Complacency while driving leads to LEO contact :( - Page 2

Nightingale · #16 (**permalink**) 04-14-2008, 09:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Quietpi

...
I have, however, had people (read "idiots") tell me, "boy, I'm glad I wasn't wearing my seatbelt, or I could have ended up upside down!" They say this while I'm looking at the "starred" windshield. This from the ones who could still talk, if not think.

Maybe we're a little off-topic here, but maybe it will save a life.

I witnessed an accident about an hour north of Barstow on I-15 on our way to Wyoming for vacation. The elderly gentleman driving the car just missed the road as it turned, the car flew off the road and rolled down the hill several times before resting back on its wheels. Knowing help was probably hour away and they probably needed help right now, we pulled over. The man driving the car had a small scratch above his eye and was talking coherently to us. He was wearing his seatbelt. His wife had been sleeping in the front seat and had removed her belt to get more comfortable. She was thrown through the windshield and into a rock. She was unconscious with a bad head wound and numerous other injuries. My mom (a former med tech) and I (a lifeguard) administered first aid as best we could, addressing the injuries we could get to without disturbing her spine, and my dad and brother kept the old guy sitting in the car in case he had spinal injuries we couldn't see. The ambulance rolled up about an hour later and put a bandaid on his forehead. A few minutes later, a helicopter showed up and airlifted her away.

I have no idea what happened to them after that, but that illustration of a single accident where one person was belted and the other wasn't and the extreme differences in their injuries has stayed with me for around ten years now...

YankeeDog · #17 (**permalink**) 04-14-2008, 10:34 AM

The best mandate possible. Four kids out of five were killed on the 210 fwy the other day. The survivor had his belt on. I have been down on my bikes three times in the last 14 years. Once my fault, twice the other guys. Each time my head whapped the ground and I had nothing worse than a mild concussion. I walked away from all three. If either mandate was removed I would still click in and put on the brain bucket.

my .02
YD

**Justaguy** · #18 (**permalink**) 04-15-2008, 01:08 PM

Helmets: non-optional unless you can provide proof of financial resources to support your healthcare after you flatten one side of your head. I don't want to use my tax dollars to paying some goof to wipe spittle from your face for the next few decades....

Seatbelts: They keep you inside the vehicle. And the same financial reasoning applys.

'Nuff said.

Bombard · #19 (**permalink**) 04-15-2008, 01:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by YankeeDog

The best mandate possible. Four kids out of five were killed on the 210 fwy the other day. The survivor had his belt on. I have been down on my bikes three times in the last 14 years. Once my fault, twice the other guys. Each time my head whapped the ground and I had nothing worse than a mild concussion. I walked away from all three. If either mandate was removed I would still click in and put on the brain bucket.

+1

A few years ago the group of academics that came up with "Designated Driver" and got it popularized tried to do the same with seatbelts. They used the phrase "Remember Diana" - 'cause of the 4 people in her car, the one that lived was the bodyguard that had his on. Didn't catch on, sadly.

This morning I changed out the little girl's safety seat to a booster seat. She's religious about the belting in - but it gave me pause, changing from a 5 point harness to a 3 point lap and shoulder belt.

Ken_In_Colo · #20 (**permalink**) 05-11-2008, 10:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by El Gato

I started keeping my wallet/badge in my left rear pocket (I'm right handed) about 20 years ago...

Long before I CCWed, I carried my wallet in my left rear pocket, just to keep my right hand free.

I haven't had that first LEO contact yet but I have my DL, Ins & Reg and CCW in a separate little envelope in a separate section of my wallet, just in case.

My mother 'end-over-ended' a '60 Corvair (Unsafe At Any Speed) when I was a kid. Seat belts were pretty new then but she was wearing hers. She walked away from what could only be described as an unrecognizable pile of steel with only a cut to her shin. That right there sold me on seat belts.

YankeeDog · #21 (**permalink**) 05-11-2008, 11:36 AM

There have been numerous accidents over the last several years here in OC where the only fatalities were these thrown from the car. Regardless of the government intervention issue, seatbelts work and so do motorcycle and bicycle helmets.

There is nothing worse than a severe head injury and the medical costs are astronomical.

In California driving is considered a privledge and the state calls the shots.

my .02

YD

**SierraNevadaCCW** · #22 (**permalink**) 05-11-2008, 12:03 PM

The seatbelt isn't the point. The point is the government forcing you, fining you, stopping you, because you didn't put it on.

I don't need the government to tell me to put my seatbelt on. I'm smart enough to do it on my own.

When the government can detain you with an armed official and then cite you, haul you into court and force you to pay for not putting on a seatbelt....you're not in a free country.