Seat Belt Safety
The Value of the Seat Belt
The year was 1968 and the new car our family bought had a new “thing” on the seat, a seat belt. You were expected to wear it and if you didn’t, an annoying red light would flash on the dashboard and a painful noise would irritate you. But the seat belt wasn’t a new idea, in fact other countries had been installing them on cars for years. However, in the United States, it was not only new, it was CHANGE! As one might expect, it did not take long to find ways to overcome the system, and soon people were disconnecting the lights or connecting the belt in some way to prevent the need to buckle up, yet silence the noise and light.
It didn’t take long though for emergency responders to see the difference the seat belt would make in accident situations. The reality was, accident victims who wore seat belts sustained less physical injury in vehicle crashes, than those who did not wear seat belts.
The use of seat belts in all types of vehicles results in less injury and fewer deaths than if they are not worn.
In fact, it is the law in many states to use seat belts.
In this program you will find the following components:
- An article on seat belt safety
- The National Seat Belt Pledge information
- The Seat Belt Pledge Form
- Sample Seat Belt use policy from the USFA/NVFC Emergency Vehicle Safe Operations Study, conducted by VFIS.
It is also appropriate to acknowledge Dr. Burt Clark for his work in establishing the Seat Belt Pledge program and acknowledge those agencies who actively support the program: National Fallen Firefighters Foundation, International Association of Firefighters, Firehouse.com, TrainingDivision.com.
To complete this course, review each of the segments as indicated. After completing the segments, take the assessment. A certificate will be provided upon completion of the assessment.
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