Recently, I was riding in the car with one of my friends. As we pulled onto the highway, I looked over and noticed that he was not buckled. To my surprise, when I told him to buckle up, he responded with “Why, I don’t see a cop, do you?”
This made me think of how many people only buckle up because a cop might be around. Are people really more concerned with fines than his or her own life? There are some people in this world who believe a seatbelt does more harm in a wreck than not wearing one. I’m sure people have had internal damage because of a seatbelt, but I’m almost positive these people would rather have a huge bruise than a head through the windshield.
In January the Mississippi House passed a bill that made it mandatory for front-seat passengers to buckle up. The result of not obeying the law is a $25 fine, which I’m not sure would make people buckle up. But the Senate also passed a bill that says everyone in the car must be buckled or the driver will face a $50 fine, which I believe will make people think twice about riding without seatbelts.
Some people might respond better to numbers and statistics, so I included some from the National Safety Council. First, Mississippi has the second lowest rate in the nation of people who don’t buckle up with a whopping 61 percent. When it comes to seatbelts and death, 136 people ages 15 to 20 were killed on Mississippi roads in 2004, and about 82 percent of these people were not wearing seatbelts. In total, 900 people were killed on Mississippi roads in 2004, and 75 percent were not buckled up.
People still believe it is their choice to wear a seatbelt and not the government’s decision. That’s fine. You can choose to wear it, but if you get pulled over by a cop, you can ride without a seatbelt $25 or $50 poorer.
If seatbelts didn’t save lives, why would they be put into all vehicles, and why would some people care so much about wearing them? The big question I ask is what does it hurt when you wear a seatbelt? Sure, some people say seatbelts are uncomfortable, but I bet jockstraps and cups are, too, and I don’t see any guys playing football without them. And I know stilettos aren’t comfortable, but we wear them anyway and deal with the blisters the next day.
It seems people start wearing their seatbelts after someone close to them dies because of not buckling up. I wish that it didn’t have to be this way, but unless everyone starts buckling up every time they are in a car, it might just stay this way.