Buckle up for common sense

    For many of us, it is the first thing we do after putting the key in the ignition and turning our cars on. It has been instilled in many of us that wearing your seat belt is not an option, but rather  it is mandatory.

    I'm so tired of reading story after story of yet another teen killed in a tragic car accident. Most of the articles read that the police have confirmed that the victim was not wearing his seatbelt.

    So what is all the hype with not clicking the belt before taking off? How much can a person really do while in a car? Are they practicing gymnastics? Is that why they can not take the extra two seconds to buckle up? Thirty-six percent of all deaths in our age group are from car accidents, making it the leading cause of death among teens.

    Over 10% of teenagers from grades nine to twelve admit to not using their seat belts, which puts us at the top of the list for groups who refuse to buckle up. Over 6,000 youth are killed each year from car accidents alone. Half of the articles I read indicate that if the teens were wearing their seatbelts, the headline wouldn’t read ‘fatal’.

    While working at a police station over the summer, I had the chance to see cars close up that were involved in  accidents that look like fender benders until you notice the shattered windshield with blood stains all over the interior. The cars that you could not even recognize because of their shapes would be the ones that had survivors simply because they decided to wear their seatbelts.Why take that risk?  I don’t even notice my seatbelt until I take it off.  Is it really that big of a problem to strap a two inch strap across you?

     Nobody is going to think you are any cooler without your seatbelt, so get into the habit of buckling it as soon as you get in your car. It’s common sense to do the thing that will keep you safe.

    Here’s your public safety announcement: seat belts save your life.