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Saved By The Belt

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By MIKE DeWITT, Tribune correspondent

Published: November 10, 2007

The noise came suddenly from beneath my Jeep, a grinding, high-pitched squeal that fit somewhere between fingernails raked across a chalk board and the angry utterance of a 2-year-old denied his will.

It was Sunday and I was three miles into Sarasota County, halfway home after a delightful weekend spent at the Florida Trail Association's southern conference in Alva, a quaint, riverside village east of Fort Myers.

I'd folded back the cloth top on the Jeep so that I could sample fully every second of this perfect fall Sunday.

With gas selling nigh on the three-dollar per gallon mark, I chose to throttle back a bit, easing the needle of the speedometer down to 55. It was great day to drop the top and cruise, and I saw no reason to hurry.

The metallic scream coming from beneath the Jeep lasted only a few seconds before it ended in a bone-jarring slam that locked up the rear tires as if I'd pushed the brake pedals through the floorboards. Suddenly, I was at the helm of a skidding, unwilling vehicle that was resisting all my efforts to control it. A second later, my beautiful fall Sunday was tumbling down a fire ant-infested embankment in a sandy cloud of dust.

Without A Scratch

Newton's first law stipulates that an object in motion continues in motion with the same speed and in the same direction unless acted upon by an unbalanced force. In my case, the Jeep and all of its contents were the objects in white-knuckle motion.

Newton goes on to explain that it is the natural tendency of objects to keep on doing what they're doing until met by an unbalanced force - the sloping, grassy surface of an interstate corridor, for example. Objects in motion tend to resist changes in their state of motion; this is called the law of inertia, and properly applied, it, combined with an unbalanced force, can send your vehicle into a rollover.

Emergency personnel tend to dread rollovers in open vehicles such as Jeep Wranglers and convertibles, according to Cpl. Michael J. Michaud of the Florida Highway Patrol. Michaud was the first in a phalanx of emergency personnel who appeared to arrive almost instantly at the scene of my accident.

Michaud and his colleagues know that more than 90 percent of Americans agree that wearing a seat belt is a good idea. They also know, from a study done by James Madison University, that less than 20 percent will actually strap themselves in before taking to the road.

The great unbelted are the hapless prey of laws Newtonian. In a 30 mph collision, a 160-pound unbelted occupant of a vehicle upon which Newton's unbalanced force has acted, will continue to remain in motion, striking the windshield, the dashboard or another passenger with as much as 5,000 pounds of force.

Furthermore, for reasons attributed to everything from machismo to a false sense of security, many of those who eschew the two-second act of fastening their seat belts are drivers of four-wheel drive vehicles. Long thought of as more prone to rollovers, modern four-wheel drive vehicles are shipped from the manufacturer with a center of gravity comparable to most automobiles. The potential for rollover increases only when aftermarket modifications such as larger tires and lifts are installed.

To add even more injury to what may already be a fatal chain of events, unbelted drivers and passengers in open-topped vehicles are often ejected and then crushed by the vehicle from whence they came.

Ejected occupants are 25 times more likely to suffer serious injury and 75 percent of these injuries will result in fatality. Such is the scene that Michaud had every mathematical reason to expect he would encounter when he arrived at the scene of my accident.

But upon his arrival, Michaud found me standing next to my battered rig and chatting with a motorist who stopped to render aid. As the rescue personnel looked me over, they uttered words such as "miracle" and "unbelievable."

When my Jeep rolled down the hill, my safety belt kept me securely attached to that 2,200-pound chunk of tumbling steel, enabling me to walk away without a scratch.

But what about my dog, Angel?

Guardian Angel

Newton's law does not exempt pets. When finally the Jeep came to rest, my first thought was of Angel. On the theory that any restraint effort was better than none at all, I had clipped her leash to my seat belt with a carabiner. Now, as the dust settled around the crash site, I saw Angel's leash stretched taught over the side of the vehicle. I could not see the other end of it, and I could not see or hear Angel.

I crawled out of the Jeep and rose to my feet, dreading the sight that awaited me on the other side of it. I walked to other side, my heart in my throat, only to witness an empty collar dangling from her leash. My eyes searched the ground for her form. It was nowhere to be found.

And then I saw her, running away as fast as her four legs could carry her 60-pound body. The crash had scared her badly, but she was unhurt. I managed to call her to me and secure her safety. I'd been granted two miracles in one day.

The experience raised a question I'd never considered. Are there seat belt restraints for dogs? Indeed, there are.

A search of the Internet turned up several companies that manufacture and sell canine restraint harnesses designed to keep your dog safe in the event of an accident. There are designs to accommodate virtually any breed of dog, but oddly, I found none for cats. Simple to use, the harnesses connect easily to a typical seat belt. Angel's canine safety belt is on the way.

And so is the insurance adjuster.

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