Road safety is no joke, but people treat it like it is. From refusing to use seatbelts, to driving while under the influence, it seems like folks like to live their life on the edge. But what nobody realizes is that one rash decision can change their lives forever.

Wearing a seatbelt might seem like a hassle, but it can protect you from many different road accidents. One teen was trying to explain this to his friends, who refused to strap themselves in while riding in his car. He decided not to back down and taught them a lesson.

More info: Reddit

Guy whose stubborn friends argue with him about wearing their seatbelts are left behind at nearly midnight to walk back home in chilly weather

Image credits: Luke Miller (not the actual photo)

18YO decided to give his 2 friends a ride home after work, but they didn’t put their seatbelts on and refused to take him seriously when he asked them to buckle up

Image credits: Luke Miller (not the actual photo)

He said he wanted them to strap in for safety and to avoid tickets, his friends argued and eventually got out after he said he wouldn’t drive them without seatbelts on

Image credits: Flaky_Camp_706

Since the friends didn’t back down, he drove off, leaving them behind in the dark to walk the 20 minutes home

The Original Poster (OP) is an 18-year-old man. He mentioned that he was getting off from work and since his friends were also leaving at the same time, he decided to drive them home. He said that they all lived within 1.5 miles (2.4 km) of the workplace and that it was a short 3-5 minute drive or 20-minute walk. But when his friends got into the car, the OP did not hear the sound of their seatbelts clicking.

He asked the guys to put on their seatbelts, but they were confused and asked him if he was serious. He said that it was important for the sake of safety and that without it, he might get a ticket. But his friends were argumentative and refused to listen to what he had to say. The poster was right to insist that his friends buckle up. It’s estimated that seat belt use has saved approximately 374,276 lives from 1975 to 2017.

Research by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration found that nearly 25,420 occupants of passenger vehicles were killed in 2022. About 50% of them died because they weren’t buckled down. Simply putting on the seatbelt can reduce the risk of injury and death among front-seat drivers and passengers by 45-50%. For backseat passengers, it decreases the risk by 25%.

That’s why the OP did not back down. He understood the risk of not wearing seatbelts and did not want to give into the stubbornness of his friends. He told them that he wouldn’t be driving them anywhere if they didn’t buckle up. But his friends scoffed at him, only to realize that he was being serious when he drove away, leaving them behind in the cold.

Bored Panda reached out to the author of the post, u/Flaky_Camp_706, to understand what happened after he drove off. He shared, “after the night I refused to give my ‘friends’ a ride, I saw them again the following day at work. Neither one of us had exchanged words verbally, but they spent the entire 8 hour shift staring daggers at me. After about a week they seemed to have gotten over it, but we still haven’t said a word to each other.”

He also added that: “I was able to stay so firm because I’ve seen what happens on the news. I also recall the times cops would come into the classroom to lecture all of us on why to wear seatbelts. I remember a particular story about a teenage girl crashing and seeing her friends fly out the doors and landing on the street dead because they didn’t wear their seatbelts. I didn’t want to be in that position and live with that for the rest of my life.”

“Back in 2014 me and my mother were driving through a busy section in Downtown Pittsburgh when a Ford Explorer ran a red light and severed the engine from our car. Thankfully we were alright and so was the Ford driver…after he got out of the hospital. So far, and I hope I don’t jinx this, no family member of mine has gotten into a serious accident,” the poster opened up.

Image credits: Wendy Wei (not the actual photo)

Even though the poster and his friends weren’t very far from their homes, it’s important to note that most fatal crashes happen within 25 miles from the house and often at speeds less than 40mph. These 18-year-old teens were arrogant and didn’t want to put on their seatbelts. It’s been observed that young adults have the highest rates of seatbelt nonuse, and men are 3 times as likely to avoid buckling up compared to women. But the worst part is that young men are the most at risk for injury or death from passenger vehicle crashes.

We interviewed Misha Charoudin, a content creator and pro racer who is well-known in the Nürburgring scene, to get an expert’s opinion on this situation. He stated that “the driver is always responsible for the vehicle and its occupants. Sometimes even legally. From a very basic perspective, there should be no loose ‘objects’ in the car, this includes the passengers. On impact, an arm/head of the passenger can get launched into the driver and injure or kill him. So if the passenger does not care about his/her own life, the driver should. Finally, the driver does not need any guilt feelings if something happens and he could not prevent it.”

Misha also shared that: “for any distances, I always say two things: 1) I am confident of my own and my driver friends’ driving skills, but not of many other drivers that share the road with us. In addition, there are many external factors, like road conditions (grip levels) or wildlife randomly crossing the road. Anything can happen and 2) it will happen at the moment you least expect it.”

What doesn’t make sense is why the poster’s friends were so adamant about not putting on their seatbelts. They seemed to keep making excuses and were even willing to walk home at night in the chilly weather instead of doing this one small thing. According to a study, 56% of people fail to buckle up because they are driving short distances. Around 65% say that they don’t wear seatbelts because they are uncomfortable. Some other reasons are also due to being in a hurry or feeling resentful at being told what to do.

But this is one aspect of road safety that should not be ignored anymore. Now that you know the importance of wearing a seatbelt, here are some tips on how to buckle up effectively:

• You should fasten the seatbelt across your shoulder and chest with minimal slack. Do not wear it under your arm or behind your back because fastening it the wrong way can cause serious internal injuries in a crash.
• The lap belt should be snug and lie low across your hips after fastening, this will protect you from sliding out under your belt in case of an accident.
• It’s also necessary to have your seatbelt fastened even if the car is equipped with airbags. This is because airbags can’t protect you if the car is hit from the rear or side.

A small action like this can have the biggest impact, which is why it’s good that the guy stuck to his guns. An EMT and an ER worker commented on the post to tell the teen that he was correct to stand up to his friends and that they had seen the repercussions of people not wearing seatbelts. Do you think OP was right to drive off at night without his friends? What would you have done if you were in his place?

Netizens were annoyed at the stubbornness of the poster’s friends, and many shared personal experiences involving car accidents and the use of seatbelts

Image credits: SCREEN POST (not the actual photo)

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