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>>My life was saved because I WASN'T wearing a seat belt. I had an accident when I was about 17, where a woman ran a stop sign and totalled the van I was driving. I don't know if I went out the windshielf or the door, because it knocked me out. But, I was thrown into the street and ultimately on the curb, while the van flipped over about three times and wound up wrapped around a tree. My parents came to the accident site after I had already been transported to the hospital, and my mother said she just knew I was either mangled or dead. All I had was scraped knees and a little bout with shock.
>>I can tell you without fear of contridiction, I wouldn't want to try that again, and if I had been wearing a seat belt, I would not be here today!
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>Of course an exception is not proof that the rule is wrong. Injuries sustained to passengers not wearing safety belts are, on the average, worse then those who are wearing safety belts.
>
>But I read an interesting thing the other day. The enforcement of the safety belt requirement has not solved the overall problem of car related injuries. It seems that drivers wearing their safety belts feel safer and thus generally drive faster which causes more pedestrian accidents and injuries. Go figure...


A related factor, in this country anyway, is the false sense of security felt by SUV drivers. They think because they're in a 4000 pound behemoth, sitting several feet above the ground, they can't get hurt. Guess again. Small cars don't stand much of a chance in head-on collisions with SUVs, but being more maneuverable they are less likely to be involved in a crash in the first place.

And don't even get me started about SUVs on slippery roads. Many of the drivers seem to think they are impervious with 4WD. A snowy road is still dangerous to ANY driver. And ice, forget it. No vehicle is safe on ice. But these guys bomb down the road at 50 or 60 like they've got some gold immunity star on their a**. I have seen more than a few of them off the road with puzzled looks on their faces.