Seat belt tragedies … the human stories

95 Alive – the North Yorkshire road safety partnership - is launching a new drive to encourage people to Clunk Click every trip after a survey of nearly 11,000 vehicles found 6 per cent of adult passengers and 4 per cent of drivers in North Yorkshire were not wearing their seat belts.  Among children the results were more encouraging, but 2.9 per cent were still not properly fastened in.
 
It’s estimated more than 60,000 lives have been saved since wearing seat belts became compulsory in 1983.  It’s acknowledged as the simplest most effective life saving measure in a car.

Supporting the campaign are three members of the public, from the Selby area, who now work to warn people about the dangers of not wearing seat belts.

Sarah McGaughey, 19, was in a coma for five weeks after suffering severe head injuries when her car crashed at 30 mph.  She wasn’t wearing a seat belt.  It’s taken over a year and many operations to recover.

She said: ”I very nearly died, when the police found me I was rolled up in a ball in the passenger footwell and they thought I was dead.  I would just say to people do you want your life to be a car crash? Always wear a seat belt.
    
Keith Houlistan’s son Neil was killed in a crash on Christmas Day, five years ago.  He was 17 years old, he wasn’t wearing his seat belt.
“At the inquest we were told Neil would probably have walked away from the crash with nothing more than whiplash if he had been wearing a seatbelt.  The effect of Neil’s death on us and on many of his friends has been devastating.  This can happen to anyone, please make sure you Clunk Click every trip.

Michelle Wheatley, 24, was saved by her seat belt after her car left the road and ended up hanging over a cliff edge. 

“The seat belt saved my life, my car was flipped over after I swerved to miss something in the road and came to rest against a tree hanging over a 40 foot drop. If I hadn’t been wearing my seat belt I would have gone through the front windscreen and  down the cliff.  I was still badly injured and spent  three months in hospital, but  I would urge everyone to wear their seat belt.”

Over the summer there’ll be a series of radio adverts promoting, and 95 Alive are working with North Yorkshire County Council Road Safety Officers, North Yorkshire Police and North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue along with other agencies to promote the Clunk Click message.  They’ll also be using their new seat belt sled, which simulates a very slow speed crash to show people how dangerous not wearing a seat belt can be.

North Yorkshire County Council’s Director of Business and Environmental Services David Bowe, Chair of 95 Alive, said: ”It seems astonishing that anyone would risk not wearing a seat belt.  The fact is it can save your life, there is no argument it is as simple as that.  So many people have walked away from car crashes with slight or no injuries because they had clunk clicked and yet the results of our survey show people are dicing with death every day. 

“Three members of the public have bravely come forward to tell their stories in the hope this can help get the message across about the devastation and horrific results of not wearing a seat belt.”
   
Deputy Chief Fire Officer of North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service, Chris Anderson says: " North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service are pleased to support this campaign to encourage people to wear a seat belt -it's such a simple measure, but one that could save your life. All too often we see the impact of road traffic collisions, and we want to do all we can to reduce the number of deaths and serious injuries that occur on the county's roads."

Head of Roads Policing for  North Yorkshire  Insp. Dave Brown added: "It is astonishing that we are still having to educate people about wearing seatbelts. It is vitally important that people belt-up when either driving or travelling as a passenger, the simple fact is seatbelts save lives.”