An important lesson

My wife's dad always refused to wear his seatbelt, because he "didn't want to die stuck in a burning car."

Last night, on the way back from Louisiana, I got stopped by an accident he should have seen.

Yes, the car was upside down in the median, where it had come to rest after hitting the center wall and rolling several times.

Yes, it was on fire.

But the driver wasn't in it.

If there is a worse way to die than burning in a wrecked car, it might possibly be getting hit by several tractor/trailers after you got pitched out of the rolling car and landing in the middle of the interstate. Not a pretty sight, and one that will stick with me for a while.

Holy potatoes. Thats horrible.

I always wear my seatbelt even though Im pretty phobic about being stuck in a trapped car because I had a few friends die because of their seatbelts rather than being saved. I also keep a pocket knife in my console thingie too in case I do get trapped, if Im conscious enough to get it and I can get out of the seatbelt I can cut it off and get out. Im super paraniod and think serial killers live in my corn fields though so Im prepared for everything my brain comes up with.

In 1986, I was in an accident and my car flipped over twice....it was going into the third flip when I hit the porch of a house. The car came to rest on the drivers' side; I had just enough room to crawl out of the broken drivers' window between the car and the porch. I was not wearing a seatbelt. I walked away with two black eyes (from hitting the steering wheel, we think) and glass in my left cheek (from hitting the drivers' side window) and a concussion. Had someone been in the passenger side, the person would have died; as it was, the police didn't know how I managed to stay in the car.

I know that I was incredibly lucky. That kind of luck doesn't happen again....even before I turn the ignition on, I buckle up.

I am militant about wearing a seatbelt, and making my passengers buckle up as well.
I carry a seatbelt cutter in my console, since I have a fear of driving into water and drowning. (and I live by the water where people HAVE driven right into the water!!)

.... ....

I always belt up and make sure that my kids are too,it just comes second nature to me,even if I am just moving the car up a bit I belt up.x

I always put my seat belt on and especially when im driving because if you get caught without it on you can get fined so its just second nature, I also keep a seatbelt cutter in the car its one of the combined ones that can smash a window too.

my dad would be alive if he would not worn his seatbelt 29 years ago. he got called in to work on his day off. this happenend in Germany in March. it was early morning, foggy and the roads were still iced over. even though driving way below the speed-limit the car started sliding and the driver's door was pushed inwards by the corner of a bridge railing. he got out of the car after the accidedent and was talking to the cops while waiting for the ambulance and he was dead by the time he got to the hospital.
when the door was pushed in and pushed into his upper body the seatbelt held him in place but it ruptured the main aorta. the guy he was car-pooling with just had bruises. the cops said he he didn't have the seat-belt on he would've survived.
i know wearing it saves more lifes than not but there are exceptions

Wow, that scene would have been horrific

I'm so sorry for that man and his family.
Yes, I also have heard of instances where people got killed BECAUSE they had their seatbelt on. I always buckle up, well usually....if I'm just going down the road I generally don't.

I never look at the situation as "if they had have, if they hadn't have". I look at it is "everything happens for a reason and it was just their time".

That would have been a horrible site to see! I feel for the family.

When I was in my teens, one of my High School friend's sister was in a horrible accident. If she had been wearing her seatbelt, she would be alive today. She and her BF were drunk and hit a stone pillar head on. She was thrown up to her shoulders through the windshield and then thrown back. It decapitated her!

One story that has stuck with me was an accident where a young couple, despite not wearing their belts, did survive. Unfortunately, their infant, properly secured, died from being hit by the parents bodies as the car tumbled.

There definitely are exceptions to the seat belt rule. My stepfather was in an accident several years ago...He had fallen asleep at the wheel, went off the highway and flipped 2-3 times. He was not wearing his seat belt and was ejected from the vehicle. He woke up in the hospital with a police officer standing over him, who said "If you had been wearing your seat belt, you'd be dead right now. The engine was in the driver seat." Right then, the officer proceeded to write him a ticket for not wearing it.

It's just automatic for us to put on the seat belts. Wouldn't think of driving without it. But the suggestion about carrying some sort of cutter to cut the seat belt is a good one, and one we never considered. Living here in Florida there are lots of canals, so it really would be a good idea. Thank you for mentioning it.

Originally Posted by 3CatsN1Dog

I also keep a pocket knife in my console thingie too in case I do get trapped, if Im conscious enough to get it and I can get out of the seatbelt I can cut it off and get out. Im super paraniod and think serial killers live in my corn fields though so Im prepared for everything my brain comes up with.

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There is a nice little "security tool" that you can carry in your car, and it works better than a knife. It can break windows, too. But here's the good news; almost all truckers carry a knife, and it will likely be they who get you out of your car.

Here's one from Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/Seatbelt-Break.../dp/B002AMAXNA

I think they're pretty common. One very important thing is for them to be in a secure location, so you can get to them while buckled in the seat, but so they won't become a projectile in an accident.

Originally Posted by goonie

i know wearing it saves more lifes than not but there are exceptions

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In 34 years of trucking (and numerous millions of miles), I have never seen an accident where the people would have been better off not wearing a belt. Those people I have seen who were killed wearing a belt would have been killed anyway.

I'm not saying it doesn't happen. I just say it's rare. In a year in the U.S., you couldn't fill a school bus with people who would have been better off without a belt, but you can fill a school with the people were worse off without them.

There are two reasons I always wear a belt, aside from it being the law.

Way back in 1980, I was driving to work with one of the dogs we had then all the way in the back of the station wagon. An ambulance without a siren came out of a side street and broadsided the car in front of me. I slammed on the brakes, and our 65 kg. (143 lb.) dog flew over both the seats and hit the windshield, which broke. Max was injured, but survived. If a dog that size can fly through a station wagon that way, imagine what would happen to a person weighing the same or less? I was only wearing a seat belt that day because I'd stopped to talk to my mom, and she'd bugged me about not buckling up.

A couple of years later my husband and I saw an accident where a little girl had been riding in the back of a Jeep without a seat belt when her father hit another car. It ended for her the same way it ended for the man Mike saw. That really is a sight you never forget.

Tricia's post reminded me of a recent local incident. Police car pursuing a suspect hit a minivan. A young boy, not belted in, died.

Most importantly, niece's hubby would not be here today if not for his seatbelt.

These stories are terrible We always buckle, but I sometimes have to remind DH because he thinks nothing will ever happen to him.

wow what an upsetting thread.

it's a good reminder to always wear your seat belt.

i always do, my husband always does, and we will make sure our son is always properly buckled as well. (and now that we have merlin i make sure his carrier is secured as well).

Why would you risk your family's/friends' lives by not making sure they are belted in?

how scary.

Here's a brief article about the accident. I would guess the guy was on his way home from work and fell asleep.

Interstate 20 Wreck

If you read the comments, I can answer the question about why the trucker thought there were two people killed, but it's probably best left unsaid. The article leaves the impression the driver was killed by the accident and fire, but he wasn't.