How many times have you put a seat belt on in your life? Probably too many times to count. How many times have you thought about the importance of it? Probably not enough times. As of very recently, I have thought about it a lot.
2 weeks ago, the week-end of June 10-13, I was in Saskatoon, visiting the boyfriend (and who ever else I managed to squeeze in!). I had a great week-end! Now when I head home from Saskatoon, I have 2 options. 1: stick to the paved roads and come home through Moose Jaw. 2: turn off the highway at Craik and take the back roads, cutting a good 20, 25 minutes off of my travel time. So if it hasn't been raining (or snowing), I generally take the back roads. This is what I did on Sunday, June 13.
This plan worked out well for the first portion of my drive. Then I got to the last stretch before Caron. And the road was awful! I immediately slowed down some as the gravel was really thick, and must have been recently graded. But apparently this wasn't enough. I caught some gravel funny, started swerving and hit the ditch. Then my car started to roll, the air bag went off and all I can remember is thinking "Oh My Goodness! God, keep me safe!"
I don't know how many times I rolled, as I wasn't really counting. But my car landed upright and I was able to get out and call my brother and sister-in-law to come get me. I'm pretty sure every farmer who passed by in the next half hour or so stopped to make sure I was OK. And most of them made some comment about the road being awful and it being just a matter of time before someone hit the ditch because of it. That didn't really make me feel any better, but it did make me appreciate the small town mentality quite a lot!
Well the moral of my story comes down to this: WEAR YOUR SEAT BELT! Yes, my car is totaled. But my body was not. I had bruises on my knees from the steering wheel, bruises on the inside of my arms from the air bag and a scrape on my shoulder from my seat belt. I didn't get a concussion or have whiplash. And I can truthfully say that my seat belt saved me. That, and the grace of God. There were a ton of things in my car that could have become projectiles and hurt me (like my metal water bottle, or my cell phone, or my CD case). My windshield could have shattered and cut me. The roof of my car could have caved and trapped me in my car. But none of those things happened.
So the next time you get into your car, put on your seat belt, even if you are only driving down the block. You never know what could happen. I was 5 minutes from home when I hit the ditch. Seat belts save lives. This I know. So think about it and be very thankful for them!
~ Jessica
