Thanks to Jen for sending this powerful piece explaining the need for seat belts. It’s probably the best I’ve seen or heard.

Jen posted it as a comment on an old post, so I wanted to add it here for those who only look at our current entries. Kudos as well to the Montana Department of Transportation for an excellent video. And to Jeremy’sfamily: maybe your horrible tragedy takes on some meaning if this gets wide distribution. Our thoughts are with you on this.

So here’s our small part from Oregon.

David Sugerman

By all accounts, it was a horrendous crash caused by a speeding driver. Yesterday’s fatal in rural Yamhill County involved a single Toyota Camry carrying seven passengers. That’s a five seater, so there was no way for all occupants to have seatbelts.

Only two survived the impact with a large tree. Probably no coincidence that one survivor–a toddler–was properly belted in a car seat. That’s another reminder that seat belts save lives. Some will say that seat belts are irrelevant here because the driver was out of control. True about the driver, but the thing is that passengers don’t control drivers, especially when the passengers are children. And no one controls other vehicles.

So it’s a simple sobering reminder. Buckle it.

David Sugerman