The Importance of Seat Belts
Do you wear a seat belt in the car? The law requires you to and no, it’s not baseless. There is a whole set of reasons, and some very good ones too, because of which you should always wear a seat belt.
For starters, you have to pay a fine n in around 49 states, if you aren’t wearing a seat belt. But that’s not why you should wear a seat belt, it is about being safe when behind the wheel and on the road, and preventing injuries should there ever be an accident.
Because your life is precious
Even the most skilled of drivers have crashed their cars, and so can anyone out there. If you are wearing a seat belt during a crash, the chances of fatalities are reduced by as much as 40%. And by a huge 60% if are in a light truck. As per the stats, rapid 40,000 people die in car crashes every year – in fact, crashes are the number one cause of death, considering people who die at 35 or younger.
Not convinced?
So did the stats alone not convince you? Let get into the science of it then. Suppose you are driving your car at 30 mph, which means you are also traveling forward at the same speed. If you car comes to a sudden stop, you are likely to keep moving until you collide with something, and that would probably be the windshield in front of you. But if you wear seat a seatbelt, you can only go forward to a certain exten only, and prevent yourself from being thrown out or smashed against the front of your car.
And by the way, the impact of a smash in a car at 30 mph is almost the same as falling from a 3 storey building. Scared now?
Also when you are wearing a seat belt, you only feel the pressure in those areas where your body can best absorb the impact such as your shoulder bones and hips.
But your car has an airbag
Every car has, but air bags alone aren’t a good enough safety measure. They don’t offer as much protection as a seatbelt and wont privet you from being thrown out of the car.
So wear the seat belt whenever you are in the car – you can never know what’s going to happen at the next turn.
