It's a Team's Life
Ugly Seat Belts = No Worries
We ordered orange seat belts for one reason and one reason only they are highly visible. Our carrier has a zero tolerance policy and this is a policy we have no trouble adhering to. Buckling a seatbelt is a decision that is 100% in the driver’s hands and not buckling up can have dire consequences. Not only in an accident but getting pulled over and receiving a ticket.
In our last truck we had black seat belts and we knew that at times it was hard for an officer or scale master to see if we were buckled in or not. The field safety liaison gave us orange seat belt covers and this worked pretty well except that our seat belts would not retract all of the way. I became a believe in those orange seat belt covers when I saw from a distance on the other side of the interstate a truck driver with orange seat belts. We knew we needed these in our next truck. There are many reasons out of our control that could have an affect on our lives but being accused of not wearing a seat belt would not be one of them.
I found some interesting facts about seat belt use and that in 1998 only 69% of drivers wore seat belts and now in 2014 88% are choosing to buckle up. Then with further reading I found that the non-users consisted of teens, males in rural areas, pick-up truck drivers, people driving at night, people who were drinking and imagine this commercial drivers. I decided that the commercial drivers probably consisted a lot of the local deliveries and not the over the road drivers.
There was also the fact that women are most likely to buckle up and that we were also more likely to buckle up if we had a passenger in the car with us. It is an easy habit to acquire and now we are very uncomfortable in a moving vehicle not buckled up. This includes our personal vehicles as well as our truck.
I found much of my information at this web site:
http://www.nsc.org/safety_road/DriverSafety/Pages/SeatBelts.aspx
Bob & Linda Caffee
TeamCaffee

Saint Louis MO
Expediters since January 2005
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