I was recently in Bengaluru and was being driven around by my business associate there. As soon as I got into his passenger seat in the front, I put on the seat belt out of habit. In Pune it is mandatory and if one does not wear the seat belt, the driver and the passengers are fined. In Bengaluru it is still not mandatory and my associate was bemused. I of course, sermonized on the safety aspect and hopefully converted one blissfully ignorant man.
India, has suddenly become a nation of two wheelers and personal cars after many years of ‘socialism’. Our roads are inadequate, and people who need to be mobile, have to drive around as in most places, the public transport system simply is inadequate to cater to the demand of a vibrant economy in the towns and cities. An indication of the problem of traffic related accidents in my home town of Pune can be gathered from this article.
So, thanks to a post by ellybabes, a soft message with a hard hitting message came to my attention.
It is too good an advertisement not to be shared with my readers who do not wear seat belts and I too reproduce it here.
I think most British car drivers now use their seat belts, though people are seldom fined for not using them. A lot of coaches and buses still don’t have seat belts, and even when they do people are not told to use them. So there are still some nasty injuries after coach and bus crashes.
Yep! I saw that at Elly’s. It is a timely reminder of the necessity to wear a seatbelt.
BUT for those long of neck and lean like me, make sure the seatbelt strap is correctly positioned especially in warmer weather when wearing lighter clothes. Both Elly & I do know of one young man fatally injured when the seatbelt strap cut through an artery in his neck. There was no outward sign at the scene and it was only discovered when the ambulance brought him to the hospital.
bikehikebabe Reply:
April 29th, 2010 at 04:29
OMG another thing to worry about. The seatbelt hits me across the neck since I’m short. Shorter than I was when young.
Very interesting video.
Two of my wife’s brothers were in severe accidents many years ago, one in Maryland and one in Colorado. The one in Maryland was wearing his seat belt and walked away with only minor injuries. The other brother wasn’t wearing his. He ended up as a quadriplegic with some limited use of his hands and arms. The accident occurred in 1978 and he survived until 2006. Not long afterward, we made wearing our seat belts a habit.
Wearing seat belts is required throughout most, if not all of the United States. In Arkansas, until recently, it was a secondary offense where officers could only cite offenders if they were stopped for some other reason. In the last legislative session, it was made a primary offense where people can be stopped if they are observed not wearing their seat belts.
Excellent video, but there is something missing: A family member with a large tummy to simulate the airbag.
Rummuser Reply:
April 29th, 2010 at 20:56
I shall volunteer Looney.
We always wear seat belts and have airbags in the car. I’m short and sit as far back from the airbag so it doesn’t kill me if it ever deploys.
Rummuser Reply:
April 29th, 2010 at 20:56
Good strategy that! I am too big to try anything like that!
Ramana, what’s happened to your font size? Your blog now feels like being at the optician taking an eyetest and desperately trying to guess the tiny letters of the bottom line.
It might of course be the legacy of your recent Russian virus or a cunning ploy to keep me away from your blog Whatever the explanation: I do admire your eyesight.
U
Ursula Reply:
April 28th, 2010 at 06:50
Two seconds later: No need to go the other way!
But thanks.
U
Rummuser Reply:
April 29th, 2010 at 20:54
Ranjan and I, the former more, are struggling to clean up and over haul my blog. Some funny things have been happening recently and this is causing some temporary hassles. By now, the fonts should be quite comfortable.
While I and my entire family are seat-belt wearers, I find making it a law quite distressing. It’s difficult for a libertarian (i.e. ‘freedom uber alles’) to support any law that protects a person from themselves. It’s a curtailment of freedom that is often used to make money for the government via fines.
Yes, wear your seat-belt. But don’t make it a law.
Ursula Reply:
April 28th, 2010 at 13:07
blogagog, I disagree. Whilst I am all for being a libertarian sometimes our freedom, to use your expression, needs to be curtailed – and not just to fill prisons or collect extortionate fines. But to protect OTHER people from ourselves.
Ever heard the story of two couples in a car, husbands in front, wives in the back? The women were not wearing seatbelts. Driver had to brake with considerable force and – by the laws of physics – the full impact of his wife’s weight being thrown forward killed him. Perfect murder – if ever there was one. And what of cyclists not having to wear helmets – by law? Considering that there is little contest between a ton of metal at speed and a skull let’s just blame the driver of the car for the damage.
Assuming that the cyclist NOT wearing a helmet does, by some miracle, survive: What’s the ‘freedom’ in finding yourself in a rehabilitation center for the irretrievably brain damaged?
U
I’ve looked at this video many times and the gushing female that I am, I cry.
Rummuser Reply:
April 29th, 2010 at 20:44
I would not have thought of you as a gushing type! Are you serious?
Ah that’s a great ad. It’s the law here, too.
Bikehikebabe, everything makes me cry, too!
This is one of the most awesome video I’ve ever seen on a blog site. I really do not understand why people tend to ignore wearing a seat belt? I mean its so easy; it takes like 5 seconds, and the rest of the drive you cant even tell its on. In a car accident, when you hit, your body keeps moving at the speed the car was going, which also makes your weight increase and you’re more likely to hurt yourself and other people. So please wear your seat belts at all times.
My life was saved by a seat belt. I recommend you a;ways wear one.
Seat belts are a must because they add an extra layer of “cushioning” to reduce velocity deceleration.
Seat belts are important just like airbags. but it doesn’t work all the time. seat belts could cause chokes and airbags to suffocation