Yet Another Reason to Wear Seatbelts

Something happened several weeks ago that brought home, yet again, the reason for wearing seatbelts. 

On June 3rd, I was leaving Girl Scout camp, feeling great that it was over, when I noticed I had a text from a friend at work.  I slowed down the car (we were not yet on the public road) to read it and found out that "something" had happened to one of the teachers at school.  I had no idea what was going on, so I texted her to call me (yes, I was technically texting while driving, but again, not on the public road yet, still leaving the camp!).

My friend called and told me that the teacher, with whom she and I both work closely in the Special Ed (SPED) department, had been in a bad wreck the evening before on a notoriously bad county road and was in the hospital.  She was going to be okay thanks to wearing her seatbelt, but it was a head-on collision and she did sustain injuries.

Needless to say, it was a somber day in school that Monday, the last Monday of the school year.  Teachers told their students what happened and that what saved her life was wearing her seatbelt.  It was definitely an example for the students of why wearing a belt is a good..no a GREAT, LIFE-SAVING idea!

A couple of days later, it was the last day of school and time for 5th grade graduation.  This teacher had worked with several students since they were in Kindergarten and badly wanted to be there for their graduation, but couldn't because she was still in the hospital.  Technology is a wonderful thing!  She had an IPAD in the hospital and we had one at school, so she was connected via Facetime (similar to Skype) in order to see the students and so they could see her.  As you can imagine, there wasn't a dry eye in the room!  She got to see the students perform and was able to speak to them for a few minutes.

The real miracle is that she was alive at all...the ambulance had been told to expect a possible fatality because her car was so badly damaged.  Of course, there are cases where victims are wearing their seatbelts and still are killed...but why take that chance??  Hopefully, the outcome of this horrific wreck has touched people's lives to where they now wear seatbelts ALL the time...not just for long trips or when they remember to put one on.  I'm glad to say that my family wears them every time they're in the car and so does anyone else who rides with us.

I don't mean to sound preachy, but an event like this brings home the importance of something as simple as putting on a belt.  "Click it or Ticket" - a great slogan for a great cause!