Thursday, February 18, 2010

Don't forget, not even once, ok?







51 comments:

Alexis Grant said...

First seat-belt promo I've ever thought was kinda great! How do you find this stuff?

Deep River said...

Nice job by the Brits.

Daisy said...

So true and beautiful, and now I'm crying. Dammit!

Christi Goddard said...

That was really cool, and such a great message. I admit, I was at first one of the people complaining about 'Big Brother telling me what to do in my own car' when the laws started being enforced fifteen years ago, but now it's such a habit that I can't even turn the key in the ignition without my belt being locked.

And I won't report your ruthless thievery.

This time.

David said...

My car starts beeping at me, louder and faster and more aggressively, the longer anyone in front waits to put on a seatbelt while the car is in drive. If I have the GPS system hooked up, a voice threatens to crash the car deliberately if I don't put it on.

No worries - I do.

Lola Sharp said...

That was really powerful.

And very caring of the shark to remind her readers to be safe.

Thanks for sharing.

Baley Petersen said...

Wow. That's super cool and very very effective!

rissawrites said...

Wow, gave me goosebumps.

I am going to steal it shameless from you as well.

Dan Krokos said...

I don't let people ride in my car without it.

DebraLSchubert said...

Amen. I worked at a rehab hospital for 12 years, and we had so many patients who suffered spinal cord and head injuries from not wearing their seat belts. It's not okay ever. Not ever. Not even once.

passinglovenotes said...

I'm speechless.

Toni McGee Causey said...

Wow, that was well done. I am passing that one along!

Joelle said...

Okay, I'm still not sorry I don't have a TV even though I missed this there, but this is really cool. Thanks for sharing! And of course, yes, it made me tear up.

writeidea said...

That's the most powerful ad I've ever seen. I lost my mom in a car accident because she didn't wear a seat belt. If even one person wears theirs and lives another day to spend it with family, the ad did its job. Thanks for sharing that.

julieoconnell said...

Wow. Thanks for sharing.

Kayeleen said...

What a beautiful reminder. Thanks for sharing.

Melissa Blue said...

That was awesome.

Amethyst Greye Alexander said...

Um, wow.

Ronda Laveen said...

Okay! Thanks.

sharigreen said...

Thanks for sharing this, Janet - a powerful reminder.

Kate said...

You just love to make us weep!

Gayle Carline said...

Wow. Beautiful way to get a message to folks.

Derek Whisman said...

A friend of mine was thrown from a car back in high school. He died because he wasn't wearing his seat belt. I commend this video. Great message.

Casey McCormick said...

That was one of the most beautiful things I've seen in awhile. Thank you.

Linda Rader said...

Marvelous! The symbolism on so many levels is heart wrenching.

BnB Paulson said...

Kay, Janet... I'm prego and I avoid TV at all costs at this time because of the cry-potential... I come to your site for funny! What the heck! Tears all over the place! Thanks, I guess!

Just kidding. Loved it. Thanks for sharing!

suelder said...

Beautiful. And it made me tear up (like crying but only almost).

I wore my seatbelt 20 years ago and it saved my life - a car accident that broke both my legs and my hip.

They work, they really do.

Melissa said...

There was something about the little girl in her fairy wings that really got to me (in a good way). Great video and excellent reminder!

Anne-Marie said...

I am old enough to remember our first family car, which was a red VW Beetle without seat belts. Whenever we rode in the front seat next to our dad (before child seats were even heard of), he had a natural reflex to be the human seatbelt. If he had to make a sudden stop, whipping his right hand out to protect us was part of the deal. The whack was pretty hard sometimes, right into the stomach area. His motion was so automatic it continued years after they were introduced, and is actually one of my fondest memories of driving with him now that he's gone.

Great video, Janet. Thanks for sharing it.

xx
AM

Southern Writer said...

Powerful, but boy, that Stephen Parrish is everywhere. Doesn't he ever stay home?

Talewright said...

Pretty damn powerful. I'm posting this on my Creative Writing and British Lit pages for my students. Thanks

Elizabeth Lynd said...

Wow. That was a really. good. commercial.

I wear mine. Every time. And so does everyone in my car.

Thanks for the reminder why.

CKHB said...

Crud, now I'm all teary-eyed.

BACK SEAT PASSENGERS, TOO, OKAY? Not just drivers and shotgun.

swedishfish said...

I rolled my car when I was 16 years old -- we ended up on the driver's side -- and my passenger and I walked away. I don't remember too much of the accident, but I remember getting into the car and saying, "Seat belt!!"

Kristine Overbrook said...

Totally brought tears to my eyes. What a perfect commercial.

Susan Quinn said...

This is awesome. I'm ruthlessly stealing it.

magolla said...

Poignant.

Make it a habit. Don't even start the car unless EVERYONE buckles up.

Chantal said...

That's some pretty powerful imagery. I find it beautiful and chilling in the same heartbeat. I just adopted a little boy about the same age as the girl in the video...wow.

Robin Becker said...

now I have tears in my eyes at work!

Abby Stevens said...

I'm glad you posted this. When I was seventeen I flipped in a truck and a seatbelt saved my life. I was always a bit of a stickler about it even before then, but now the rule is, you don't buckle up, you don't get in my car.

Steve Ulfelder said...

Race cars use harnesses with at least 5 mounting points: 2 for the shoulders, 2 lap straps, and (a relatively new innovation) an anti-submarine strap, more coarsely known as the crotch strap. Why this fifth, uncomfortable strap? Without it, racers - a foolish lot always finding new ways to get in trouble - had a habit of sliding out from under their belts in frontal impacts, in the process decapitating themselves on their lap straps.

Chris Eldin said...

Steve is the Michael Landon of the blogosphere...
yet, I continue to click on the videos he posts.

JoAnn said...

The most eloquent thing I've seen in a very long time. Thank you.

Suze said...

As someone who grew up in the UK, I can say that there are a lot of great ads like this on road safety.

The one thing that's drummed in to us from an early age is that at 30mph, if you hit a pedestrian they have an 80% chance of living through the accident. If you are driving over 30mph, there's an 80% chance that the pedestrian will die. So if you're behind someone on a US road who is going 30 mph on a 35 mph road... sorry - that'll be me :)

Have a safe weekend, all.

Marsha Sigman said...

Thanks, crying at work.

Now I have to pretend it was because my fiscal year end reports are done.

SarannaDeWylde said...

Fine. I'll do it. Just don't make me watch that ever again. It made me all girly and soft. I sniffed.

But could they please design a safety belt better suited to us Amazon Goddess types? While I claim the moniker, I'd like to keep both my boobies, please. As it stands now, the one in my Camry keeps threatening my right sweater kitten.

Jennifer said...

That was a great commercial. Fantastic.

Venus Vaughn said...

One of my dearest loves (and his wife) died in a car accident while not wearing their seatbelts.

He had once been a cop, and somehow believed the laws of physics didn't apply to him.

Paula R said...

I love this video. It is so powerful. I got teary eyed. The facial expressions are priceless, and I love the symbolic nature of the whole piece.

Peace and love,
Paula R.

Joylene said...

Awesome!

M. M. Justus said...

I'd have been dead ten years ago if I wasn't religious about my seatbelt (I rolled my car -- don't glance at the map at 60mph, please). Anything that convinces everyone to do so is a good thing in my book.