Getting Americans to buckle their seat belts took years.

Tuesday, August 10, 1999

Getting Americans to buckle their seat belts took years. "They wrinkle my clothes," many people complained when the new laws were announced requiring the use of safety belts.

All the statistics in the world about how seat belts save lives did not seem to reach the hard-core resistors.

And then one day, the fines started if you were caught without your seat belt fastened and people started to care.

Today, more and more people swear by the protection safety belts provide.

But even knowing how many times restraints save lives, some people don’t seem to understand the need to protect their children as well.

It is sad to see how many parents buckle themselves into their cars and let their children scoot around the backseat unprotected. The same is true for toddlers, who often are sat in mommy’s lap, not in the car seat.

Children need the protection of a safety restraint as much as their adult counterparts. A mother’s arms cannot protect a child from harm during a high-speed crash.

And wandering around the back seat is not going to keep a child anchored if the car he is riding in hits a tree.

Protect your children. Buckle them up, always. You never know when a tragedy will strike.