Do you wear a seat belt?

Nurses General Nursing

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I know we sometimes feel like we need one at work, but I am talking about when you are in your (or someone else's) car? I was astounded years ago when I worked Trauma to discover that the Director of the program did not wear a seat belt. Granted the guy is convinced he is God in the flesh, but still!! I have always been a seat belt wearer and cannot fathom why people don't wear one. I can fathom even less when peole do not properly restrain their kids in cars!!

If you don't wear one, why not????

Always, always. always

Two nights ago a boy down the road from us was driving on a road he's been on hundreds of times...lost control....over corrected....threw him out and rolled on him...his funerel was today. I know his mom well. He was 21. His younger brother has Downs and has only a few months to live, already has hospice care. It is such a tragedy, and one that could have been avoided.

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Specializes in ICU, nutrition.

I was in a very bad accident a little over a month ago where I ran off the road and rolled my truck (fell asleep after working all night, staying up all day the day before, and trying to stay up the next). If I had not been wearing my seatbelt, I would have been seriously injured or probably killed. My pregnant bulldog was with me, and she was wearing her seatbelt too. She was OK, too, and she had her puppies a few days ago. I had been nagging my husband before the accident to wear his seatbelt, and he has been every since my accident. I think it scared him as much as it did me.

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Someone mentioned joking about wearing a seat belt while moving a car while in the driveway... I actually do it! :) Buckling up whenever I get in my car is such a habit that I do it without thinking, like locking the doors when I exit the car. And I never let anyone ride with me who isn't belted.

I have to say that I used to be pretty careless when it came to buckling up while riding as a passenger myself, but my boyfriend has broken me of that. He refuses to put his truck in gear unless I'm buckled in.

Here in Alabama, law enforcement has recently begun participating in the "Click It Or Ticket" safety campaign, complete with random roadblock checks. If you're not wearing your seatbelt, it's a standard moving violation - which, around these parts, is between $96 and $125, depending on who nabs you.

Donna :)

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seat belt laws and helmet laws are in the same chapter of the book to me.........

i only can harm myself if i do not wear a seat belt and/or do not wear a helmet

laws where i can harm another.....these laws i understand.....

but then again, i don't unstand' much........

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Specializes in Pediatric Rehabilitation.

totally agree with you, micro..

however, I usually wear a seatbelt...unless I'm a passenger..

my kids are ALWAYS PROPERLY restrained (it's not enough to just put them in a corificeat; it must be PROPERLY installed..i'm finatical about my kids and corificeats)

my dad, who hates the helmet law always says the same as you...."...never heard of an innocent person injured because someone was unhelmeted..."

i figure if an adult is ignorant enough to not wear a helmet or seat belt, then that's our right to ignorance...kids have yet to earn these rights ;)

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I really really really really try to do it all the time. But for some reason I got a little lazy in the past year, and now I find myself having to get back into the habit.

My kid is always restrained though. In fact, it's when I tell him to buckle up that he usually reminds me to. :D

Heather

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Texas has started the "Click It or Ticket" program too. As a driver, I always wear my seatbelt, and I'm getting better wearing one as a passenger. Any backseat seat belt wearers?!?!?!?!

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Always. And always have.

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I will wear one if the kids are in the truck and tell me to "buckle up", but if I'm alone and the traffic isn't bad I usually don't use them.

My kids always have to buckle up- unless they are riding in the back of the truck (no belts back there).

If we are in the city I don't let them ride in back and they are in front strapped in.

-Russell

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I'm on the "always!" side, myself. We have "click it or ticket" in Tennessee as well.

I'm really old and I remember when cars didn't come with seat belts! My father always ordered our cars WITH them. When I was a pre-teen, it was embarassing to have those things that nobody else had. But I got over it really quickly!

My kids are also always belted in. I've never understood people who give in to their kids who don't "like" to be in car seats, car seats, etc., in the car. So what? If you want to go somewhere with me, you wear a seatbelt. Messing with the seatbelt in the car is a pants-down spanking offense (the ULTIMATE - totally reserved for them doing something that's life-threatening). Of course, my kids are 23 and 18 now, and just as insistant about the seat belts as I am!

Love

Dennie

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Specializes in Med-Surg.

Seatbelt law and Helmet law are two different issues. Not wearing a helmet may not hurt anyone else, (except your grieving family), BUT not wearing a seatbelt CAN hurt others.

If you are secured in the driver seat, you have a better chance of maintaining control of the car AFTER an accident, thus not ramming into other cars, people, and not to mention other large solid objects.

Example: Got hit broadside. The impact was forceful enough to break 3/4 of the connection holding my seat to the floor, (imagine a tippy rocking chair), BUT the seatbelt kept me in my seat, and the seat in place enough that I could steer and brake. I was able to steer away from LARGE objects, like the car on my other side. (but did nail a speed limit sign!!)

Walked away from it, and didn't take anyone else out with me!

My philosophy: nothing is absolutely, positively safe, but why not stack the deck in your favor? Make the best choices you can, based on the best information available!!

Keep it safe out there everybody! :)

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ALWAYS wear one, kids do too. Now, can someone explain to me why school busses do not have them????? DO NOT understand that one . . .

Years ago, I asked that and the response was that the kids would take off the belts and hit each other with them or vandalize them in some way, making them useless and the investment worthless.

I always buckle up and when I posted the thread "Please pray for my daughter Karen" posted in Off-Topic, March 19, I was thanking God that I was so insistent about my kids wearing seatbelts; the message took, and it saved her life. One of these days, I'll post a picture of the car---Mercury Tracer 2D vs Dodge Dakota truck.

:eek:

She'll be able to start walking without the walker next month, by the way. :)

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