D.+Persuasive+Essay+(Topic+Strip)

Dale Johnson 12/20/10     Bell 1a

“Were they wearing a seat belt?” That is the question police officers ask, when they arrive at the scene of traffic accident. It doesn’t matter if one is traveling 1 or 500 miles. Every person in a vehicle should wear a seat belt. It has been proven that seat belts protect people from ejecting from a car. It also was proven over and over again that seat belts save lives. Whether they are life saves or not, forty nine states have made it mandatory laws. You can be fined up to five hundred dollars for not buckling up. A seat belt is basically a safety harness to secure a person in there seat. Many people not wearing their safety harness can be ejected from their seat and into the street. Any force of collision either it’s a soft hit or a hard hit can still throw a person out of their vehicle. It has been proven in many vehicle accidents with two or more occupants, the one not wearing their seat belts were ejected. The one that was ejected had life threaten injures. Around 63% of people killed in accidents were not wearing seat belts. This is the single most effective thing we can do to save lives. It is estimated that seat belts save 9,500 lives each year. If 90 percent of Americans buckled up it would prevent 5,500 deaths, and 132,000 injuries. To reach the goal of 90 percent people must increase seat belt use, with that we will save 8.8 billion dollars yearly. The cost of unbuckled drivers is outrageous. It goes beyond just not wearing one, because it’s uncomfortable. People die each year, when people die they lose loved ones. They pay for those who do not buckle up. So buckle up and stay living.