Seat Belts Save Lives

In 2016, a good friend of mine from dance was driving home and was in a terrible car accident. She ran off the road and crashed into a tree. Her face hit the airbag and was crushed. She had to be airlifted to the hospital. After multiple surgeries to fix her face, she was able to return to school and to her daily life. While I do not know why she ran off the road, I do know that something saved her life. The fact of the matter is that she was wearing her seat belt. If she had not been, she would have hit or flown through the windshield, and she would not be here today. People might say that an airbag is enough protection or that wearing a seat belt does not prevent accidents, but really if people do wear their seat belts, they are less likely to die from the crash. Even though there is a seat belt law in the state of Alabama, I still see people driving in their vehicles with no seat belts on. I think the driver’s education teachers and the law enforcement should do more to get the message of wearing seat belts out there.

Of course, the importance of wearing a seat belt should first be taught at home by the parents, but it should also be taught in driver’s education classes in school. My father is a former driver’s education teacher, and he always told his students to never ride in a vehicle without a seat belt on because you never know what could happen. My dad always proved his point by showing videos of accidents where lives could have been saved if they had a seat belt on. This method can make students think about their safety and, hopefully, change their habits. Another way to prove that seat belts save lives is that you can show the statistics. Studies go on all the time about how wearing a seat belt while in an accident has made a huge difference in the outcomes of the accidents. If driver’s education teachers did these two things, I think that students will have a different opinion about seat belts.

With the technology that we have today, I think the law enforcement should collaborate with auto manufactures to come up with a way to detect this. I think that vehicles should not be allowed to drive unless all people in the vehicle have their seat belt on. This could make a huge difference in the amount of lives saved. I always like to make sure that everyone has a seat belt in my vehicle and others should, as well. Also, I like the idea of talking with my friends about what my friend went through to persuade them to always wear their seat belt. If teachers and officers worked together to enforce this, they could change the world. Wearing a seat belt saved my friend’s life, so it could save other people’s lives too.