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Driving to your field area is one of the most dangerous activities you
will do, especially if you're working
overseas.
It's amazing how many people
will scream and run at the site of a
rattlesnake, but think nothing of
driving for hundreds of miles with no seatbelt. Though such behavior
has an explanation within the context of evolution, we are smarter than
that and obligated to take responsibility for it. |
Who is responsible?
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CREW
LEADER: At a minimum, you are ethically responsible for
making sure your people are transported safely. You may also be
legally responsible for this in some states. However, you are NOT in charge of the vehicle's
operation unless you are actually driving.
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DRIVER: You are
legally responsible for the wellbeing and behavior of everyone in your
vehicle in addition to the vehicle's prudent operation, regardless of what
the crew leader instructs you to do.
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Crew leaders and/or drivers have the authority to insist on the following
three simple and effective practices to help satisfy these obligations:
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1. Wear Your Seatbelt
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There are three collisions in a
car crash:
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The car hits an object.
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You hit the car's
interior.
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Your organs hit your
bones.
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One of the keys to minimizing the affects of a crash
is to increase the time over which the three collisions occur.
Milli-seconds are all that's required to achieve this minimizing effect.
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Crumple zones increase the
vehicle's deceleration time in order to cushion and reduce the impact force.
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Seatbelts are the portion of
the car's interior that you want to hit. They stretch thereby increasing your body's
deceleration time; and they keep you within the relative safety of the
vehicle.
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As a
professional rescue worker, I have responded to many car wrecks.
There is a saying we have with regard to such accidents, "People who wear seatbelts go to
the hospital; people who don't go to the morgue."
Passengers -- please respect and honor the driver's need for your
cooperation on this issue. |
Failure to wear your seatbelt may negate any and all insurance policies
you might have including: life insurance, accidental death and
dismemberment, long and short term health care, medical evacuation,
foreign emergency evacuation, property, etc. |
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2. Lock Those Doors!
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CLOSED doors allow
crumple zones to function properly during a crash.
LOCKED doors help the doors stay closed
so the crumple zones can work. |
| This is NOT
to prevent a car-jacking. Rather, modern vehicles are designed to handle
a crash with the doors SHUT. The California Highway Patrol has
demonstrated that locking the doors makes them less likely to come open in
an accident. The vehicle will better-maintain its structural
integrity, and there will be more "room to live" inside. |
| Don't worry about being locked inside the
vehicle in the
event of a fire or water impact. Though such incidents do occur,
they are remote possibilities at best. |
3. Know the Driver's
Mental Alertness
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There is a building legal precedent (and supporting
studies) behind the idea that driving while tired renders one just as
impaired as driving while drunk. Further, many states make no
distinction between a driver impaired by alcohol versus any other
substance be it: prescription medication, over-the-counter medications
(such as those used for allergies) or illegal drugs. In
some states, new laws mean sleep-deprived drivers can face ten years in
prison if they cause a deadly crash. |
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