Seatbelts - why I wear them!
 

Today, on the way home from Dularge, I had to play paramedic on Hwy 90 after a single vehicle crash ejected 6 people from an Expedition. Guys, please take a second this holiday season to remember to have the family buckle up and insure all seatbelts and car seats are properly fastened. This family will be devastated as I am sure one of the passengers will be a fatality if it isn't already. I treated the driver, which was a 65y/o female and I was able to see inside her chest cavity since her left arm was partially ripped away from her body. Devestating injuries to all, due to all being ejected.

And before I forget, kudos to the first responders from the area volunteer fire department, you guys were a big help!

May god be with them. Please be careful and buckle up.

x2

X3 thats horrible 1 day before Christmas

X4

My key doesn't turn till everyone is buckeled up. nuff said.

I got too many tickets for no seatbelt. I walk past a cop now and reach for it

when the tarps come out, that aint good. i feel for them during this season. will be praying

I will get the measurments from my Trooper buddy that worked the accident, but the one behind the tarp had a open head injury and was about 50 yards from the vehicle. I let the medic on the ground unit take him, the rest in the area of the vehicle were all talking w/ moderate injuries, I told the EMT-P from AASI who I was and told him I could take the driver so he can triage the rest. It was controled chaos, but went as smooth as it could have gone. Lots of good first responders there today and we even had a othro surgeon stop to see if he could be of assistance. Like most doctors in that position, I asked if I could do this and do that, and his response was - "hell, I don't care, do what you have to". It was incredible to see her injury, like a up close and personal anatomy lesson of the human body. She was completely stable, yet I could see her lung inflate!

Never a good thing to have to be the first person on a wreck,
have been in that seat twice and i'm not a certified emt.
Both times it really didn't matter who showed up.

yea, I've been in the FD for about 10 years. I've seen my share. and I saw a heart surgery on my surgery rotation for nursing and it was AWESOME

when I was in school for Criminal Justice, one of my professors worked part-time for a coroner, he had lots of interesting pictures of different fatal injuries, not first hand sight but disturbing.

My hat goes off to all First Responders ... what you do is truly amazing!! Regarding seatbelts, I wera them ALL the time, and now my grandkids will not allow a vehicle to move until they are buckled up as well.

If I had to make a short list of people I'd like to show up for me brian would definately be on it.

Great message with a very powerful delivery! Thanks for helping those folks out Brian.

That's always my message to young drivers... I can fix your car but, I can't fix you so, use the safety equipment they put in there for you!

Seatbelts are good most of the time....
 

look out if you go off into a bayou/river, etc. Nightmare situation if your seatbelts won't open or if you panic enough with water rushing in to not be able to release your belt. They also will probably not hold if you are in a significant enough head-on collision. Hopefully your airbag will help to protect you in that type of situation.

WOW!!! Are we going to have to hold a class on seatbelts?

Lesson 1)- Not all crashes are going to be a collision that people can survive. Kinetic energy is a scientific fact that will end a life, no matter how good the seatbelt is. But, it is easier to survive if you are restrained and let the vehicle shed the kinetic energy than have the body try to take it.

Lesson 2)- The only nightmare about hitting the water is being knocked out and drowning. Water has no effect on the operation of a seatbelt.

To each his own! Good Luck in your travels.

It's not that the water is going to necessarily
 

make the seatbelt malfunction or not release, but the impact, amount of car damage or perhaps injuries keeping you from reaching the release button could. I've even heard of people being thrown from their vehicles, saving their lives. These are not common issues, and the numbers do support seatbelts. Just hate to see people put all of their faith into a seatbelt as though they can't die in a car accident if they're wearing their seat belt. These little emergency window breaker tools are either popular to calm people's fears, or there are more seat belt failures than reported.
Product Description

Emergency Tool After a bad car accident a few seconds can mean the difference between life and death for you and your loved ones. The Emergency Tool helps you to escape quickly after a car accident. Many people fear wearing a seat belt in case they were to be trapped in a burning or sinking vehicle. Electric windows do not work without power and would need to be shattered so you could escape. The surgically sharp blade effortlessly cuts through a tangled seat belt (recessed for safety), the pointed steel head (with red plastic protective cover) easily shatter windows. Simply keep it in your glove box.

" Simply keep it in your glove box."
So after a major collision or crashing into the water ,i should be able to reach into my glove box and find a tool that i can use to cut my seat belt or bust a window.
Don't think so . I'll just depend on my belt and bags .

My emergency winder breaker is a .410 pistol. BAM, winder open.