Seatbelt safety question

[mediccjh]

I was at an EMS conference over the weekend. Ken Bouvier (past head of NAEMT, and head of New Orleans EMS) was the guest lecturer.

He talked about injuries in vehicle collisions, and did a very simple demo. He placed 4 chairs on the stage, and had 4 people sit in them. He then asked them to stand, and sit in every seat in a short amount of time, without going outsde the chairs. Of course everyone bumped into each other. That simple display is what happens during an unseatbelted roll over.

Were you up at the Pocono Conference?

[BushyFromOz]

as Timmy said, it is law here for seatbelts

Protective helmets are law for push bikes and motorcycles are also mandatory

Interestingly Aus has come out with some good scare tactics campaigs the last couple of years, specifically on seatbelts, drink driving (i recommend you see the fantatsic film clip to the song "untitled" by Simple Plan) and anti smoking campaigns.

Cigarette packets are required by law to have some of the dangers of smoking emblazoned across the front of them, including graphic pictureds such as mouth cancer...there are TV commercials that follow this as well

Tobacco products are not to sponser sporting event either, so you will quite frequently see formula 1 or indy cars come into australia, have to cover the sponsorship emblems on thei cars....really made those red and whit Marlborough cars look weird

[firescapes]

Up here in Canada in the province of Ontario it is law to wear a seatbelt....I don't agree with the freedom of choice being taken away...HOWEVER...seatbelts do save many lives...on the other side of the coin there are times that the seatbelt kills...the odds are in favor off wearing for survival in an accident but I still feel we should be able to choose...point in case ...I ran a call on the freeway....a semi tralier had flipped on the cloverleaf(on ramp) and the cab of the vehicle was flattened to a height of 6-10 inches......we were just in the process of contacting the rescue squad which was enroute...and I had conveyed to one of the crew that we are going to have a bitch of a time cutting the driver out...a fellow beside me tapped me on the shoulder and said"hey I'm the driver" "SAY WHAT??" was my response....He had no recollection of how he got tossed free...a seatbelt definetly would have killed him...am I saying don't wear one, NO!! Just have the freedom to choose....I wear one all the time in passenger vehicles...when it comes to a large truck... I choose not too...they were pushing it on the Dept. to wear one in the Fire Truck...that lasted for about 5min for me ...I just didn't feel safe strapped in there.Different strokes for different folks..

[KSEMT122]

In Kansas wearing a seat belt is the law. It is a secondary law, meaning you cannot be pulled over for that violation, but it can be cited if you've been pulled over for another reason. In an Ambulance I ALWAYS wear my seatbelt, unless I'm in back, and then I only wear them on Long distance transfers. As a Police Officer, I hardly EVER wore my seatbelt. Cops have a bad habit of that for lots of reasons, none probably good enough though to justify not wearing one. I can tell you from experience on both sides. Seatbelts save lives more often than not. Like someone already said, that seems to be a common factor. Obviously there are times where a seatbelt isn't enough to save a life. I've also seen unrestrained passengers that have ended up on top of the driver who was also unrestrained, so I would probably agree that an unrestrained passenger is a greater threat than an unrestrained driver.

[JPINFV]

Up here in Canada in the province of Ontario it is law to wear a seatbelt....I don't agree with the freedom of choice being taken away...HOWEVER...seatbelts do save many lives...on the other side of the coin there are times that the seatbelt kills...the odds are in favor off wearing for survival in an accident but I still feel we should be able to choose...point in case ...I ran a call on the freeway....a semi tralier had flipped on the cloverleaf(on ramp) and the cab of the vehicle was flattened to a height of 6-10 inches......we were just in the process of contacting the rescue squad which was enroute...and I had conveyed to one of the crew that we are going to have a bitch of a time cutting the driver out...a fellow beside me tapped me on the shoulder and said"hey I'm the driver" "SAY WHAT??" was my response....He had no recollection of how he got tossed free...a seatbelt definetly would have killed him...am I saying don't wear one, NO!! Just have the freedom to choose....I wear one all the time in passenger vehicles...when it comes to a large truck... I choose not too...they were pushing it on the Dept. to wear one in the Fire Truck...that lasted for about 5min for me ...I just didn't feel safe strapped in there.Different strokes for different folks..

Your right to decide not to wear a [insert helmet, seatbelt, other required safety device] ends when you expect any sort of subsidized care [i.e. expect your fellow citizens to pay part of the cost]. The truth is, speaking from an American view point, most accident victims receive some sort of public assitance. Of course Canada has socialized healthcare, so you are guaranteed to receive tax dollars to pay for your care.