Three weeks ago I answered the phone and received one of those calls we parents dread. Our 18 year old was on the other end and quickly said, “Mom, I was just in a wreck.”
Bailey was less than a mile from our home. A semi ran a red light and hit Bailey in the driver’s back door and wheel well.
We found pieces of the back end of the car and our trunk contents scattered across four lanes of highway and an adjacent parking lot. Although our car was totaled, Bailey walked from the scene with seat belt bruises alone. I’ll take seat belt bruises over the alternative any day of the week! I can argue, from personal experience now, that Seatbelts Really Do Matter! 
I found the history of seat belts quite interesting. You might find it interesting, too!
“Safety belts” were invented in the late 1800s to secure a person being raised and lowered (painters, firemen) to a fixed object. The idea was applied in the early 1900s to aircraft when the first pilots were bounced around during takeoff and landing.
In the 1940s, automobile manufacturers began to experiment with primitive seat belt designs. Many manufacturers went on to offer seat belts as options in the early 1950s. In 1958, after the Saab sedan was introduced with seat belts as a standard feature, seat belts became commonplace.
Early designs improved when Dr C. Hunter Shelden, concerned by head injuries he treated in the emergency room, proposed many safety features for automobiles. Dr. Shelden recommend the retractable seat belt in a 1955 article published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
On January 1, 1968, a federal law required all vehicles (except buses) to be manufactured with seat belts, but laws and enforcement of seat belt use were left to the states. New York was the first state to pass a law (1984) that required vehicle occupants to wear seat belts, and the majority of states followed suit in the decade that followed. New Hampshire remains the only state that does not have required seat belt use (although its DMV website strongly recommends it) by adults.
Not only am I grateful that Bailey was wearing a seat belt, I’m grateful for many other things:
- Bailey’s quick reflexes (had he not seen the truck and hit the gas he would have been hit in his driver’s door)
- The cab did not have a trailer (more weight equals more force)
- And ultimately, God’s protection and watch-care over Bailey
I know that my life and the lives of my family and friends are in the hands of our loving Father and Creator. While things might not always work out as I have planned (and sometimes we deal with devastation) there is no other whose hands I would rather trust and cling to. My hope for myself and my loved ones is in Him and His promise of eternity through Jesus Christ, His son.
I’d be interested in reading your seat belt stories. Share by commenting above!
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