Oh, what a sad loss. I never go without a seat belt and fortunately my car keeps "dinging" when someone in the front passenger seat does not have theirs on. It drives you crazy until you buckle up, although I always insist. The back seat is a different story. I think many of us overlook seat belts when in the back seat. I won't do that any more. Thanks for the real life reminder.

Lynn, I'm so sorry for your loss! My nephew was saved by a seatbelt when he crashed into a tree.

Donna

Oh Lynn I am so sorry. What a loss of a nice-looking young man.

I used to drive for field trips and always made sure the kids were buckled up. I was a couple of blocks away from the school and noticed that one of the kids didn't have their seatbelt on. I pulled over and refused to move until he did it up, there was a bit of a stand-off but no seatbelt no field trip. He did it up. About a week later I got a call from his mom thanking me, It was always a struggle for them to get him to do his seatbelt but apparently if D's mom told him to wear one that was ok.

The wearing of seatbelts is mandatory here and has been for just about forever.

I am so sorry for your family's loss. Your post is very powerful, and a good reminder to everyone.

Chris was a beautiful young man, and I am so very sorry for your family's loss. Keep preachin' it. It needs to be said over and over again.

I'm so sorry for your loss. Accidents happen in the blink of an eye. Recently we were a few cars back at an intersection, it was dark, and we heard "thunk-.thunk". A few minutes later we could see that a van had t-boned a small SUV and flipped it completely upside down. Have no idea what the outcome was, hoping all had seat belts on. But it was so quick, the sound was like two sets of wheels going over a bump in the road. Everyone in our car, including the cat carriers, always have a seatbelt on.

Stay on that soapbox.

Oh, how sad. He was a beautiful man, and I'm so sorry for your loss. Good for Emily on her insistence! It's certainly a message that needs repeating...over and over and over again. I'm going to remind my DGD to make sure her friends are buckled up if she has them in the back seat.

My sympathies to you on your loss. I have to fight to get my parents to wear their seatbelts when they are in my car. I know they don't wear them when they are driving alone.

What a tragedy. I am so sorry for such an untimely loss. Thanks for posting.

I did think this was going to be an election thread, and I wish it was, meaning that I wish these events had not happened in your life, LynnNM. I am so very sorry for your loss. I try to wear my seatbelt when in the rear seat. Thank you for the reminder to do so.

What a tragedy for your family. I am always heartened when I drive my grandson and all his little friends, who ALL automatically buckle up in the back seat (still in boosters) and help each other get their buckles secured in unfamiliar cars. (I always make sure they are on correctly). There is no fuss, no thought of driving without their belts. I hope that continues on into their futures.

Lynn, I'm so sorry. I can kind of relate. At 18 my sweet nephew didn't have his seat belt on either when he was a passenger in a vehicle. They had a wreck and my nephew was thrown through the passenger window. To this day I don't know how that's possible. He was in a coma for six months, and if you're familiar with comas, the longer someone is in one, the worse off they'll be.

My nephew is an adult now but because of the extreme bad temper the head trauma caused, he has to live in an apartment type home with other head trauma patients in a different city than his family. I've always thought his accident took my brother to an early grave.

A seatbelt would have spared him and his family such pain.

My sincere condolences to you Lynn, losing a young member of a family is beyond sadness. I'm happy to say that everyone who enters my van wears a seat belt or they don't stay in the van. I wouldn't have it any other way.

Well hell. I don't mean to hijack this thread but I didn't want to do another topic. I got word that the mother of my nephew was in a serious car wreck with many many broken bones. She'll be okay though.

The whole front end of her car is gone, head on collision. Broken bones are: both femurs, hip, knee, ankle, foot, elbow...and her pinkie. Sigh...

Oh gosh, Oakley, how terrible! I'll keep her in my prayers for a smooth recovery. It's going to be a tough one, though, bless her heart!

LynnNM and Oakley -- I am so very sorry.

Very frightening Oakley. Sending healing vibes.

Thanks for the reminder Lynn. Oregon has mandatory seatbelt laws, for all passengers, front and back. I just assumed it was the same way everywhere until I was in Iowa a couple years ago-my uncle ran his car off the icy road into a ditch and rolled it. He and my cousin were in the front, both wearing seat belts, but two other cousins in the back were not belted in and were slightly injured. Thankfully the ditch was full of snow so it absorbed a lot of the impact and the roll over was very slow.

I learned that only front seat belts were the law there. I hope they all start buckling up now.

thanks for the reminder Lynn, and the wonderful tribute to your nephew.

Lynn, I'm so sorry about your nephew. What a tragedy.

Oakley, how horrible for her. I hope she's able to heal quickly.

Lynn, I'm so sorry for the loss of your nephew. The years don't take away the hurt but bless you for using his death to be an advocate for seat belts.