Imagine yourself lying down on the cold hard pavement bleeding to death or badly injured. Now lets backtrack to the time when you got in the car with your friends. You think about putting on your seat belt, but you don’t see any of your friends do it so why should you? According to the James Madison University serious traffic injuries can be reduced by 50% and fatalities by 60-70% if seat belts are used properly. From the research I have completed for this speech, I have learned that seat belts do save lives, as well as, keep you from serious injuries. When you are driving or even riding in a vehicle, wear your seat belt, as it will decrease your chance of death or serious injury, if you were to get in a serious car accident. I will start off by explaining what can be the results if you do not use your seat belt.
I will later on explain the benefits of using a seat belt and finally I will tell you the different kind of excuses that people come up with to not wear their seat belts. As a matter of fact when people choose to not wear their seat belts there are serious consequences that can occur. Seat belts are important to be worn to prevent a serious injury or even death caused by a serious car accident. A non-belted occupant is 15 times more likely to be killed and 5 times more likely to be seriously injured than a belted occupant.
This number may not sound significant, but how about the fact that seat belts save 15, 000 lives in the U. S. each year according the Church Mutual Insurance Company. Motorists are 25 times more likely to be killed or seriously injured when they are thrown from the car than when they remain in the vehicle. Car accidents don’t only cause people to be thrown out of cars but also for the passengers to be thrown against one another and it has been found that one out of four serious injuries to passengers is caused by occupants being thrown into each other. Now to prevent anyone from being seriously injured from a car accident the answer seems easy which is to wear your seat belt at all times.
Wearing your seat belt can keep you inside your vehicle preventing something far worse to happen and more importantly it saves your life. If you were to be ejected from the car you may be thrown into oncoming traffic, a tree, guardrail, telephone pole or other objects causing you to get injured far worse. Not wearing your seat belt in a head on collision your body will be thrown forward into the steering wheel, into the dashboard, or through the windshield with incredible force even if you are going 30 mph, but a seat belt will absorb that and prevent you from slamming into the interior of the car. Wearing your seat belt is one of the best defenses against unpredictable action of drunk and distracted drivers as well.
Today over 25 countries around the world have a mandatory safety belt law. The laws were measured to find the usage rate of people wearing their seat belts and they found the usage rate went from 20-25% before the law was passed to 60-90% after passage in 2004 according to the James Madison University. Luckily I have never been in a serious car accident, but a friend of my brother has. My brother’s friend was going down to Texas with four of his other friends two years ago when their car was impacted by a semi-truck.
The car that the teens were driving spun out of control and ejected my brother’s friend out of the car. He was seriously injured and later passed away. He was also the only one not wearing his seat belt. The other passengers had injuries, but luckily they were still alive.
His death was a rude awakening to those who knew him. We all asked ourselves how could this happen to him and sadly we knew the truth, if he wore his seat belt he would have been here with us today. There should be no exemptions to anybody wearing their seat belt. Many come up with excuses on why they do not like to wear their seatbelts like the first excuse that people come up with is that the seat belt is uncomfortable. Even though the seat belt may seem uncomfortable it doesn’t compare a little while of being uncomfortable to being seriously injured or death. Some people may be larger than the rest and a seat belt may not even fit around them, but thanks to Wesco Performance there are universal seat belt extenders that can fit into any car and make a seat belt longer.
Some say they don’t need a seat belt, because the air bags will provide enough protection but airbags should not be used as a substitute for seat belts. Airbags inflate at speeds of up to 200 miles per hour causing serious injury to an unbelted occupant. Others may say they are a good driver and do not need to wear a seat belt, but one in five drivers will be in a car accident every year so even if you are a good driver it may happen to you. Some prefer to not wear their seat belt so if they were to ever be involved in a car accident where the car catches on fire or is submerged in water they can escape easily. In reality less than 1% of accidents involve fire or water submersion and if you were to be stuck in a flaming car or a submerged car a seat belt will enable the occupant to remain in better shape to escape the car.
Then there are those who say they are going somewhere nearby so they don’t need to wear a seat belt, but 75% of crash deaths and injuries occur within 25 miles of their home. Seat belts should be worn at all times, because they can save lives and prevent serious injuries from occurring if you were ever to be involved in a serious car accident. If seat belts are not worn there can be many consequences from this action and many benefits if you do wear it, like it saves your life. Everybody should wear his or her seat belt and it doesn’t matter what excuse you may come up with you should always wear it. It would be wonderful if all you guys go home today and wear your seat belts, but all may not.
If you do not want to be one of those 17, 000 people that die every year for not wearing your seat belt I would like to ask all you guys to think about the consequences if you do not wear your seat belt and decide if you will be those wearing your seatbelt or those that choose not to.
