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10 Car Crash Survivors Pose Proudly For A Chilling Photo Project To Raise Awareness About Seatbelt Safety
Shocking portraits of the searing bruises that seatbelts can leave behind after a car crash are being celebrated as survival badges of honor, and showing the importance of belting up.
The initiative is part of an NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) social awareness campaign to reduce the number of deaths on NZ roads. According to them, 90 people die each year because they weren’t wearing their seatbelt, most of whom are young men in rural areas. The confronting portraits are of 10 real-life road accident survivors, whose post-crash injuries were recreated by the SFX make-up company PROFX.
More info: Website
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Liam Bethell
Image credits: ourproductionteam
Kahutia Foster
Image credits: ourproductionteam
“A seatbelt really does leave a mark like this,” emergency medical specialist Dr. Natasha McKay, who provided her expertise to the road safety project, explained. “They will save your life, but they will leave you a mark to show how they’ve done it.”
Dion Perry
Image credits: ourproductionteam
The social ads had been shown on billboards around the country, with the survivors releasing emotional videos that tell their story. The aim is to get people sharing their own survival stories, stressing the positive impact of seatbelts and the joy of being alive to tell the tale.
Dan Mason
Image credits: ourproductionteam
NZTA, who worked closely with marketing communications company Clemenger BBDO, was looking to change the attitudes of some men, who view the seatbelt as an optional extra rather than a life-saving necessity. “We’re selling an undesirable product to these guys,” spokesperson Rachel Prince told Designboom. “Research told us they think seatbelt public announcements are for kids, for the elderly, for everyone else. We worked with them to make the undesirable something they wanted to buy.”
Rick Haira
Image credits: ourproductionteam
Dylan Chirnside
Image credits: ourproductionteam
Back in 2014, Willy Carberry’s car crashed into a power pole at speed before flipping over onto its side. He only survived the horrific accident because he was wearing his seatbelt, and he had the bruise marks across his chest to prove it.
Willy Carberry
Image credits: ourproductionteam
“F***ing put a seatbelt on,” was his blunt message to guys who think they are invincible. In an interview with stuff.co.nz, he stressed that fate can be out of your hands when you’re out on the road, it’s not necessarily going to be a fault of your own that leads to a crash. “”It doesn’t matter how short the trip is. You never know who’s going to come out of the intersection and t-bone ya, or reverse out of a driveway, or an old lady going down the road, having a stroke.”
James Mcdonald
Image credits: ourproductionteam
“If you don’t wear it, you’re gambling with your life, if you ask me.”
Will Giles
Image credits: ourproductionteam
James Liberona-Feek
Image credits: ourproductionteam
Check out some of the survivors’ hard-hitting and emotional videos below
Image credits: NZTransportAgency
Image credits: NZTransportAgency
Image credits: NZTransportAgency
Image credits: NZTransportAgency
Here’s what people had to say – many shared their own stories
What do you think ?
Uwe Theiss 6 years ago
It should be, but in a world where people don't vaccinate their children because they believe that viruses doesn't exist, a lot of people seem to be able to live without a brain.
Load More Replies...
Alexandru Bucur 6 years ago
Yeah. Unfortunately, I know exactly how that fells, because I've been in a serious accident as a passenger, courtesy of an 18 year old kid who didn't have a driver's licence, but whose parents got him a BMW Z3 for his 18th birthday... He took it out for a ride, got to the first intersection, braked too late and then T-boned us so hard we spun 120 degrees. I was insanely lucky he hit just behind me and I have no doubt about it, the seatbelt and airbag saved me. Also, you'd think the airbag feels soft, because it's a bag full of air? Wrong! it's like being punched and for the next minute you're trying to make head or tails of what has happened and why there's dust everywhere... (it's talcum powder that helps the airbag deploy smoothly). So yeah, for Pete's sake, wear your seatbelt. It WILL save you.
Monika Soffronow 6 years ago
I have very close friends who lost their only son in a similar accident, with the difference that the kid hit the passenger door. His dad had bought him his new car about a month before he got the license. Needless to say, my friends will never get over the loss.
Load More Replies...
Withnail 6 years ago (edited)
It's second nature to me, because my parents were always very strict about it. I instinctively reach for the seat belt as soon as I get into the car. And I'm teaching my daughter the same. She doesn't like it, but she'll like it much more than what could have happened to these guys...
Carol Emory 6 years ago
I always wear my seatbelt because I'm tired of hearing the dashboard chime going off whining that I forgot to click it.
Load More Replies...
Daria B 6 years ago
Always wear your seatbelts and motorcycle helmets. I'll never forget the impact and the millions of thoughts and feelings in that fraction of a moment when my helmeted skull hit the asphalt after my husband and I were catapulted off the bike at a sudden backtire malfunction.
RaroaRaroa 6 years ago
Yet her we still get people moaning that they're expected to wear a helmet when riding a bicycle. It ruins their hair or something.How can their brain be less important than their hair?
Load More Replies...
Herb Eaversmells 6 years ago
I was a kid, on my way to baseball practice with my dad and brothers. Some lady driving in the opposite direction was tying her shoes while driving. Head on collision, I was lifted out of seat before the seat belt engaged. I had a bruise like that for weeks..... Only injury I had though, everyone had seat belts on, everyone walked away without much injury.
Monika Soffronow 6 years ago
Nils Bohlin, an engineer at Volvo, invented the three-point seat belt in 1959. The 1950s were a time when pilots and racing drivers wore harnesses, but seatbelts – where they were fitted in cars – took the form of a rudimentary two-point waist restraint. In crashes, sometimes these did more harm than good. ..it has saved a million lives across the world and prevented even more serious injuries. Reducing your chance of injury or death by at least 50 percent in the event of a collision, it remains the most successful contribution to safety in the history of motoring. The reason the three-point seatbelt is so widely adopted is actually because Volvo opened up the patent so that any car manufacturer could use it in their design. They decided that the invention was so significant, it had more value as a free life saving tool than something to profit from.
Jo Bebe 6 years ago
I had bruises just like that and even worse than all these pictures with the marks across my lower belly from an accident in December 2018. PEOPLE STAY OFF YOUR FREAKING PHONES WHEN YOU DRIVE!! The kid couldv'e killed me and he was playing a freaking game on his phone when he hit me!!!
diane a 6 years ago (edited)
It isnt just people on phones who are a hazard. Drivers fiddling with the sat-nav, smoking while driving. If you drop a lighted cigarette on your lap at 70mph?? Don't know why smoking whilst driving is not banned - least you can drop your phone mid-conversation without setting yourself on fire. Fiddling with the CD player. Elderly drivers with poor eyesight and serious medical conditions. Look at our Prince Philip- he thankfully gave up his driving licence age NINETY FOUR after causing an accident, in which, luckily no-one was seriously injured. Would you be confident in a bus driver that age? I worked in retail in an area with a high proportion of elderly people. I was always concerned when they would just hold out a handful of notes and coins for me to help myself as they couldnt see well enough - with car keys in the other hand.
Load More Replies...
Paul K. Johnson 6 years ago
I remember back in the days when seat belt laws were first being put in place. I worked with so many people who said, "I don't wear a seat belt because it would trap me in the car." I tried to explain to them that they would be ejected from the car without the seat belt and they thought that was a good thing. People are stupid. Even back then the data was clear - seat belts save lives.
diane a 6 years ago
I have never been in a car without a seat belt - do not drive myself. I would feel distinctly unsafe without belting up. Ironically though my ex husband would probably have been dead (pre-seatbelt laws) had he been wearing one. He hit a large tree at 60mph- not his fault. He was thrown sideways by the impact which was lucky for him as the steering wheel column ended up embedded in the back of the driver's seat.
Load More Replies...
John Louis 6 years ago
I was in a car crash with a passenger. I was wearing my seat belt, he was not. I walked out he went away in an ambulance. WEAR YOUR SEAT BELT.
Just saying 6 years ago
In the UK the driver will be booked if any of their passengers is not seat belted - seat belts front seats and back seats is the law (as are car seats for children of various heights and ages, with a waiver for taxis and for people like grandparents who wouldn't habitually be driving their grandkids).
Load More Replies...
KarmaQueen 6 years ago
These are some chilling photos! On the way to dropping my daughter off at school this morning, I noticed on my dashboard that she had not put on her seatbelt. Her excuse, its a short drive and I have too many things to carry. Flat out told her I do not care, short drive, too many things in the hand, still can equal death.
Jennifer Erdossy 6 years ago
I was driving once with my mother-in-law in the backseat (at her own insistence). I couldn't win an argument with the woman ever, bless her heart. BUT - she didn't want to put on a seatbelt, and I said that was fine, but we weren't moving until she did. Let's just say I wasn't her favorite. And I miss her still, but she lived to a ripe old age.
Load More Replies... Uwe Theiss 6 years ago
It should be, but in a world where people don't vaccinate their children because they believe that viruses doesn't exist, a lot of people seem to be able to live without a brain.
Load More Replies... Alexandru Bucur 6 years ago
Yeah. Unfortunately, I know exactly how that fells, because I've been in a serious accident as a passenger, courtesy of an 18 year old kid who didn't have a driver's licence, but whose parents got him a BMW Z3 for his 18th birthday... He took it out for a ride, got to the first intersection, braked too late and then T-boned us so hard we spun 120 degrees. I was insanely lucky he hit just behind me and I have no doubt about it, the seatbelt and airbag saved me. Also, you'd think the airbag feels soft, because it's a bag full of air? Wrong! it's like being punched and for the next minute you're trying to make head or tails of what has happened and why there's dust everywhere... (it's talcum powder that helps the airbag deploy smoothly). So yeah, for Pete's sake, wear your seatbelt. It WILL save you.
Monika Soffronow 6 years ago
I have very close friends who lost their only son in a similar accident, with the difference that the kid hit the passenger door. His dad had bought him his new car about a month before he got the license. Needless to say, my friends will never get over the loss.
Load More Replies... Withnail 6 years ago (edited)
It's second nature to me, because my parents were always very strict about it. I instinctively reach for the seat belt as soon as I get into the car. And I'm teaching my daughter the same. She doesn't like it, but she'll like it much more than what could have happened to these guys...
Carol Emory 6 years ago
I always wear my seatbelt because I'm tired of hearing the dashboard chime going off whining that I forgot to click it.
Load More Replies... Daria B 6 years ago
Always wear your seatbelts and motorcycle helmets. I'll never forget the impact and the millions of thoughts and feelings in that fraction of a moment when my helmeted skull hit the asphalt after my husband and I were catapulted off the bike at a sudden backtire malfunction.
RaroaRaroa 6 years ago
Yet her we still get people moaning that they're expected to wear a helmet when riding a bicycle. It ruins their hair or something.How can their brain be less important than their hair?
Load More Replies... Herb Eaversmells 6 years ago
I was a kid, on my way to baseball practice with my dad and brothers. Some lady driving in the opposite direction was tying her shoes while driving. Head on collision, I was lifted out of seat before the seat belt engaged. I had a bruise like that for weeks..... Only injury I had though, everyone had seat belts on, everyone walked away without much injury.
Monika Soffronow 6 years ago
Nils Bohlin, an engineer at Volvo, invented the three-point seat belt in 1959. The 1950s were a time when pilots and racing drivers wore harnesses, but seatbelts – where they were fitted in cars – took the form of a rudimentary two-point waist restraint. In crashes, sometimes these did more harm than good. ..it has saved a million lives across the world and prevented even more serious injuries. Reducing your chance of injury or death by at least 50 percent in the event of a collision, it remains the most successful contribution to safety in the history of motoring. The reason the three-point seatbelt is so widely adopted is actually because Volvo opened up the patent so that any car manufacturer could use it in their design. They decided that the invention was so significant, it had more value as a free life saving tool than something to profit from.
Jo Bebe 6 years ago
I had bruises just like that and even worse than all these pictures with the marks across my lower belly from an accident in December 2018. PEOPLE STAY OFF YOUR FREAKING PHONES WHEN YOU DRIVE!! The kid couldv'e killed me and he was playing a freaking game on his phone when he hit me!!!
diane a 6 years ago (edited)
It isnt just people on phones who are a hazard. Drivers fiddling with the sat-nav, smoking while driving. If you drop a lighted cigarette on your lap at 70mph?? Don't know why smoking whilst driving is not banned - least you can drop your phone mid-conversation without setting yourself on fire. Fiddling with the CD player. Elderly drivers with poor eyesight and serious medical conditions. Look at our Prince Philip- he thankfully gave up his driving licence age NINETY FOUR after causing an accident, in which, luckily no-one was seriously injured. Would you be confident in a bus driver that age? I worked in retail in an area with a high proportion of elderly people. I was always concerned when they would just hold out a handful of notes and coins for me to help myself as they couldnt see well enough - with car keys in the other hand.
Load More Replies... Paul K. Johnson 6 years ago
I remember back in the days when seat belt laws were first being put in place. I worked with so many people who said, "I don't wear a seat belt because it would trap me in the car." I tried to explain to them that they would be ejected from the car without the seat belt and they thought that was a good thing. People are stupid. Even back then the data was clear - seat belts save lives.
diane a 6 years ago
I have never been in a car without a seat belt - do not drive myself. I would feel distinctly unsafe without belting up. Ironically though my ex husband would probably have been dead (pre-seatbelt laws) had he been wearing one. He hit a large tree at 60mph- not his fault. He was thrown sideways by the impact which was lucky for him as the steering wheel column ended up embedded in the back of the driver's seat.
Load More Replies... John Louis 6 years ago
I was in a car crash with a passenger. I was wearing my seat belt, he was not. I walked out he went away in an ambulance. WEAR YOUR SEAT BELT.
Just saying 6 years ago
In the UK the driver will be booked if any of their passengers is not seat belted - seat belts front seats and back seats is the law (as are car seats for children of various heights and ages, with a waiver for taxis and for people like grandparents who wouldn't habitually be driving their grandkids).
Load More Replies... KarmaQueen 6 years ago
These are some chilling photos! On the way to dropping my daughter off at school this morning, I noticed on my dashboard that she had not put on her seatbelt. Her excuse, its a short drive and I have too many things to carry. Flat out told her I do not care, short drive, too many things in the hand, still can equal death.
Jennifer Erdossy 6 years ago
I was driving once with my mother-in-law in the backseat (at her own insistence). I couldn't win an argument with the woman ever, bless her heart. BUT - she didn't want to put on a seatbelt, and I said that was fine, but we weren't moving until she did. Let's just say I wasn't her favorite. And I miss her still, but she lived to a ripe old age.
Load More Replies...
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