Why You Should Probably Wear That Seat Belt
I went on a trip to Tulsa with my father and his friend a few years ago. It was February, and the Bassmaster Classic was happening at the BOK Center downtown. It was an all day event, and given that they're both getting up there in age, I offered to drive. Now, from where they live to Tulsa is pretty much slow-going, small town, back roads. Rarely do you get the opportunity to get over 55MPH. Being such a slow jaunt, and me being the youthful libertarian, I didn't even think to put on a seat belt. Then my father said something I'll never forget... "Don't wear your seat belt to save yourself, wear it for us. If we get hit, and you fly out, we can't regain control from here?"
That really hit home with me. Especially since, being the youngest, I usually got to make family road trips as a kid with the protection of a blanket and pillow in the cargo area of the family SUV. Then I started thinking about my nephews. How many times I'd make them put on their belts, but never put one on myself. The dozen times I'd been pulled over for seat belt violations in Lawton, but always managed to get busted by the cool LPD officers that let a verbal warning suffice... Then you see a video like this and it all kind of gets ruined. You grow a little in that moment, just enough to think about it when you hop in the car.
For the record, there were some severe injuries, but they all lived.