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One day I was turning across traffic on a green arrow. One second I was driving straight, the next second I was in a crazy spinning rollercoaster. All I could f

by gridspy 17y ago

One day I was turning across traffic on a green arrow. One second I was driving straight, the next second I was in a crazy spinning rollercoaster. All I could feel was disorientation, spinning and the seatbelt clutching me tight. When the car came to rest, I was surrounded by glass and the (empty) passenger seat was crushed by the collapsed side of the car where I had been hit. The other car which had run the red light at full speed drove off and was later caught. Had I not been wearing a safety belt, I don't like to think where I would have ended up. Fortunately I was barely injured. The car was totalled. I love the emotions in this ad. Always wear your safety belt.

DenisM 17y ago
Survivorship bias alert - it could be that the guy who got killed by his seat belt never lived to tell his story. Do seat belts save lives? They do, we know this from statistics and controlled tests. However there is no way infer this data from an anecdote. In other words you used faulty reasoning to arrive at a correct conclusion.
- gridspy 17y ago
  Everyone can see that my post is just an anecdote. My point wasn't so much that seatbelts save lives as much as "you too might be in a crash through no fault of your own." Note, that is also obvious from statistics, but perhaps not intuitively. I seriously doubt that a seatbelt would cause more damage than the lack of one in all but the most extraordinary of cases. A poorly fitted seatbelt might, or perhaps late in pregnancy. However the damage caused by leaving your seat and colliding almost randomly with the car seems more extreme. Some interesting reading: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seat_belt http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seat_belt One data point that backs you up: The UK extended compulsory seatbelt wearing to child passengers under the age of 14 in 1989. It was observed that this measure was accompanied by a 10% increase in fatalities and a 12% increase in injuries among the target population.[19] In crashes, small children who wear adult seatbelts can suffer "seat-belt syndrome" injuries including severed intestines, ruptured diaphragms and spinal damage. There is also research suggesting that children in inappropriate restraints are at significantly increased risk of head injury,[20] one of the authors of this research has been quoted as claiming that "The early graduation of kids into adult lap and shoulder belts is a leading cause of child-occupant injuries and deaths."[21] As a result of such findings, many jurisdictions now advocate or require child passengers to use specially designed child restraints.

by gridspy 17y ago

DenisM 17y ago

Survivorship bias alert - it could be that the guy who got killed by his seat belt never lived to tell his story. Do seat belts save lives? They do, we know this from statistics and controlled tests. However there is no way infer this data from an anecdote. In other words you used faulty reasoning to arrive at a correct conclusion.

gridspy 17y ago
Everyone can see that my post is just an anecdote. My point wasn't so much that seatbelts save lives as much as "you too might be in a crash through no fault of your own." Note, that is also obvious from statistics, but perhaps not intuitively. I seriously doubt that a seatbelt would cause more damage than the lack of one in all but the most extraordinary of cases. A poorly fitted seatbelt might, or perhaps late in pregnancy. However the damage caused by leaving your seat and colliding almost randomly with the car seems more extreme. Some interesting reading: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seat_belt http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seat_belt One data point that backs you up: The UK extended compulsory seatbelt wearing to child passengers under the age of 14 in 1989. It was observed that this measure was accompanied by a 10% increase in fatalities and a 12% increase in injuries among the target population.[19] In crashes, small children who wear adult seatbelts can suffer "seat-belt syndrome" injuries including severed intestines, ruptured diaphragms and spinal damage. There is also research suggesting that children in inappropriate restraints are at significantly increased risk of head injury,[20] one of the authors of this research has been quoted as claiming that "The early graduation of kids into adult lap and shoulder belts is a leading cause of child-occupant injuries and deaths."[21] As a result of such findings, many jurisdictions now advocate or require child passengers to use specially designed child restraints.