Buckling Down

On the last day of March, I got a ticket. I had stopped at the local bakery on my way to work to pick up some rolls for myself and coworkers, then got back in my car and completed the ride without my seat belt on. Two blocks. I was spotted in the first block by a New York State trooper. I wasn’t even aware that those flashing lights behind me were FOR me until he followed me into the parking lot and wasn’t aware of the lack of seat belt until he pointed it out. Ouch. One full page ticket on thermal paper was all mine. The minimum fine for this infraction in New York is $50 (plus surcharges), but there are also the two points that can get added to your license that stay there for a few years and can make the car insurance rates take a leap skyward. Ouch squared.

On the day in question, my mind was not where it should have been, which was completely on my driving. I had a family member undergoing surgery in another state and that’s where at least a part of my attention was being focused. I’m not giving this as an excuse, just as a fact of the day. As I got into conversations about it, people kept reminding me that I really was a good driver and that I just had the misfortune of forgetting to wear my seat belt just once and just happened to get caught. I found I wasn’t above allowing myself to believe their words, even saying that it wasn’t like me, that I always put my seat belt on.

But the following day, reality found me starting to drive without my seat belt again, this time from the post office to home, a distance of about four blocks. I stopped and corrected within a few yards, but the error had been made. It was a different situation, but a similar set of conditions. This instantly brought out the investigative analyst nerd in me and I started to pay close attention to when the seat belt really went on.

I’m happy to report that I pulled and clicked my seat belt closed across me 98-99% of the time without having to think about it twice. I can also honestly say that I used my seat belt in any situation where I knew I’d be driving more than, say, a mile or greater than a few minutes 100% of the time. But the shorter trips – ah, those short hops – those were my weakness in proper driving protocol. It didn’t always happen that I’d ignore that piece of fabric beside my head and shoulder for that brief period, but it didn’t always happen that I put it on, either.

In those little Point A to Point B trips, where Point B is just a hop, skip and a jump away, all standard facts and logic have a way of disappearing for a bit. During that span of time and distance, nothing can possibly happen to you. Maybe to someone else, but never to you. You suddenly become invulnerable, impervious to any damage, totally invincible and downright immortal. You know damn well this isn’t the case, but you act as though it is, and I say “we” because I also know damn well I’m not the only one who has forgotten to buckle up when going around the block, across the parking lot or “just over there”.

Fact is, a lot of damage can be done in those bits of driving unbelted and it doesn’t take a high-speed impact to do it. All the statistics, all the gruesome details that they show you on the news and go over in any driving course are true. As a former EMT, I’ve seen it firsthand (more on that later). It shouldn’t take contact with the steering wheel or the windshield to convince us of that. Yes, a belt may break your collarbone, bruise or break your ribs, hurt a few internal organs and give you some serious muscle aches the following day, BUT YOU’RE STILL ALIVE TO COMPLAIN ABOUT IT!

As a passenger, I twice had my life spared drastic damage and change because I was wearing my seat belt. One of the accidents was a 45 MPH smack from behind and I would have been gone through the windshield had it not been for that durable strap. Back in the days of being an EMT, I had assisted and been part of the transport team for a decent number of motor vehicle accident victims. Not pretty and not all were fortunate. Most wore their seat belts. Some didn’t. The one memory that has stayed with me more than 20 years, and the one I’ve been thinking about a lot over the past two weeks, is an accident where I found myself laying across the back of a car for over a half an hour stabilizing the head and neck of a 17 year old boy while they worked to extricate all four riders. That boy was so very frightened because he couldn’t get out of the car on his own when the accident happened. He couldn’t feel his legs. He was in the back seat of the car and hadn’t worn his seat belt. Enough said.

Putting on a seat belt is a selfish act. It is the one thing we do during the entire process of driving a vehicle that is for our safety alone. Everything else we do is for ourselves, those in the car with us and those around us who might be impacted by what we do with that hunk of metal, plastic, glass and rubber. I for one plan on continuing to be selfish and not because I don’t want another ticket. Breaking the bad habit of Short Hop Syndrome (no seat belt used for short trips) is a work in progress. When it becomes as automatic as the other 98-99% of the time I buckle up, then I can say I’m cured. Other folks can chose to ignore their seat belts and deal with whatever consequences come their way, but looking out for Number One still tops the list of dumb things I gotta do.