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Bob Simon: A Tragic and Possibly Preventable Loss

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Jamie Lincoln Kitman

Feb 13, 2015 (Archives)

4 Comments

New York is a media kind of town, so it’s right and fitting that so much attention has been paid to the untimely, violent death of the veteran 60 Minutes correspondent, Bob Simon, killed Wednesday night when the black Lincoln Town Car in which he was riding plowed into the back of a car stopped at a light at Manhattan’s 30th Street and 12th Avenue, before crashing into a traffic divider and coming to rest. 
 
Much has been made of Simon’s fearlessness as a reporter -- to name a few examples, he was aboard one of the last helicopters out when Saigon fell; he also spent 40 days in an Iraqi prison after being captured on the ground while covering the 1991 Gulf War, all on his way to winning 23 Emmy awards. His fellow journalists have also remembered at length his other fine qualities -- as a journalist, father and person. And so should they salute the man: Simon’s loss will be keenly felt.
 

Bob Simon. (Getty Images)

Yet, there is another part of the story about this exemplary journalist’s life and its sudden, grisly end that has emerged and with all respect to the man and his memory, it is this aspect upon which we should also now focus: according to New York City police, Simon wasn’t wearing his seatbelt. Given that the driver of the ill-fated livery car survived this horrific incident, it is not unreasonable to suppose that Simon might, too, have lived had he only buckled up. Certainly, the odds of his survival would have improved dramatically. 
 

Lincoln Town Car Livery (Ford Photo)

So a key question to ask at a time like this is, what is it about getting in a taxi, limo or bus – or just getting into any back seat -- that makes so many people think the laws of physics have been suspended? Statistically the front passenger seat of a vehicle is in the most dangerous place in a collision like this. Yet as proven in the 1997 deaths of Princess Diana and her companion, Dodi Fayed, seat belts – or lack thereof -- change everything. The front-seat occupant of the bruiser S-Class Mercedes in which rear-seat passengers Diana and Dodi perished was the only person in the big Benz wearing a seatbelt, and the only one who lived. This was not a coincidence. As the saying used to go, seat belts save lives.

(Image: Quinn Dombrowski via flickr)

The passing of Diana, an international celebrity of the very first order, resulted in an outpouring of tears, tribute, speculation and condemnation (concerning the paparazzi who were chasing the couple,) the likes of which the world has rarely seen. Yet in that case, what could have been a major teaching moment was lost, drowned out by grief and the cacophonous side issues. And the lesson that was lost was this: It doesn’t matter how rich or royal you are, or how strong, heavy or fancy your car is, you never want to go flying when your vehicle’s motion is cut short violently.  Why people routinely assume that they are perfectly safe in the hands of a professional driver, much less in the care of a cabbie of unproven skill and sobriety, boggles the imagination. Yet I see it every day, this idea among back seat passengers that they don’t need to buckle up. As if getting thrown into the roof or the back of the front seat occupants’ heads is so much better than being thrown through a windscreen (which also might happen to untethered backseat passengers in a truly violent accident.) 
 

Not immune to wrecks. (Image: Chris Conroy via Flickr)

As someone whose life was saved many years ago in a mighty, high-speed car wreck by the set of three-point seatbelts I’d installed in my 1967 MGB only two weekends previous, I continue to always wear seat belts and especially when I’m riding in a taxi or airport shuttle. Accidents happen and I don’t want to die in one and I don’t want you to die in one, either. Come for a ride in the backseat of my car and I will make you belt up whether you like it or not. And I mean it when I say, Bob Simon was an extraordinary man and a great reporter who risked his life to help get the story out. But when he failed to wear his seat belts, he took a foolish, unnecessary risk for absolutely no benefit. Let us hope that one part of his legacy will be reminding people to strap in – always. 

(Image: Martin Abegglen via flickr)

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• 4 comments
• Car Talk

George_San_Jose • 21 days ago

Excellent post. I agree it is hard to explain why we'll go to great lengths to be safe in certain situations, yet think in other situations there is no need to be concerned at all about safety. I guess it is like what I call "the restaurant effect". While we'll buy organic produce and eat nothing but spinach sandwiches for weeks at a time at home, when we go to a restaurant we adopt a "who cares?" attitude and eat whatever we like. It's as if by def'n nothing you eat in a restaurant has any calories or harmful ingredients.

nyandmaine • 20 days ago

Excellent article... on all points. And excellent comments from George_San_Jose.
I too have the policy that anyone riding in my car must wear seat belts, and I will in the back seat of anything, be it private car or airport limo.

To add another example, oh how well I remember. It was March 7, 1969, while going to work on a day that had earlier snow. On an overpass near JFK airport, I learned the meaning of "bridge freezes before roadway." My poor Triumph slid into the left guardrail, then spun and went head first into the right one, ending up facing traffic. I walked out without a scratch. Seat belts save lives!

Dash Bored • 8 days ago

I would like to add a tragic story to emphasize both the value of wearing seatbelts and the foolish bravado of young adult males. In 1980, I was involved in a high speed rollover accident on the highway south of Tijuana (yes, that would be in Mexico). But my passenger and I should have had nothing to worry about, as we were driving in a 1973 Toyota Landcruiser equipped with all the of the off road accoutrements of the time INCLUDING a massive aftermarket roll cage. That roll cage was our safe haven, protecting us from being beaten and battered by terra firma we were tumbling across. Except that we were young men in our 20's and didn't need to wear seatbelts and were flung out of our protective cage at 60 miles per hour. Sadly, my dear friend and passenger did not survive the accident having hit the ground and broken his neck. I severely damaged my left leg and was transported to the jail ward of the Tijuana hospital where I spent the next 5 days.

The point is, after seeing the condition of my Landcruiser after rolling it 4-5 times, it was very apparent that had we used seatbelts to keep us in the vehicle, protected by the only slightly damaged roll cage, my friend would not have had his life end at age 23. Please wear seat belts.

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•Mustangman • 19 days ago

Thank you for the article. If only one life is saved....
Seat belts always, for everyone in the car.