Buckle up. It’s the law.
I think everyone knows by this point that a cop can pull you over and ticket you for riding in a vehicle without a fastened seatbelt in the state of South Carolina.
Police are responsible for making the state a safer place, and your safety behind the wheel is a heavy concern for them, as it should be for you too.
This past weekend alone, seven people were killed on South Carolina roads, according to the South Carolina Department of Public Safety (SCDPS). Of those seven people killed, only two were wearing seat belts, while five were not.
This saddening news made me very upset, and just like any motor vehicle accident when someone wasn’t wearing a seat belt, I wondered if the accident would have had a different result if they had remembered to buckle up.
Sometimes seat belts can’t prevent death in accidents, but usually they can make accidents a lot less severe. Seat belts were invented to protect passengers in a car, and everyone should wear them.
Ever since I was a little girl watching the television show The Magic School Bus, listening to Mrs. Frizzle exclaim, “Seatbelts everyone,” I have been reminded to buckle up in cars wherever I’m going. I find my safety in a vehicle very important and will continue to wear seatbelts persistently.
While there have been 464 motor vehicle passengers who have died this year, 163 of them weren’t wearing seat belts, according to SCDPS. The 50-50 percentage still leaves me in belief that everyone should always wear a seat belt in a car.
Some people I know don’t fasten their seat belts because they think they would have a better chance getting out of car in an accident if they weren’t buckled up. I completely disagree with this because, even in small bumper accidents, I have felt the restriction of a seatbelt protect me from flying forward.
I urge everyone that reads this to remember to think about the statistics and evidence that wearing a seat belt will keep you safer in a vehicle accident.
South Carolina just witnessed seven vehicle deaths this weekend, five of which weren’t buckled up.
It is every passenger’s responsibility to put on a seat belt when riding anywhere and cops can only attempt to enforce this policy to protect you from further harm if you do get into a wreck.
So remember everyone — click it or ticket!