Using my afore-mentioned training methods has resulted in both sets of kids habitually using belts, even to the point of calling me out about them not having it on yet.
’’ Dad, stop ! I don’t have my belt on yet.’'
I happily stop and wait , thanking them for letting me know.
My oldest son ( now 34 ) was often the only kid in the car full of friends with his belt on. He wouldn’t make a scene or anything, just buckle like normal . . noticing that , when he did, so did the others.
I was a fireman for a number of years.
I have a few calls that have stuck with me over time but this one is pertinent to this topic.
On July 4 one year we got called out to a rollover accident on the exit ramp for the toll road. When we rolled up on the scene we found a small SUV which had been packed with people, until it rolled.
My job was to get the single occupant left in the car out. This person was the only individual who was wearing a belt out of 7 people in the car. All of the others were ejected.
The person who was extricated from the car suffered the least amount of injury of everyone. All the others suffered trauma while exiting the car and upon landing. The people who were ejected and landed in the grass on the side of the road lived, the ones who landing on the pavement did not.
Wear your seatbelt.
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