Henry Rifle Forums

Got an email from an old friend today and he shared this information, I thought I should pass it on. If it saves ONE life, it was worth the time.

A friend of the wife and I had gone on a trip with his wife and another couple and they were driving back home in their SUV. The husbands were in the front seats, belted in. The wives were in the back seats talking away, but NOT belted in. They were in the right hand lane on an interstate in northern Indiana. A vehicle in the center lane suddenly cut over into their lane catching the rear quarter panel on the driver's side, basically performing a PIT maneuver on their vehicle, violently slewing the vehicle sideways and causing it to rolling multiple times down the interstate before coming to a stop. Being belted in, and due to the airbags in the SUV, the husbands in the front were fine, only suffered minor cuts and bruises. Unbelted, the wives in the rear were both ejected during the first roll or two and the SUV rolled over them and crushed them. ONE died on the scene and the other died in route to the hospital.

Due to my Military Career and my Law Enforcement background, I have never allowed anyone in my vehicles to ride without wearing a seatbelt. The kids have known the rules since they were old enough to ride outside a car seat. I never put the car in gear until they were all buckled. Even to this day, Miss T and I always wear our seatbelts. (It never hurt that we rode on the rescue squads as EMTs for four years either...) We saw the difference between belted and unbelted vehicle accidents.

There are those who won't wear seatbelts. Everyone has a reason.

My mother would never wear her seatbelt when I was a kid, and her argument was that if the car went into the water she might not get loose in time to get out of the car. I learned when I grew up that wearing the belt means you might be conscious after hitting the water and able to survive the impact and free yourself. Panic is your enemy, not a seat belt.

The wife of a friend never wears her seatbelt because it messes up the look of her clothing, puts creases in her dress or her high end suits.



There is no talking to her about safety... she says her vehicle has NINE airbags.



Don't wear it because you might get a ticket, or because I suggest it. Wear it because it might save your life. Someone will miss you if you are gone.

Just think about it.

During my cop life, I saw way too many people who were killed or severely injured because they didn’t buckle up. If the woman who doesn’t want her clothes messed up because of a seat belt, she might look at someone who has been ejected in a rollover; they are pretty messy, too.

From 1967 to 1974 I drove tractor trailer over the road. Then Uncle Sam sent me a '"Greetings" so that ended my career of driving.
Those were the days of no seat belts and two lane highways. I think I would see an average of a fatal accident a week. I recall one head on crash between a pickup and a passenger car where the older couple in the car were both crammed in the rear window well. Dead of course. The driver of the pickup was sitting on the road holding his head. He had went through the windshield. He died.

I believe in seat belts, air bags, split lane highways, etc. Whatever makes it safer. I now haven't seen a fatal accident in years and we do travel quite a bit with our Motorhome.

My wheels do not turn until everyone is belted in. The Grandkids hate me, but that's OK.

I remember the time I decided I should start wearing seat belts. First car was a 65 Mustang with single point belts. Those are minimal protection at best, I was young, and never wore them. Fast forward a few years, when my daughter was very young and we were going somewhere in the car (a couple cars removed from the Mustang). I made her put her seat belt on, and then looked at mine hanging from the post. I decided that I had to provide a good example. Have worn them religiously ever since.

It's such a habit with me that I don't even think about it, yet it's on when I start rolling.
I used to be against motorcycle helmet laws, thinking it was my choice. Then an old boss of mine put it this way;
" Who do you think pays the medical bills for the vegetable lying in the hospital on life support? "
Could that be us taxpayers?

True story. I was driving from Albany, NY to Syracuse, NY on a Sunday to meet up with two other sales people to go for week long training. On my way it was raining and occasionally sleeting/snowing, there was very little traffic and all of a sudden the car started hydroplaning, it did a 360 and I ended going off the road. Luckily there were no guardrails and I ended down an embankment and was able to drive through the weeds and ended back up on the road. I was lucky that there were no guardrails and the car didn’t roll over, and I never ever drove without my seat belt on.

My son was born in 1985 and of course we strapped him into his car seat religiously. One day it dawned on me that strapping him into his seat was fine and dandy but if his mom and I were killed in a crash that would be not good for him should he survive. I starting using my seatbelt right then and have continued to do so up to today. Several years later Washington State made wearing belts mandatory and that was a non-event for me as by then I was conditioned to put my belt on every time I got into a vehicle.

Thanks for the PSA and that’s a sad story about the two couples but certainly drives the point home.