“Is everyone buckled?” I can’t even count how many times my mom asked that question before pulling out of the driveway or parking lot. She often didn’t even start the car until all of our buckles were latched.
You’d think that with all the statistics out there on how many lives are saved by wearing seat belts, people would buckle up without a thought. Heck, even if they don’t care about saving their lives, you’d think people would buckle up to avoid getting a hefty ticket.
Prior to having a baby, my husband and I always buckled; however, we didn’t ever pay attention as to whether other adults in the car buckled up. We figured it was their decision; if they wanted to die in a car accident because they couldn’t take 2 seconds to fasten the seat belt, we weren’t going to argue with them. Of course, we never wanted anyone to die or get injured from not wearing a seat belt, and we preferred that people buckle, but we never made sure everyone was buckled.
It wasn’t until recently, when a few people rode with us when our baby was in the car and didn’t buckle, that I started considering the risk riding unbuckled poses to everyone in the car.
Sure, if you could guarantee that the one person who didn’t buckle would shoot straight through the windshield and never hit anyone else on the way out in the event of an accident, you could safely say that a person choosing not to buckle is “only hurting himself.”
A more likely scenario is one where the unbuckled person ends up slamming into one or more people in the car, potentially injuring or killing them. I don’t even want to think about the damage an adult head slamming into an infant’s body could do.
So, gone are the days where we say nothing when people don’t buckle. Is it uncomfortable for me to ask a person twice my age, someone I really respect, to buckle up? Yes, it is. It’s even worse when they say, “It’s a short trip,” or “I’m in the back seat” as a reason why they really don’t need to buckle, and force me to require them to buckle. I did it over the weekend, and I felt really bad. I never like to make people feel dumb, or disrespected. However, it’s well worth it when I consider what could be the alternative.
“Is everyone buckled?” We’re not leaving until everyone answers with a resounding, “Yes!”