Teaching kids about auto safety...will they ever get it?

Question

I work with kids in a number of capacities (summer camp at the moment). No matter what I tell them, they don't seem to understand what can happen to them in a crash. I tell them that I worked in an amublance and saw many accidents and know what I'm talking about (true). They say that they can hold on to the school bus seats while they stand in the aisle and they will be fine in an accident. They look at me with blank stares whe I tell them that sitting without a belt, in the middle back seat, will get them a one way ticket through the windshield. Will they ever get it? Is there any way to make these children understand, or do I need to start bringing in gory pictures of ejected occupants with their guts hanging out and unrestrained folks with windshields lodges through thier skulls? What will make them understand that they cannot control their trajectory in a crash just by sheer aloofness and willpower?

Answer 1

their kids thats why they don't get it. you were the same way. everybody learns best while they are rubbing a knot on their head.,,,,,,,,,,,

Answer 2

Pick up the latest issue of Reader's Digest.  Several good articles concerning this very subject.  It is frightening how many teens never make it to be twenty years of age due to auto fatalities.  

I was in an accident as a passenger when I was about 17.  Car hit me friend's car and the door opened and deposited me on the pavement.  Luckily I came away with some road rash on my hand and hip.  Mind you, my friend was driving perfectly legal.  But, the accident occurred and I got hurt due to not wearing a seat belt.  BTW, the wearing of seat belts was not legally mandatory at the time of the accident.  After my slide for life, I have worn seat belts ever since.

Answer 3

well like winning the lottery

nobody will think itll happen to them

and ive been in a crash

going at least 45 to a dead stop

no seatbelt, no injuries

and it wasnt my fault,

Answer 4

When I was a child I used to always wear my seat belt because my mom made me but when I was 10 I stopped wearing it.  She urge me to wear and only wore it when she told me but I didn't most of the time.  I started wearing it when I got older all the time.  Sadly the way that I got it through my head the seat belts are very important was that I lost 3 classmates when I was in high school due to car accidents. Also I would always read about deaths in car accidents and it was due to the fact that these people don't buckle up and I don't want premature death.

Answer 5

>>  Is there any way to make these children understand, or do I need to start bringing in gory pictures of ejected occupants with their guts hanging out and unrestrained folks with windshields lodges through thier skulls? What will make them understand that they cannot control their trajectory in a crash just by sheer aloofness and willpower?

Few kids will get it.  Most won't.  It still amaze me when I read some of the post/ questions from young people AFTER then crash their car.

I'm looking for a time when driver's simulation get cheap enough that EVERY school can afford them and teach them about accident avoidance.

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I once had a friend who refuses to wear her seat belt (in my car).  We would get into arguments before EVERY ride.

Then she got her car and promptly totaled it.  She was in the hospital for weeks.  

Only afterwards she wore her seat belts.

good Luck...

P.S.  nobody know if she was wearing her seatbelt during her accident. But what's your guess?

Answer 6

You are doing a great job but why not ask the local police department to come as well and tell them what they have saw on the roads with vehicles in accidents, sometimes kids needs to be "scared straight".......