Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Posting-Version: version B 2.10 beta 3/9/83; site wbux5.UUCP
Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!hou3c!hocda!houxm!houxf!wbux5!lat
From: lat@wbux5.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.auto
Subject: Re: mandatory seatbelt laws (personal experience)
Message-ID: <150@wbux5.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 30-Jan-84 22:14:11 EST
Article-I.D.: wbux5.150
Posted: Mon Jan 30 22:14:11 1984
Date-Received: Mon, 6-Feb-84 15:46:11 EST
References: <3438@tekecs.UUCP>, <525@ihuxn.UUCP> <235@charm.UUCP>, <868@ihuxl.UUCP>
Organization: Central Services Organization, West Long Branch, NJ
Lines: 67

[yummm...this line tastes good (not THAT kind of line, silly)]

	Well, I just couldn't stay out of this one any longer.  Here's my
	$0.02 worth on this subject.

	I never used to wear seatbelts.  Sometimes I still forget to put
	them (it, whatever) on when I get into a car.  But then again, old
	habits die hard.  Fortunately, most of my friends wear seatbelts,
	and that helps to reinforce this "habit".  I learned the hard way
	about wearing (or should I say not wearing) seatbelts.  I have been
	involved in 3 major car accidents -- two when I was the driver and
	one when I wasn't.  All three times, I was not wearing a seatbelt.

	The first time, I lost control of my '73 Gremlin and ran head on into
	a tree doing about 45 miles an hour.  The whole car was totaled.  I
	flattened out the steering wheel, hit my head on the windshield, and
	then broke the back of the bucket seat from the force of impact.  I had
	stitches in the corner of my eye, and stitches on my kneecap.  I will
	always have the scars.  I was also told that I was lucky to be alive,
	considering I wasn't wearing a seatbelt.  Thank god I was by myself...
	if there was anyone in the passenger seat, and they weren't wearing a
	seatbelt, they would be dead.  Need I say more about this one?

	But I thought I was invincible (I was 18 at the time).  So, it was
	only natural for me to not wear a seatbelt.  The second accident
	was in my '73 Opel.  I hit a patch of ice (we had no idea that it
	had gotten slippery out, and it was a thin glaze, not something you
	were immediately aware of...by the time we realized it, it was too
	late).  I slid around the corner, across the road, and into the
	wooden guard posts, which, needless to say, won the fight.  They
	didn't even budge.  I still have the picture of the car.  The front
	end of the driver's side was totaled, the frame was completely out
	of shape, the passenger side window shattered.  I hit my head on the
	steering wheel, and my passenger hit her head on the dash.  But,
	once again, nobody was seriously hurt, besides my Opel.  So I really
	didn't learn my lesson.

	The third time, I wasn't driving.  I was a passenger in my friend
	Dave's Maverick.  No seatbelts.  He took a corner too fast (no flames
	please, unless you are a perfect driver, of which there are none),
	and we went over the wall and took a three foot drop.  The car landed
	on the passenger side, and did not have a straight piece of metal
	or frame left.  All four tires were flat, the front side window on
	the driver's side shattered and fell in on us, and the windshield
	shattered and, luckily, fell outside instead of inside.  Miraculously,
	the side window on my side stayed intact.  We both had to go to the
	hospital...I had done a job on my shoulder, and Dave had broken ribs.
	If we had had seatbelts on, I don't think we would've gotten as hurt
	as we did.  The injuries resulted from being thrown around the car
	as we went over the wall.

	I'm not trying to preach to anyone, and I am not trying to make this
	a bid for sympathy...all this happened a while ago.  I am just trying
	to get a little first-hand experience into this discussion, rather than
	some of the second-hand stuff I have been reading.  Granted, there is
	always that one-in-a-million chance that the seatbelt might get jammed
	and you won't be able to get it undone, but personally, I will take
	that one-in-a-million chance.  (Besides, I already did that when I
	was just knee-high to a grasshopper...I stuck the buckle into the
	latch cockeyed, and couldn't get it back out...but that's another story
	altogether).

Laurie
[ihnp4, houxf, mhuxt]!wbux5!lat

CSO \ 185 Monmouth Parkway \ West Long Branch \ NJ \ 07733 \ (203)-870-7491