Seat Belts Do Save Lives WHEN
a
man
who
has
been
Captain Parrilla fastens life saving seat belt.
through an experience looks you straight in the eye and says, "I'm confident that I wouldn't be here today if it hadn't been for that seat belt," you just have to believe him. It all started like this. Captain Joe Parrilla, manager of the Bradley Trans
portation Line, was headed back to Rog
"This is the worst part," said Captain Parrilla, "you know the car is going someplace, but you can't do anything about it but sit there and watch it hap
ers City from Detroit early this year
pen. Things don't seem to be happening
when the snows were still around to
very fast, but all of a sudden it's over.
make driving hazardous at times. "I always follow the safety rules and make certain that I use the safety equip ment," said Captain Parrilla, "since the safety experts — men who really know about these things — make the rules and provide the equipment for my own self-protection. They were certainly right this time. When that car started to roll over, the thought flashed through my mind that I had the seat belt on." It was about nine o'clock in the morn
ing when Captain Parrilla approached the overpass just south of Bridgeport on US-23. The four-lane expressway had been completely clear and Captain Par rilla had had no trouble.
"I couldn't see the top of the over pass, so I slowed down suspecting ice.
"The car continued to turn until it
was headed back the way I had come. The slide also brought the car up against
"I told him that the seat belt was fas
tened, and he said, Oh, that explains it. You probably wouldn't be here if you hadn't had it on.'," said Captain Parrilla. "You can say that while I believed in seat belts before, anybody is going to have a hard time just getting me to get into a car that doesn't have seat belts
the snowbank on the left side of the
after that experience," ended Captain
road. The three-foot high snowbank left by the snowplow was just high enough
Parrilla.
and the momentum of the car was still
effectiveness of seat belts. In this case
fast enough to make the car tip over on
there isn't much doubt that a life was
its right side. "When the car reached the roll point
saved. Investigations by private and national public organizations have point ed to the value of seat belts for quite a few years. For example, Cornell University has studied actual crashes and proved that scat belts do save lives by keeping you
and started over, I just hung on and watched the snow and the sky change places and listened to the metal rumble,"
said Captain Parrilla. "Then I was right side up, sitting in the dividing strip between the dual lanes. I had a bump on my head, my hands on the wheel, and that wonderful seat belt still holding me in the seat.
I must have been going 45 miles per hour by the time I reached the point
wasn't a straight side panel anywhere.
near the top where I could see what was
The roof was wrinkled, and the wind
on the road. The ice was there, but I was too close to use the brakes," said Captain Parrilla.
shield and the back glass were gone.
"As soon as I hit the ice I had to
had my seat belt on.
"The car wasn't smashed, but there
The roof had been pushed down but
it popped back up," said Captain Par rilla.
"The State Trooper who investigated
This is a firsthand
inside
the
car.
Most
account of the
traffic accident
deaths are caused when persons arcthrown from the car, according to Cor nell studies and the National Safety Council.
Seat belts also reduce the extent of
the injuries occurring from auto acci dents by keeping you firmly in the seat. Most major injuries are caused from the drivers and passengers being bounced around inside the car like a ping-pong ball in a clothes dryer or being thrown
forget about the brakes anyway — you just don't use brakes on ice. The next thing I knew the car started to slow spin
the accident didn't believe me at first
out of the car.
when I said I was in the car when it
counterclockwise. I tried to steer out of
rolled. Then he went down to look over
the skid, but that didn't work at all.
the remains and came back to ask if I
Seat belts can save lives. They can re duce the extent of injuries. Do you have and use seat belts in your car?