this past saturday hanover county held graduation ceremonies for its four county high schools. and at each one, they had a moment of silence for a young man who died the day before in a single car accident. he had lost control of his vehicle, over-corrected, and flipped off the other side of the road. he and his passenger were ejected from the vehicle...and they were NOT WEARING THEIR SEATBELTS!.
try to imagine how it would be on your family if one of them had to stand up for you to receive a recognition that you had earned and deserved, but that you were unable to accept yourself because you had, for whatever reason, not done something as simple as clicking your seatbelt...
on what was supposed to be the biggest day of his life so far, a high school graduation 13 years in the making, there was an empty seat in the row he would have sat on, and many, many of the tears shed saturday were not the tears of joy.
How awful. I learned the wear my seatbelt in the early 80's when I was in the AF and I would not be allowed on base without it on. I tried to train my kids to use it, too. I would not move the car until everyone was buckled in. It wasn't something ground into me growing up, however. As far as I know, my dad refuses to wear one to this day.
That's an awful story.
For years I used try to get my dad to use his seatbelt, and he would after a bit of nagging. Now his grandkids have taken over the job, and he listens to them to the point where he doesn't need reminding anymore.
But he only puts it on after about 100m of driving. I'm not sure why. He'd drive out of the drive way and after about 10 or 20 seconds, when still in motion, rech over and buckle up. I might try to get those seconds next I suppose.
It is in North Carolina, USA as well -- for just over 20 years. Unfortunately, not everyone follows the law. :(
At our local high school (which is relatively small), they had 8 that were not graduating. Most of those have been killed since turning 16 two or three years ago.
I'm not sure how many at the other high school -- but there were several there as well.
In South Africa it is also mandatory to wear a seat belt, but not very well enforced. I know someone who refuses to wear a seatbelt because he knew someone who was killed in an accident because they WERE wearing a seatbelt. I suppose it does happen, but rarely. I've certainly never driven without one.
It's mandatory here in Ireland as well. In fact, it's one of the first things the police look for at checkpoints. Also, most car computers will beep at you continuously until it detects you've put on your seatbelt.
