Do you think that a $115 ticket for not wearing your seatbelt is unfair? Have you compared that with the price of intensive medical care for treatment of an unbelted person who had been thrown from a vehicle? 75% of those ejected from a vehicle are seriously injured or killed. Brainerd Lakes Area law enforcement officers will be participating in the Statewide Mn Safe and Sober program and the Child Passenger Safety, and Night Patrol.
Seat belts are to be worn by all vehicle occupants anytime that vehicle is moving. If buckled, your chance of surviving a crash is more that 50%. For those properly buckled up and riding in an SUV or a pickup truck the survival rate goes to more that 60%.
The law enforcement liaison for Northern Minnesota with the MN Safe and Sober program is Tom Kummrow. He quotes that 84% of Minnesotans on the average use their seat belts. However, here in rural MN among young men who drive pickup trucks that number drops to 20%.
"That's horrible," said Kummrow. "Thats where we are killing our people."
To give more statistical evidence - in 2005 there were 440 people killed in car accidents in MN. 225 of those were not wearing seat belts. And of those 225 people who were not belted, 1/4 were ejected or partially ejected from the vehicle.
For Minnesota, our leading cause of death and injury to people age 4-33 years is traffic crashes. Nationally, traffic fatalities account for more children's deaths that all childhood diseases combined. Tom Kummrow should know about how expensive and emotionally devastating a crash can be for someone who is unbelted. His son was not wearing one when he had a vehicle roll over. After spending 6 weeks in a coma, the medical charges will run between $500,000 to $1 million. His son has now recovered.
Crow Wing County Sheriff, Todd Dahl, says that in his 20 law enforcement years there could have been many lives saved if only they had been wearing a seat belt.
"Your safety is our # 1 priority and buckling up is an important part of that," Dahl said.
If you are a non seat belt wearing person, statistically it will take 2.4 tickets for not wearing a seat belt in order to change you into a seat belt wearer.
Let us improve all the above statistics. Bad choices cost us all.
----------- CLICK IT ----------------
Welcome from the Brainerd Lakes - where outdoor and indoor recreational opportunites abound. Looking to buy on one of our many lakes? Ready to move up or down? Having trouble selling your home? Falling behind on payments or already in the foreclosure process? I am a Certified Short Sale Specialist as well as a Home Staging Expert.
Call me!
Tell her that it is a matter of physics - the law of inertia. Even Hulk Hogan could not hold a baby and prevent them from hitting the dash or windshield. Newton's first law basically states that things in motion keep in motion
- whatever speed the car is going is the speed the bodies in the car are going x the weight of the body= the force of the mass. I tried to make this rather basic. So a 10 pound baby going 50mph has a mass force of 500 and Grandma isn't that strong. Plus the body holding the child will then follow it on impact and further crush it into the dash.
Research Proves Using Seat Belts Saves Lives
If the car were to suddenly stop because it impacted with another object, the passengers’ inertia and the car's inertia would be completely independent. The force of the impact would bring the car to an abrupt stop, but the passengers would still be traveling at 40 miles per hour. Without a seat belt, the inhabitants would continue to move forward at 40 miles per hour until their path was obstructed, usually by a steering wheel, dashboard, or windshield. Depending on where and how the passengers landed, they could be killed instantly, injured severely, or walk away from the crash unharmed.
The deciding factor in this equation is the seat belt. A seat belt applies the stopping force to the sturdier parts of the body over a longer period of time. If it is worn correctly, it will apply the major portion of the stopping force to the rib cage and the pelvis, which are better able to handle it than other body parts. The belts extend across a wide section of the body, so the force is not concentrated on a small section of the body and cannot do as much harm as the impact of an object in the car. In addition, the flexible seat belt material stretches to keep the stop from being too sudden.
This simple piece of equipment relies on the properties of physics to save both lives and millions of dollars in health care annually. It could save you money in taxes and health insurance costs. The three extra seconds it takes to reach over and fasten the belt seem insignificant when you consider the many benefits of wearing it. The next time you ride in a car, check to see if all the passengers are belted in; it could be the difference between life and death.
Unbelted passenger endanger the lives of those buckled because their bodies become hurtling missiles.
Before going into Home Staging, I taught as a Public Health Educator for the government.