refuses to wear a seatbelt because he is convinced that he will be "thrown clear" of a firey wreck. he fails to realize that this only happens in Hollywood Movies and not in real life. In real life, his passage through the windsheild would most likely mark his passage into the afterlife.

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Posts: 19266 | From: Nashville, TN | Registered: Jun 2002  |  IP: Logged | 

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Originally posted by Chimera:
While I believe seatbelt are a good idea my mother (not in a Holywood movie) is alive today for not wearing hers. She was in an acident on a vacation where the car went off the road, into a ditch and fliped a couple of times. She was thrown from the vehicle. She suffered severe injuries. However all the luggage and items from the back were propelled through her seat and into the dash. There was no debate that if she had still been in the seat she'd be dead.

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Posts: 7224 | From: Massachusetts | Registered: Apr 2002  |  IP: Logged | 

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When she realized her race car driver friend couldn't stop his speeding car, Mary Reinhart, 17, had time to do two things: to tell her friends she loved them and to snap her seat belt.

That split second near midnight Saturday likely saved her life.

Her friends - the driver, Matthew Hottman, 22, and passenger Jeremy Budhan, 20, both of Cottage Grove, died at the scene of the crash. Another passenger, Kyle Smith, 19, of Deerfield, was flown by medical helicopter to a Madison hospital, where he died later Sunday.

"I clipped it right before we started to roll," said Reinhart, from her bed at UW Hospital, where she was being treated Sunday for minor injuries. Her three friends, who weren't wearing seat belts, were thrown from the speeding car when it ran off the end of Connors Road where it meets Pierceville Road about nine miles northwest of Deerfield.
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Reinhart said that while she wasn't driving, she wishes she would have insisted on driving or made everyone put on their seat belts.

The last thing she remembers, after snapping her belt, is telling Budhan, who sat with her in the backseat and who everyone called "Buddha," that she loved him. Then the car began to roll.

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Posts: 4255 | From: Sacramento, CA | Registered: Feb 2000  |  IP: Logged | 

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Originally posted by Chimera:
But to be in a vehicle that is not yours and demand an adult that is breaking no law to obey your moral rules is odd as well.

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Posts: 7725 | From: Columbus, Ohio | Registered: Nov 2000  |  IP: Logged | 

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Originally posted by tlqeeeee:
I'm very glad the automatic seat belts seem to have disappeared from cars in the last 10 years. I know that they tended to only be the shoulder belts, and that they gave people a false sense of security... "Well, the shoulder belt came over, so I WAS buckled in!"

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I said, "The car doesn't start until everyone has a seatbelt on." To which the salesman glibly replied, "Yeah, that WOULD be neat safety feature, wouldn't it?"

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Posts: 5483 | From: Just south of Folsom Prison, CA | Registered: Jul 2002  |  IP: Logged | 

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It is estimated that if all rear seat belts were worn, 120 deaths and 1,000 serious injuries could be prevented each year. Back seat passengers are three times more likely to die in an accident if they are not strapped in, according to the AA.

The organisation says each year more than 50 people in the front seats of cars are killed after being hit by back seat passengers who were not wearing seatbelts. [my bold]

The head of AA road safety, Andrew Howard said: "We need to educate people about the dangers of not being strapped in, and to make them realise that it's not only their own lives that they are risking by travelling without a belt."

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So feel free to dice with your own death, but please don't dice with mine.

It is compulsory in Britain for ALL passengers in a car to wear a seatbelt, if belts are present. I also believe that it's the driver's responsibility to ensure this rule is followed and it's the driver who gets fined if it's not (I've said before I can't actually drive so if this is wrong feel free to correct me .)

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Silence should never under any circumstances be construed as agreement. A lot of the time, it's simply a reflection that someone just said something so stupid that no response could possibly do it justice. - Ramblin' Dave

Posts: 8528 | From: Nottingham, England | Registered: Feb 2000  |  IP: Logged | 

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Originally posted by Dan the Seeker:
Yup, it's my car, my gas, you'll do what I say when you ride in it If you don't like the rules you can get your own damned ride.
--Dan

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Originally posted by Chimera:
It mentioned the occupant (dealer) was in the back seat and laws on adult passengers in the back are rare. I already agreed seatbelts have saved lives but I view these like some super-scare anti-drug adverts. Is it dangerous to do drugs? probably. Will you turn into a psychotic, murdering, pscho that dies in some horrid way if you smoke a joint? I guess it's possible but when people make these claims and kids see people who don't they start to question the whole claim. I should find a pic of my mom's wreck it was horrific and she survived. (please note I'm not claiming that's the norm) I also stated a person should have autonomy over their own vehicle. I just personally assume not ride with "preachers". If I know someone would like me to wear a seatbelt or lightly lets me know I happily oblige. However the second they get snarky and treat me like a 3 year old I take a taxi and to hell with the seat belt. (ok Darwin whatever, dance on my grave, see if I care... I think you guys may be missing the point here on why some young Americans dislike seatbelts, It might be rebelion against what they see as the iron fist of exagerated self-righteous authority.) I just find the holier than though attitude that some people start with sets up conflict. Do you it's my job to protect people also prevent people from ordering alcohol or unhealthy food if you take them out?

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When I was in high school there was a couple that got into an accident and the one not wearing a seat belt was the one to walk away. The norm? No, I doubt it. Posible? yes. It can take only one or two incidence like this for kids to question things. I think it is better to say that it greatly improves your chances of surving but we also have to recognize that sometimes life is a crap shoot. Also how are the statistics figured? If they don't care about seat belt do they care about speed limits? drinking? Perhaps it's not the seatbelt that saves lives but maturity... that's a little sarcastic but when someone pushes too hard, especially if it goes against someones personal experience, they start to doubt the claim.

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