Wearing a seatbelt.

James M Sandbrook of
Wairakei Place, Tokoroa.

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Seatbelts

It was probably late 1960’s, early 1970’s that seatbelts became more common. At first they were only in the front seats, but eventually wisdom won the day and all seats in most vehicles had to have them.

Some race car drivers died when they didn’t have seatbelts in their race cars and they were thrown out to their death and this was a warning t us all of what can happen if we are in a car accident and don’t have a seatbelt on. In Formula 1 racing, triple world champion Jackie Stewart pushed for mandatory seat belt usage and full-face helmets for drivers, which now have become unthinkable omissions for modern races. This kind of publicity got people thinking about using seatbelts in public vehicles and that all cars should have them, and more thoughts of safety and why we should have seat belts.

These days it is a natural reaction after getting into a car to put on one’s seatbelt.

As a teenager I remember many young guys wanting to look tough and cool and refused to wear a seat belt in a car when out with mates. The thought that one is tougher because one is not wise makes one seem very foolhardy when plummeted through the car windscreen in a car accident.

Children should be belted in the car. During the 1980’s many grandparents and some parents would not put children in seatbelts, and many children died because of this. These days the public opinion tends to be in favour of seatbelts and that is a good thing.

I knew a man who was telling me one day about his beautiful little daughter who died in a car accident, he loved her dearly, so did his wife. After he left the room another man walked in and he said to me, “Was he telling you about his daughter?”, surprised by this question I replied, “Yes, she died in a car accident.”
The man who asked the question went on to tell me that the daughter died because she was in the front seat of the car and when they had the accident she went through the windscreen because she didn’t have her seatbelt on, her parents didn’t strap her in.

The father was suffering a guilt that he would have to live with his entire life. We can learn from this unfortunate accident and loss of life by making sure that we strap children and babies in vehicles.

Please strap your babies and children in when you go out for a car ride.

When I was in that very serious accident where three vehicles were ridden-off, totalled, completely wrecked, the last thing that I saw before impact was the front radiator grill of the big old tow truck that we hit full on, then everything went black, and a few seconds later I was staring across the road because our vehicle had spun and the grill was not there anymore. The next morning I discovered a very obvious seatbelt bruise diagonally my chest and oh did it hurt.

But the thing here is that the pain, and the sore knee that I got in the accident was nothing to knowing that if I had not have had that seat belt on I would have been splattered into that big old truck grill, and as Charles Dickens put it, dead as a door nail. Sometimes the pain is the much more preferable thing, and sure it hurts, but it is a pain that we can bear because in the end it will be over and we can get on with our lives.

On that day I learned the value of having a seatbelt, how it was a good idea and to always wear one.

Real-Life Experience can sometimes be the best teacher.

There was a teenage male I knew as a teenager, we went to the same school. He was in a car one day and the car rolled over and because he did not have a seatbelt on he was thrown out of the car and then the car rolled onto him killing him.

It is these kinds of experiences that taught me that safety gear is a good idea and that seatbelts were common sense.

My advice is never let other people’s opinions of the desire to be popular have you not using safety equipment.

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