Seat Belts

I felt I had to touch on this subject after some recent training at the Post Office's Calvert Training Academy. One of the subjects they hit on was how important it was to wear your seat belt. I'd heard this before and felt like yawning. What got my attention was some of the videos they play. The first video they played showed test crash dummies and what happened to them during a crash. The instructor pointed pointed that it isn't the impact of the opposing car that kills. It is the impact of the passengers with parts of their own car. In the case of the front seat passengers, they consistently smashed into the windshield with horrific results. I could see them hit the windshield with such force that if they'd real persons, they'd either broken their necks or ended up paralyzed. Equally horrific was what happened to children who weren't buckled up in the back seat. In one case, the child became a missile that smashed into the buckled in adult in the front seat. I shudder to think what would've happened to real kids. Parents should definitely make sure their kids are securely buckled in when travelling.

The last video they showed was interesting in that it proved conclusively that seat belts can save lives. To be absolutely certain that seat belts save lives, an unknown German ministry recreated certain car accidents with real people in the cars. One example was a driver going full speed head on into a tree. The taped footage shows the car totally smashed up but the driver incredibly enough exits the car alive and unhurt. After watching the video, you can't have any doubt that seat belts save lives. If you don't use them, please start. If you have kids, please make sure they're properly buckled in. Every year over 50,000 people in the U.S. die in car accidents. I suspect if those people used their seat belts, most of them would still be alive. Don't become one of those statistics. Use your seat belt and stay alive.