Seat Belts Key to Survival in Bridge Collapse

ABCNews ^ | Aug. 2, 2007 | EMILY FRIEDMAN

[Daffynition]

"Now that we know all our bridges are going to collapse, it time to brush up on our 'escaping-sinking-car' skills"

[mtbopfuyn]

Oh sure, like they really surveyed everyone on the bridge to see if they were wearing their seatbelts or not. How many kids on the bus were wearing seatbelts? None, since school buses don’t have seatbelts. I’m not saying seatbelts are a safety device, but lets have some honest reporting.

[Hegemony Cricket]

So, Brian “Jumps to Conclusions to Support My Own Pre-Determined Bias” Brawdy - can we pretty much assume that when they finally get through the murky water and start pulling bodies out of cars, that none of them will be wearing seatbelts?

[coloradan]

Good thing school buses are exempt from the seat belt requirements.

[Daffynition]

Be prepared.

[Daffynition]

Hydra Spyder ... with a 502 Cubic Inch Corvette LS2 Gen Iv engine ...I'm all set.

[Daffynition]

Just in case the bus flips over.

[Clam Digger]

Seat Belts Key to Survival in Bridge Collapse

Wait until they get to the cars underwater. Most bodies they find will stillbe belted in. I've studied survival in such situatins, and most people panic and cannot escape. The die with their seat belts on, assuming they survive the impact. In any case, it's a sucky situation.

[swmobuffalo]

“Good thing school buses are exempt from the seat belt requirements.”

Good thing that school bus never actually hit the water or ya’ll would be singing a different tune. It’s hard enough for panicked adults to release a seat belt, can you imagine a busload of panicked children?

[johnny7]

[Hegemony Cricket]

Suh-weet! Who needs a steenkin’ bridge, anyway! :-)

[Gator101]

Chances of surviving for those still submerged in the river now almost 24 hours later are remote, experts say

Good thing the "experts" cleared that one up for us. Do journalists think that we are so dumb that we have to have the most obvious things spelled out for us? I mean does any person in the world expect that somebody just might pop out of their submerged van after 24 hours having breathed out of empty beer cans or something?

[trisham]

I always wear a seat belt. I’ve seen pictures of those who didn’t. I also attended the funeral of a 21 year old who hit a curb while at a low speed, and went through the sun-roof.

[Gator101]

I always wear a seat belt.

Me too. I always figure that in the event I go in the water I at least want to improve my chances of being conscious so that then I can then deal with panicking or not. I also have a seat-belt knife in my center console and a steel center-punch in a sheath clipped to the side of my seat.

[kidd]

Seat Belts Key to Survival in Bridge Collapse

...and using a hands-free headset for your cell phone

/ sarcasm

[trisham]

Good idea. I keep meaning to get one of those combination cutter/hammer devices for my evil SUV.

[MotleyGirl70]

How many kids on the bus were wearing seatbelts? None, since school buses don’t have seatbelts. I’m not saying seatbelts are a safety device, but lets have some honest reporting.

Columbus Ohio School Bus Crash

[Turbopilot]

Well...duh. What’s the point of even doing such a story? It’s 2007...are there actually still people who don’t wear seatbelts?

[Gator101]

If you do I recommend something with a serrated edge. Back in my Army days we were disposing of some old seat-belts so we tried out a seat-belt cutting tool that one of the other crewchief's had that kind of looks like one of those big enclosed envelope openers. It didn’t work as well as we thought. You had to keep backing it off to get another slice because the belts kept getting bound up in the guard. We were thinking that was probably something you wouldn’t want to have to worry about if your car was sinking or you were already underwater. A blade with a serrated edge went through those belts like butter though.

I also had to train in the “dunker” (a cage that is supposed to simulate a helicopter landing in water). The instructor knew we carried knives and selt-belt cutters so he reminded us to only use them as a last resort if the seat-belt wouldn’t release. I guess people get in the mindset that they have to use their tools even if the usual method would still work and is much quicker.

[CholeraJoe]

A fall of sixty feet is like a head-on collision at 50 mph. I suspect airbags helped, too.