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Alex Reynolds
UWRT 1101
11/16/14
Seatbelt Safety
The social message that my group and I chose is to wear your seatbelt at all times.
Wearing seatbelt cannot always prevent major injury but you will have a better chance of less
injury or not dying by wearing it. I mentioned this message to our group because I have
experienced an accident that effected my life. I was riding with my friends one day after football
practice and the driver bent down to pick up something out of the floor and went off the road. He
then jerked the truck back on the road and when he did he flipped the truck twice. Everyone was
fine except for the guy in the passenger seat. He was bleeding from his head and had broken his
arm. We all were wearing seatbelts but the police told us all that if we had not been wearing our
seatbelts we would probably be dead. I had not taken wearing my seatbelt that seriously up until
after that day. I dont know why I had it on that day because I used to never wear it but now
every time I get in a vehicle I put my seatbelt on. It was relevant to the group we chose because
we were able to display our message in three different ways perfectly. In 2012, 2.2 Million adult
drivers and passengers were treated in the emergency rooms across the U.S. from motor vehicle
accidents. Wearing your seatbelt is the most effective way to prevent severe injuries or even
death. Some people still do not use them every time they get in the car. Wearing your seatbelt
reduces the death rates and severe injuries by about half. Teens is the group that do not wear
there seatbelt the most often because they can be young and careless. Fifty percent of the teens
that died in car crashes in 2012 did not have on a seatbelt at the time of the accident. Research

shows that primary enforcement laws make a difference. Most people will wear their seatbelt so
they do not get pulled over and given a ticket for not wearing it. Every state does not have
primary enforcement laws and those states have a lower percentage of seatbelt use than the states
that do have a Primary enforcement laws.
My group produced three genres a billboard, a bumper sticker, and an informational
essay. We chose the billboard for the young kids because they are more likely to be the ones
riding in a car down the road looking at those types of things. It is very important to reach out to
kids at a young age so they grow up knowing the safety of wearing a seatbelt and being aware of
the consequences of not wearing one when riding in a motor vehicle. We chose this genre for the
kids but it is also out there for everyone to see as well.
We chose the bumper sticker genre to attack the adults driving or riding in motor vehicles
because they are the ones driving on the roads and paying attention to other vehicles while
driving. Maybe they see a bumper sticker at a red light on the back of somebodys car that says,
wear your seatbelt and then decide to slide their seatbelt on at that moment. Adults should by
then be aware of the things that can happen to them if they are not wearing their seatbelt. Adults
should know these things not only for them but so they can be able to educate their children on
seatbelt safety as well. Adults ages 18-34 are more likely to not wear their seatbelt rather
someone over the age of thirty-five according to the CDC in 2010. Men in between those ages
are more likely to not wear there seatbelt than women. Young adults from the ages of eighteen to
twenty-four have the highest car crash injury rates of all the adults in the Unites States.
We then chose the genre of an informational essay to reach out to the elderly adults. We
chose this for this particular personal because the elderly are the people most likely to take the
time to read an essay like the one we have produced to re-inform themselves of the consequences

of not wearing a seatbelt. The elderly sometimes will have some memory loss and forget to wear
their seatbelt when riding in a motor vehicle. When they get to the age where they are not able to
drive any longer and it is a risk of fatal car crashes and injuries then it is someone else that is
youngers responsibility to provide transportation for them. If it is a young teen that is doing this
pleasure for tan elderly adult then may forget to put their seatbelt on because they are the ones
most likely to not wear one. It is then the elderly adults responsibility to remind the young adult
of the safety of wearing ones seatbelt. In 2009, there were thirty-three million adults over the
age of sixty-five that were licensed in the United States.
As a group we did not chose a genre along the lines of a script or a commercial because it
would be too complicated for people like us to present a message like this through an
advertisement. We do not have the equipment or the connections to do so. Although we would
have liked to present the message in this way because everyone watches television and it would
have been a great way to reach out to drivers and passengers of all ages.
We would have also liked to present a genre in a book or manual that explains all the
specific details to wearing a seatbelt. We could have presented information that explains the
impact of a car crash and the safety that wearing a seatbelts provides to the driver and the
passengers it could also explain the consequences and the injuries that could take place if not
wearing your seatbelt.
My groups overall evaluation of the genre is that we felt like we did a good job of
attacking every group of drivers on the road today. I feel like if we were provided more time to
let our genres progress then it would become of more notice to the people we are trying to reach
out to. I felt like we definitely used our genres to our advantage with the time provided. I also
gained knowledge of the message we were trying to send to other people. It made me realize

that I do not wear my seatbelt every time I am in a vehicle and now there is no doubt that that is
what I will be doing.

Resources
Bergen G, Peterson C, Ederer D, Florence C, Haileyesus T, Kresnow MJ, Likang X, Injury
Prevention & Control: Motor Vehicle safety, 7 October, 2014
http://www.cdc.gov/motorvehiclesafety/seatbelts/facts.html November 16, 2014
People at Centers for disease control and prevention (CDC). Injury Prevention And Control:
Motor Vehicle Safety. January 31, 2014.
http://www.cdc.gov/motorvehiclesafety/older_adult_drivers/adult-drivers_factsheet.html
November 16, 2014