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Seatbelt Safety

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Buckle Up Your Seatbelt
Stephanie Rivera
Kaplan University

Professor Pavesic
CM220: College Composition II
August 31, 2014

Buckling Up Your Seatbelt It just could not get any easier for many people, get in a vehicle and fasten their seatbelt. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (2014), the use of the seatbelt can reduce the risk of a serious injury by 50%.” Yes, using a seatbelt can get annoying at times with it getting stuck, locked in place, or even it getting on a person’s nerves with it rubbing against their neck and ears .Many people may argue about their reasons for not wanting to wear a seatbelt and many have a doctor’s note giving them permission to not wear a seatbelt, but in the end a person is saving their own life by buckling up. With more car crashes happening in Texas, the use of a seatbelt might help reduce the number of deaths that arise from a car crash. Each and every state has different laws with regulations on the use and nonuse of seatbelts. It is stated in the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, that currently thirty three states in the United States have primary seat belt laws (IIHS, 2014). ©Insurance Institute for Highway Safety
What is a primary seatbelt law? A primary seatbelt laws allows a police to stop and ticket a motorist is the driver and passengers are not buckled up, National Conference of State Legislatures (2013). The state of Texas is one of the thirty three states that has mandatory seatbelt use laws. Under Texas State Law (TEX TN. CODE ANN. § 545.413: Texas Statutes - Section 545.413: SAFETY BELTS; OFFENSE), a person commits the offense if the person is occupying a seat equipped with a safety belt ad is not secured by a safety seat. For the state of Texas like other states, the law requires for all passengers in the vehicle to be buckled up, yes backseat passengers are required to as well. A person pulled over and not wearing a seatbelt can be fined up to two hundred and fifty dollars. Would you rather use this money to buy other items than use it all to pay a ticket? The person or people who get into a vehicle surely do have the choice to use or not use a seatbelt while driving or riding along as a passenger. Some people may just get lucky in the event of a car crash, while not wearing a seatbelt and some might not get so lucky. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (2014) states, “The consequences of not wearing a safety belt can greatly affect your family and loved ones.” In reference to the Texas Click It or Ticket Fact Sheet (2014),”Unbelted back seat passengers can become human projectiles, they can even kill or injure front seat passengers.” Many people never realize the seriousness of something until something horrible happens, such as a car accident and it is too late to make the simple change. Through observations it was said that teen drivers are more likely to not wear a seatbelt in a vehicle compared to adults. At a local conference in McAllen, Texas, Ruby Martinez (a Texas Department of Transportation Representative) stated, “According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (2014), teens are involved in three times more fatal crashes as all other drivers. Martinez also added, “When it comes to buckling up, actions speak louder than words, your kids are observing you as you drive it is a teachable moment for them.” ©SafeKids.org
Unlike most teens, adults are more likely to use a seatbelt in vehicles. However on the Texas Click It or Ticket Campaign (2014), it says that men use seatbelts less often than woman. Some of the reasons given for none seatbelt use by teens and adults were that wearing a seatbelt was inconvenient and uncomfortable, that seatbelts are not necessary when you have airbags, that they may cause injury in the event of a car crash, and that a seatbelt may cause a person to get trapped in a vehicle underwater or in a fire (buyautoinsurance.com, 2013). Not only are seatbelts necessary for adults and teens, but children and babies also need to be buckled up. The Department of Motor Vehicles Website (2014) states that in Texas a person must secure any child under 8 years old in a federally approved child car seat while operating the vehicle, unless the child is more than 4'9" tall the child does not need the car seat or booster chair. The loss of a child is a great tragedy for anyone. As said by the National Highway Traffic Administration (2014),” If you do get in an accident, having your child properly secured in a child safety seat can reduce the risk of death by 71 percent for babies and 54 percent for toddlers.” The use of car seats are highly recommended by many people everywhere for the very safety of the child but not all people listen to these laws. On July 11, 2014, a local news station reported of a car accident involving the death of 2 children (Woman,22,charged,2014). KWTX reported of an accident involving a family of four, a mother, father and their two children, a drunk driver crashed into the family’s vehicle. Law enforcement stated that the children in the vehicle were not restrained causing them to die on impact. Just think about it, had the children been wearing a seatbelt they might still be alive! Too many getting injured is nothing out of the ordinary, but losing their life because of simply not buckling up their seatbelt is not a good way to leave this world. Dictionary.com defines a seatbelt as,” a belt or strap in an automobile, airplane, etc., fastened around or sometimes diagonally across the midsection to keep the person safely secured, as during a sudden stop (2014).” Just as said the purpose of a seatbelt is to keep the passenger or driver secured. Death is one of the many outcomes of not wearing a seatbelt in a vehicle. The Texas Department of Transportation concluded that there was an estimated 12,174 people that survived an accident because of wearing their seatbelt. However there was still an estimated 3,031live that were lost, but could have been saved had they been using their seatbelt. Think about it, a person gets in a vehicle to drive to the store, the driver is not wearing a seatbelt. As the driver is driving down the road another vehicle collides with this vehicle, head on. The driver is ejected out of the vehicle and is lying on the street lifeless. It is at moments like these where people wish they could turn back time and do things right. So as much as it is emphasized everywhere, using a seatbelt is the best choice a person could make when getting into a vehicle. A person can save a life by using a seatbelt, reduce the risk of major injury, and even help prevent any injuries. Many states require the use of a seatbelt in vehicle as per law and through professional studies and tests a seatbelt has been proven effective in a car crash. Remember for many people a drive anywhere without using a seatbelt can be the last drive for them, buckle up!

References
Baumgartner, G. (2012). Seat Belt Safety in Texas. Retrieved from http://www.hg.org/article.asp?id=28679
BuyAutoInsurance.com (2013). Seat Belt Safety: Could It Save Your Life? Available from http://www.buyautoinsurance.com/seat-belt-safety/
City of McAllen. [City of McAllen]. (2014 May 27). Click it or Ticket 2014 {video file]. Available from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2v3zU1jm958
Department of Motor Vehicles. (2014). Safety Laws in Texas. Retrieved from http://www.dmv.org/tx-texas/safety-laws.php
Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. (April 2014). What do you say to drivers who think wearing a safety belt is a personal decision and doesn't affect anyone else? Retrieved from http://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/faq/what-do-you-say-drivers-who-think-wearing-safety-belt-personal-decision
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (2014). Texas Seat Belt Law. Retrieved from http://texas.drivinguniversity.com/driving-safety/texas-seat-belt-law
(“Safety Belts: Thousands of people still die because they didn’t buckle up.”). (August 2014). Retrieved from http://www.iihs.org/iihs/topics/laws/safetybeltuse/mapbeltenforcement
Seat belt. (n.d.). Dictionary.com Unabridged. Retrieved August 12, 2014, from Dictionary.com website: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/seatbelt
(“Seatbelts”, July 2014). Retrieved from http://www.iihs.org/iihs/topics/laws/safetybeltuse
Safe Kids Worldwide TM. (2014). Teens in Cars, June 2014. Retrieved from https://www.safekids.org/sites/default/files/documents/ResearchReports/teen_driving_2014_study-for_web_v2.pdf
TEX TN. CODE ANN. § 545.413: Texas Statutes - Section 545.413: SAFETY BELTS; OFFENSE (2013). Retrieved from http://codes.lp.findlaw.com/txstatutes/TN/7/C/545/I/545.413#sthash.vSCavyUQ.dpuf
Texas Department of Transportation. (2014). Click It or Ticket It 2014. Retrieved from http://www.texasclickitorticket.com/whats_new/?cat=10
Texas Department of Transportation. (2014) Fact Sheets 2014. Retrieved from http://www.texasclickitorticket.com/resources.html
Texas Department of Transportation. (2014) Seat Belts Save Lives. Retrieved from http://www.texasclickitorticket.com/whats_new/?p=449
Woman, 22, charged in crash that left 2 central Texas children dead. (2014, July 11). KWTC.com. Retrieved from http://www.kwtx.com/home/headlines/Woman-22-Charged-In-Crash-That-Left-2-Central-Texas-Children-Dead-266773011.html

Reflection I have really enjoyed this course. I have learned many things some in particular I have is now having a better understanding of what proper writing is all about. I am still trying to get a hang of developing an argumentive essay but with practice I will get the hang of it. Citation and research are one of my many improvements I have learned in this class. The final project has actually taught me the most. It has enabled me to expand my mind and produce better research and give my essays more information and development. There were many times that I just felt like giving up on this cause I would get writers block too quick, however I am glad I kept going and have, well will, now be completed College Composition II. Since I am currently almost complete with my Legal Secretary Certificate Program, I have seen through my legal classes that the whole job is based off of writing. I have been able to use the writing skills in this course for my other course and I cannot help but thank you Professor Pavesic for teaching me all this. I am fully aware of how serious writing skills are necessary for the job I will be getting in the future and can honestly say I am prepared for what is to come.

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