Luck

Morgana wrote:

Wow! Definitely lucky... and definitely a stupid thing to get into such a nasty fight over.

I seem to remember a story about someone accidently shooting themselves in the head with a nail-gun, and surviving. The human brain is a very complicated thing though. Just a fraction of an inch in another direction, and the stories would end very differently.

I think I've heard of that one! There was a lucky case here in January..5 students from my college were in a car together. They crashed during the night, just a few weeks before the January exams. The driver and three in the back wore seatbelts and were hospitalised with minor injuries. The girl in the passenger seat, however, was not wearing a seatbelt. She's broken her back in..9? Places? And all of her ribs, amongst other broken bones, narrowly escaping paralysis and death. She's currently in a back brace and basically can't move at all because everything's broken.

Illustrates pretty well how much difference a seatbelt makes. That case has also scared lots of people into refusing to take lifts from fellow students who have just passed.

I would never let anyone ride in my car without a seat belt on. If you won't wear a seat belt, you can't ride in my car, luck or no. I won't take responsibility karmically or psychologically for your actions. I would have a really hard time if someone I was responsible for was hurt in my car.

scootiebee wrote:

I would never let anyone ride in my car without a seat belt on. If you won't wear a seat belt, you can't ride in my car, luck or no. I won't take responsibility karmically or psychologically for your actions. I would have a really hard time if someone I was responsible for was hurt in my car.

Yeah..My driving teacher told me from day 1 that it's the driver's responsibility for the safety of everyone in the car, meaning you have to ensure everyone has their seatbelt on at all times..

My economics teacher was talking about driving yesterday - She was on about males and driving habits..And how, not being intentionally sexist, but all of her male friends seemed to find some kind of thrill in driving recklessly. She said one learned his lesson after he was in a similar situation as the above - It was him and 4 girls in the car with him at the wheel. They crashed and the 3 girls died instantly..He resuscitated the fourth and she ended up dying in his arms.

>.< Obviously, after that, he learned his lesson. I know I'd be haunted by it, if it was me.

Absolutely, that would be awful. And in the U.S., the insurance rates you pay if you are a young male are so high, they are ridiculous. The rates for young females are way lower. Not sexist, just practical for the insurance companies.

And I think there is a law in some states here, where if the passenger is not buckled up, the driver can get a ticket! Aargh! So you have to wear a seat belt in my car.

Luckily, I haven't ever been in an accident, but my husband was hit about 5 years ago by a young male. I can't even imagine what that kid's insurance rate shot up to after he hit, and severely damaged, our truck.

scootiebee wrote:

Luckily, I haven't ever been in an accident, but my husband was hit about 5 years ago by a young male. I can't even imagine what that kid's insurance rate shot up to after he hit, and severely damaged, our truck.

Ahh..It's incredible how many close-shaves my parents get whilst driving..There's so many out on the roads that just aren't driving properly.

A friend of mine was in the passenger's seat of his mother's car once..They drove through a 4-way crossing and a van which was meant to give way to them just zoomed past at an incredible speed..They were going quite fast as it is and only narrowly escaped a crash.

Had they crashed, neither my friend nor his mother would've stood a chance.

Idiots are always speeding around the corner my house is on as well. It's a sharp bend, too, meaning that at times, you can't see if a car is coming at you or not.

There's no way in hell you could stop your car in time to prevent a collision at the speeds some of the kids around here go at..It's only a matter of time before something nasty happens right on our doorstep.

I am very lucky today! I found a new apartment and solved a big problem with that.