Safety Belt Extender
If the vehicle’s safety belt will fasten around you, you
should use it. The front seat lap-shoulder belts have
plenty of extra length built in,
so they will fit almost all
people.
But if a safety belt isn’t long enough to fasten, your
retailer will order you an extender. It’s free. When you
go in to order it, take the heaviest coat you will wear,
so
the extender will be long enough for you. The extender
will be just for you, and just for the seat in your vehicle
that you choose. Don’t let someone else use it, and use it
only for the seat it is made to fit. To wear it, just attach it
to the regular safety belt.
Checking Your Restraint Systems
Now and then, make sure all your belts, buckles, latch
plates, retractors, anchorages and warning systems are working properly.
Look for any other loose or damaged
restraint system parts. If you see anything that might
keep a restraint system from doing its job, have
it
repaired.
Torn or frayed belts may not protect you in
a crash.
They can rip apart under impact forces. If a belt is torn
or frayed, get a new one right away.
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Drunken Driving
Death and injury associated with drinking and driving is
a national tragedy. It’s the number one contributor to the
highway death toll, claiming thousands of victims every
year.
Alcohol affects four things that anyone needs to drive
a
vehicle:
Judgment
0 Muscular Coordination
Vision
Attentiveness
Police records show that almost half
of all motor
vehicle-related deaths involve alcohol.
In most cases,
these deaths are the result of someone who was drinking
and driving.
In recent years, some 18,000 annual motor
vehicle-related deaths have been associated with the use
of alcohol, with more than 300,000 people injured.
Many adults
-- by some estimates, nearly half the adult
population
-- choose never to drink alcohol, so they
never drive after drinking. For persons under 2 1, it’s
against the law in every
U.S. state to drink alcohol.
There are good medical, psychological and
developmental reasons for these laws.
The obvious way to solve this highway safety problem
is for people never to drink alcohol and then drive. But
what if people do? How much
is “too much” if the
driver plans to drive? It’s
a lot less than many might
think. Although it depends
on each person and situation,
here is some general information on the problem.
The Blood Alcohol Concentration (BAC)
of someone
who is drinking depends upon four things:
How much alcohol consumed
The drinker’s body weight
The amount of food that is consumed before and
during drinking
0 The length of time it’s taken the drinker to consume
the alcohol
According
to the American Medical Association, a
180-pound (82 kg) person who drinks three 12-ounce
(355 ml) bottles of beer in an hour will end up with a
BAC of about 0.06 percent. The person would reach the
same BAC
by drinking three 4-ounce (120 nll) glasses
of wine or three mixed drinks if each had 1-1/2 ounces
(45 ml) of a liquor like whiskey, gin or vodka.
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