Shortly after entering the medical field as a newly graduated Registered Respiratory Therapist, a staffing organization in Indianapolis had contracted me into several skilled nursing facilities in and around my area. In one of the facilities that I travelled to a man in his early thirties had been placed on my services; this man had been the unfortunate victim of an automobile accident in which he had suffered a tremendous debilitating brain shearing injury, an injury that he will never recover from thereby leaving his family without a husband or a father. It is altogether unfortunate that he had not been wearing his safety belt at the time of his accident. If he had been wearing his safety belt he would have never sustained the type of devastating …show more content…
injury that he did, as was disclosed by his neurologist/neurosurgeon and primary care physician. Statistics have proven that safety belt use is the single most effective safety device for preventing injury and death when involved in an automobile accident, yet many people refuse to wear them stating they should have autonomy over that decision.
Should the government mandate the use of safety belts, or should the decision be left up to the individual? Having worked as a Registered Respiratory Therapist for many years, I have been directly involved in the care of many individuals who were the unfortunate victims of automobile accidents. Some of those individuals had good outcomes and others didn’t, as was the case with the young husband and father that I previously mentioned. It has however, always been abundantly clear that those who were wearing their safety belts at the time of their accident fared well better than those who were not, and typically always had significantly better outcomes regardless of what their injuries were. Based on that experience (alone?), as well as my experience with a few of my own fender benders, I am a ferocious advocate for the use of safety belts, regardless if the government mandates their use or not.
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety reports that there are mandatory safety belt laws in every state except New Hampshire. Today, in sixteen out of forty-nine states, seat belt laws are secondary, meaning a police officer may only ticket a driver for not wearing a seat belt if there is an additional reason for pulling the driver over.
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Seat belt laws in the other thirty-three states are primary, which means that a police officer may stop a driver merely because they are not wearing a seat belt. They have also reported that in several of those states the laws cover only front-seat occupants with laws in twenty-eight states and the District of Columbia covering all rear-seat occupants, too. Further, statistics compiled by the Centers for Disease Control and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration have demonstrated that automobile accidents are the leading cause of death for a large demographic in our country, specifically 1-54 year olds and that safety belt usage is the single most effective safety device for preventing injury and death when involved in an automobile accident. So why don’t people wear them? Do they feel that … instrusive? What is the likelihood that you will be involved in an accident? Are you willing to the risk of death or debilitating injury just to spite the evil lawmongers in Washington? While I am a HUGE proponent of non-intrusive government, I am also a person of common sense, if data bears out that the simple clicking of a belt across my shoulder and lower abdomen will greatly increase my survival if in an automobile accident you can bet I’m going to click-it, no matter how much I may disagree with the “overreach” of government. The role of government … Some of the more common reasons individuals will use for refusing to wear their safety belts include • “The government doesn’t have the right to tell me what to do with my body inside my personal property.” Actually, they do. The primary role of government … • “I don’t need a safety belt – I’ve got an airbag.” Airbags increase the overall effectiveness of seat belts however, they were never designed to be used in place of seat belts, especially since they do not protect against side impacts or ejections.
• “They’re uncomfortable.” Initially people may find seat belts uncomfortable simply because they aren’t used to wearing them. People who have made buckling up a habit can assert that once they became used to them, they were no longer uncomfortable. It cannot be overemphasized that the serious discomfort of an injury sustained in an automobile accident in no way compares to the discomfort you may feel while wearing a safety belt the first few times.
• “I’m a good driver, I won’t be in an accident.” Even if you are a good driver, you cannot control the other drivers on the road.
• “I’m not going far and I won’t be going fast.” Actually, this is the best time to wear a safety belt, especially since 80% of traffic fatalities occur within twenty-five miles of home and at speeds less than 40 miles per hour. (NHTSA, 2011) The man that I referenced at the beginning of this paper was only ten minutes from home and driving just forty miles per
hour. • And then there are those who cite being “afraid the seat belt will trap them underwater in their car, or in a burning vehicle.” Accidents involving water or fire are extremely rare. However, when they do occur the best chance of survival rests in remaining conscious and uninjured. If you aren’t wearing a seat belt, it’s likely you will be knocked unconscious or severely injured and completely unable to escape the submerged or burning vehicle. We know what a safety belt’s intended purpose or function is, to reduce death and injury in an automobile accident. Safety belts dramatically reduce the risk of death and serious injury by HALF! We also know the impact that not wearing them can have, most drivers and passengers killed in automobile accidents were unrestrained. Further, we know some of the most common reasons people give for not wearing them, including the resistance to “intrusive government,” based on that … BUCKLE UP AMERICA!
Although, I am a young driver only having a few years of experience on the road. I believe you would feel the pain I do when another’s driving hinders me from driving how I’d like. I would like to know what would posses one to not think logical and think, “Oh i'll just wait for this
Statistics show 16- to 17-year-old driver death rates increase with each additional passenger, which is due to distracted driving. Taking your eyes off the road for 2 (two) seconds, at 60 mph, means you have driven blindly for half the length of a football field. The risk of fatality is 3.6 times higher, when they are driving with passengers than when alone. For many years, the correlation between driving behavior and age has interested highway safety researchers and administrators. It is general knowledge that the greatest risk of motor vehicle crash...
An enormous division currently exists between the people who believe that automobile safety should be an option and those that feel it must be a requirement. The federal government feels the morally obligated to create the safest driving environment possible. On the other end of the spectrum, opinions exist that the average driver has ability to make the choice of safety on their own. Editorials, political assemblies, debates, and conversations have arrived on the concept of click it or ticket. This idea refers to ticketing any motor vehicle driver and passenger that is not fastened by a seat belt. Arguments have been made for both sides, and have been reviewed in multiple states.
In 1966, the National Highway Safety Bureau (NHSB) was designed by the Highway Act. NHSB’s director, Dr. William Haddon, noticed that he could prevent motor-vehicle injuries by applying public health methods and epidemiology. Various passages demanded the government to set standards for the highway and motor vehicles. The federal government responded by developing new safety features in cars such as safety belts, head rests, and shatter-resistant windshields. Barriers, reflectors, and center line strips were placed on roadways to provide direction and illumination. Traffic safety laws, wearing a safety belt, and public education encouraged drivers to make safer decisions. The use of safety belts has skyrocketed from 11% in 1981 to 68% in 1997 and decreases When the community and government understood the necessity for motor-vehicle safety, various programs such as Prior to the implementation, the rate stood at 18 per 100 million vehicle miles traveled in 1925; however, the rate stood at 1.7 per 100 million vehicle miles traveled in 1997. With all of the new safety features with cars, public education and enforcement of safety laws, “motor-vehicle crashes remain the leading cause of injury-related deaths in the United States.” Over 23.9 million vehicle crashes were reported in 1997; estimated costs were around $200 billion.
This woman’s story may not be one that will ever happen to many people, but if it did a seatbelt is one of the only defenses one has against it. A seatbelt is not a new development and seatbelt laws are not new either and refusing to wear a seatbelt is disregard for the law and one’s own safety. Everyone has to wear a seatbelt, no one is picked, and people from celebrities down to a common sixteen-year-old driver have to wear one. No one is exempt from the law and no one should be aloud to break it. It’s not hard to do and shouldn’t be hard to remember because all it takes is a click and even though some have come up with many reasons not to wear them the benefits of wearing a seatbelt outweigh the disadvantages by far.
Even though there are some statistics that may show a lower rate of injury or death if you wear a seat belt when in an automobile accident, I do not feel that the government has the right to make wearing a seat belt mandatory for adults because by making seat belts mandatory it takes away from our right to freedom of choice, and wearing a seat belt does not eliminate the risk of injury or death as people have been injured and/or killed due to wearing a seat belt Current seat belt law originated from federal legislation in the 1960s that made it mandatory for all automobile manufacturers to include seat belts in their vehicles as a standard feature. Originally, the purpose of a seat belt was not to protect the occupants in the case of a crash, but rather to physically keep them in the vehicle, as driving was bumpy business. However, in today’s times, mandatory use of a seat belt falls under various states purview. Each state implements its own laws regarding enforcement of seat belt use.
Using seat belt when driving can help us to prevent death when an accident occurs.
...ture a risk-taking species. In ancient times we took risks just to eat. Later we took huge risks by setting out in little wooden ships to explore the earth's surface. We continued as we sought to fly, travel faster than the speed of sound and to head off into space. We rely on increasingly more complex equipment and constantly strive to design and manufacture faster and even more elaborate devices. It goes without saying that every effort is made to ensure our "safety"; to keep us from harm or danger. Every time you slide behind the wheel of your vehicle you are taking a risk. Driving is the riskiest activity in our lives. It is an inherently "unsafe" environment. The most perfect vehicles on the best designed highways on beautiful sunny days driven by fallible human beings crash into each other. The only way to drive "safely" (as we are all admonished to do!) is to learn more about the process. Learn more about your vehicle and how to maintain it; learn how to use your eyes to look far down the road; learn to spot problems before they happen; and also learn to deal with emergency situations. In most cases it's the human element that fails. After all, safe is only as safe does.
For Example “ That’s the best protection that was can give our kids. It’s what they’re used to in cars,” Herman said. “We know that there are very few fatalities involving children on school buses every year-- they are a safe form of transportation-- but anything that we can do to make them safer is really our responsibility”( Jacqueline Howard, CNN). This shows that seat belts are the best way to protect not only the people on the buses but the drivers on the road. If a driver is wearing a seat belt and anyone on the bus is we have more protection against anything we all stand
Car accidents are the leading cause of death for people under the age of 35. Wearing a seat belt can prevent death in about half of these accidents. Did you know that every 15 seconds someone is injured in an automobile accident if they are not buckled up, or that every 13 minutes someone is killed in a crash. Failure to wear a seat belt contributes to more fatalities than any other single traffic safety related behavior. According to the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration seatbelts saved nearly 12,000 lives in the United States in the year 2000. The NHTSA estimates that more than 9,000 U.S. car accident fatalities in 2000 would have been avoided if the victims had been wearing seatbelts. Sixty three percent of the people killed in accidents were not wearing seat belts. The NHTSA a...
Seatbelts have been around since the 1950s and have proven to save lives over the years. The teenage stigma is that they do not need to wear one because they will be fine. After thousands of accidents where the occupants did not wear their seatbelt, the Supreme Court decided to pass some laws. “In 1972, the agency requires dull passive restraints for front seat occupants” (Supreme Court). The agency that the Supreme Court is referring to is the Department of Transportation. This law is a staple in automobile safety and sets a level of precedents for future laws. After this law was passed, the amount of fatalities from traffic incident relating to seat belts usage had dropped. The Supreme Court did not stop there, they continued to add more laws. “...new motor vehicles produced after September 1982 will be equipped with passive restraints to protect the safety of the occupants of the vehicle in the event of a collision” (Supreme Court). Now all new motor vehicles must have a form of passive restraint added to their vehicles before they can sell them to the public. The government hoped to protect more lives of young drivers who did not insist on wearing seat belts by making them mandatory and being enforced by police officers. Since 1972, hundreds of thousands of teenage lives have been saved with this simple safety
The major cause of aggressive driving is the discourteous or inattentive driver. Driving behaviors include changing lanes to closely, tailgating and "the number one cause is the left lane hog." (Larson 1) These seemingly small errors infuriate the potentially aggressive driver and cause a transformation indescribable to man kind. Reduced law enforcement, highway traffic, the growing congestion is cities, and personal issues play a large role in the disposition of the aggressive driver. Then the angry driver may demonstrate his or her displeasure by speeding around the other vehicle, cutting the other car off, and or with a number of verbal and non-verbal messages. Though the driver may feel justified in his or her action, but the display in most times is very dangerous and often will result in damage to one or both cars involved.
There is a massive amount of car accidents that occur every day, that consequently become fatal. In many cases, the driver and the passengers do not have on a seat belt to prevent them from being thrown out of the car or colliding with another car, causing them to be thrown against the dashboard or some other tragic accident. Some people may think, “Wearing a seatbelt isn’t cool”, “I’m only going down the street” or sometimes just irresponsibly forget to put on their seatbelt when they are inside of a vehicle. You may think that wearing a seatbelt is not trendy and you are only making a quick trip going down the street to the corner store, however, you cannot control others actions on the road anything can happen in the blink of an eye.
“The one thing that unites all human beings, regardless of age, gender, religion, economic status, or ethnic background, is that, deep down inside, we all believe that we are above-average drivers” -Dave Barry, comedian. The number of accidents over the last ten years have drastically increased, drivers are paying less attention to the road itself. Many individuals behind the wheel of a car believe that their driving does not affect the road conditions, however it always will. The driving habits of today are catastrophic due to the reasoning that the driving will affect other lives through reckless or distracted driving, and disobeying traffic laws.
Road safety is one of the most important aspects of daily living. Our vehicle is our main transportation from one place to another. The number of car and motorcycle accidents seem to be increasing because of the many distractions, the lack of safety measures and judgment to road conditions and weather. Not being cautious increases the chances of not only injuring ourselves but hurting others as well. On the road, you see people talking on their cell phones or texting, eating, putting makeup on, changing the radio station, reading or using your GPS while driving. These are all distractions that endanger drivers, passengers and bystanders safety. Safe driving involves off-road precautionary measures such as making sure tires are properly inflated, testing windshield wipers, getting regular oil changes and tune-ups and adjusting the mirrors. All of these actions can help prevent an accident. Unfortunately, not all of us decide to wear our seat belts when driving or turn signal ligh...