Alabama's SEAT BELT problem

I was trying to find some clever way to introduce this topic, maybe with analogy or something.

I can't. It's just too important.

In fact, I'll step aside and let three people do the talking for me.

Jerry Doss recently contacted me after a story ran regarding 2014 traffic deaths in Alabama. One stat gave troubled him most: "255 killed in Alabama crashes in 2014 weren't wearing seat belts."

The story brought up memories of his cousin. He recalled to me the young woman, 24, who was like a sister to him.

Then came the call that summer day in 2009. His cousin had been driving to work on a rainy day when she lost control of her vehicle, overcorrected, flipped and was thrown from it.

She was pronounced dead at the scene. For Doss, the circumstances made the loss even harder: She wasn't wearing her seat belt. For that reason, the funeral was closed-casket and he didn't get to fully say goodbye to her, he felt.

"There was no real closure there," Doss said. "I didn't get to see her." It's even harder to think that if it were for that seat belt, she'd be here. It's a guilty feeling, almost like putting blame on a lost loved one, he said.

"There's so many things that we don't have control over," Doss said. "A safety belt is an advantage that we have."

"If people would take the time and relate that to their lives ... maybe it would change their minds."

AAA Alabama spokesman Clay Ingram sings seat belts' praises. Not just since he should, as his title implies, but he's been there.

When a fleeing suspect leading authorities on a chase struck him on a highway in Prattville a few years ago, he looks back at how disheveled that wreck left his car -- even the seat was knocked off track. The amount of force it must have taken to do that. But, he was OK. Sore and banged up, but OK.

A lot of it is learned behavior, Ingram said. Our kids watch us, take their cues from us and follow our example. We buckle up, they buckle up.

Are there other ways to learn it?

Driving instructor Kenneth Lindqust says "I demonstrate a 30 mph emergency stop in an ABS-equipped car. Once the students feel the force involved in holding them in the seat, they develop an instant appreciation for the belts."

Not everyone takes (or took) formal driver's education, though.

Chances are, we've all been in a newer model vehicle since 1968, when federal law requiring them in cars took effect. You've felt the force that even a sudden stop in a slow moving parking lot causes.

"You don't wear a seat belt because of the way you drive, you wear a seat belt because of the way everyone else drives," Ingram said.

Oh yeah, and there's something to remember about that 255 figure. That's only the number of state trooper-investigated crashes, not those handled by police or sheriff's deputies.

Still, 255 too many, and multiply that by all those like Jerry Doss and family members and friends like him.

So, a question: Why don't you (if you want to admit it) or why doesn't someone you know use a seat belt?