I know y'all always hear this phrase, but I cannot tell you the importance of these words. There have been two car accidents with people very close to me that have shown me the absolute necessity of seat belts.
The first accident was my brother's. His 'friend' was driving and the front seats were back so far that he and the girl beside him could not sit correctly in the back seat and were unable to put their seat belts on. They went over a hill going around 100 mph and the car started spinning. The driver jumped out at the last minute so he was fine. My brother and the girl were thrown out of the car. The girl hit a telephone pole and died at the scene. My brother hit a tree. At the hospital, my parents were told to prepare themselves because he probably wouldn't make it. He was in a coma and he had a bad head injury but he came through. He had to re-learn how to do many things, like the ABCs, his address and how to walk. He also could not feel his right arm. Apparentley, as he was being thrown out of the car, he grabbed on with his right arm and the nerves were pulled out of the spine. This has been the biggest hinderance in the long run because he can't use it at all and he was right handed. He has been living with this for about 12 years now and has pretty much gotten used to it but it does cause problems. Not wearing a seat belt for one car ride can cause so many long term difficulties. For instance, he was in college at the time and he tried to go back to school after the wreck but it was too hard to learn after his head injury. He also cannot hold down a decent job for any length of time. If you still aren't convinced on wearing a seat belt, let me give you another example.
This car accident was recently, over this last Christmas break. One of my very best friends went to Mexico for Christmas to celebrate the holiday with her family. This is about 20 hour drive so she and her mom were taking turns driving so they wouldn't have to stop. They had just crossed the border and my friend was driving while the rest of them slept. She was wearing her seat belt and she thought her mother, who was in the passenger's seat was wearing her's too. It turned out that my friend was the only one wearing a seat belt because the rest had taken them off to get comfortable. She can't remember exactly what happened but I 'll tell you what she thinks happened. They were in a SUV that was almost full. They were travelling with her aunt, her aunt's two kids, my friends little brother and her cousin. The road was narrow and the it dropped off to a ditch. She remembers the car's wheel slipping off the road a little so she turned the wheel the other way. It sounds like she over-corrected and this caused the SUV to flip a few times and then land upright. Since she was wearing her seat belt she was okay and as soon as she could she began trying to help the others but to do this she had to crawl out the window because she couldn't get the door open. All but my friend and her mother were thrown out of the car but her cousin, her brother and her aunt's children just had a few bruises. Her mother was in very bad shape and when they got to the hospital, they found she had broken her collar bone and her arm, but those would heal. They are still worried about blood clots that are in her brain. Also, she is being treated for this in a Mexican hospital (not the best) because the doctors say they can't move her (I will update on that when I know more). And still, this is not the worst. Her aunt died in the accident. My friend feels horrible about this and keeps saying she feels like it was her fault and maybe if she hadn't been driving this wouldn't have happened. I try to console her but it doesn't help much. I truly believe that if everyone had been wearing their seat belts they may have been banged up a bit but for the most part they would've been okay.
Please y'all, wear your seat belts. I t doesn't matter if it's a 20 hour road trip or 5 minutes down the road, BUCKLE UP!
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