David Heiller
I became a firm
believer in seat belt use in 1980.
My sister-in-law was on her way home to Brooklyn Center for Easter
break that year. She was sitting in the front seat between two other people.
The weather was terrible that day thanks to a spring snowstorm. As
they traveled along Highway 316 south of Hastings, an oncoming vehicle lost
control and hit them head on.
My sister-in-law went through the windshield.
She did not die,
but she suffered a closed head injury. She was
in a coma for about a month, then spent years of physical therapy and cognitive
rehabilitation. She has worked hard to make a good life for herself, but her
life was changed forever that day.
She didn’t have a seat belt on. Very likely she would have been
spared serious injury had she been wearing one.
There are a lot of stories out there like that. When we read them, we
don’t really absorb them and internalize them. But since that, I have been a consistent seat belt
wearer,
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| 1954 Chevy |
That certainly wasn’t
the case growing up. (I know I speak for a lot of people in my generation on
that subject.) We had a 1954 Chevy, which fit all eight kids. My sister Kathy
said we would put two stools in the back seat to accommodate everyone on the
occasions that we all piled inside, like a trip to see my uncle in St. Paul. I
don’t remember that—I was probably sitting on someone’s lap.
I can still remember
the first car we had with seat belts, a 1964 Chevrolet. They were a novelty,
and that was about it.
 |
| 1964 Chevy |
Slowly the word
spread that seat belts saved lives. The smart people figured why not, and the
dumb ones like me had to be shown first hand.
There’s another
reason to wear your seat belt right now. Law enforcement officers in four local
counties, including Houston, are issuing tickets to violators of the seat belt
law. It’s part of a campaign called “Bluff Country Buckle-Up.” From now to
June 4, police deputies and state troopers will be issuing tickets and not
warnings if they catch you without your seat belt on.
It’s happening. If you don’t believe me, check out the sheriff and
police logs. I do that as part of my job and I saw numerous citations last week.
That’s something I rarely see.
A press packet from the program’s coordinator, Brenda Leigh Pohlman,
has some grim facts to motivate us. “In 2004, more than half of 461 vehicle
occupant fatalities in Minnesota were unbelted: Pohlman wrote. “From 2000-2004
in Winona County, 46 people died and 20 were unbelted victims. Those same
years, Fillmore County had a total of 12 traffic fatalities, five of which were
unbelted occupants, Out of Houston County’s 16 deaths during that five-year
span, seven were unbelted.”
There were a lot more statistics, but if you are like me, you mind
will numb up with about one more sentence.
The bottom line is this: Wear your seat belt. It will increase the
likelihood of you surviving a bad car crash.
Editor’s note: In
Minnesota, failure to wear your seat belt is now a Primary Offense, meaning that
you can be ticketed for not wearing one. There are enforced seat belt laws in
all states except for New Hampshire.
