THERE IS AN attitude out there that defies understanding.

It's the one you see in the fit, young driver of a dusty half-ton who wheels into a handicapped parking spot.

It's the same with people who sneak a cigarette in a smoke-free building; drink six beer in their boat, sitting on their lifejacket; ignore no-trespassing signs. to hunt or snowmobile on private, rural land, take their brimming cart into the supermarket express line.

Rules are for everyone else; not me. I'm different. I can do what I want.

That's what Darcy Hunt thought about the seat belt law. Even after being fined for not wearing one, he continued to travel without buckling up.

Just about this time four years ago, Hunt was a passenger in a truck that flipped over three times. Basic physics came into play: the doors popped open, Hunt flew out.

Put your hands on your hips, fingers to the back. Move them around until they touch. Squeeze that whole pelvic area, including the bottom of your backbone. That was all smashed up in Darcy Hunt's body.

His urethra was severed. That's the duct through which urine is discharged, and semen in men.

His windpipe was wrecked. They needed to cut a hole in his throat to let air reach his lungs.

Darcy Hunt didn't wake up for eight months. That's how hard he got hit. He didn't get out of the hospital for a year and-a-half.

Now, he's agreed to share his experience with people who still think like he used to. These are people caught in a recent city crackdown on seat belt violators and told they could either pay the $78 fine or watch a film, listen to a speaker and then go home.

Hey! most thought. Bonus. For a couple of hours of boredom, I can save seventy-eight bucks.

On Saturday morning, they yawned and shuffled, itching to get out into the sunshine. When Darcy Hunt was finished speaking, they applauded. Cheating death is not something you hear someone reveal too often.

Nearly half the drivers in Thunder Bay continue to think they're smarter than everyone else. That's a lot of dumb luck driving around in this city. But it won't all last forever. It'll run out a little at a time, day after day. Some of the 'exceptions to the rule' will get cuts; some will get cut in half. .

The driver of the truck Hunt was in wore his seatbelt. He got rattled around but he walked away. It took another 240-some days for Darcy Hunt to even wake up.

When you get into your car today, or someone else's tomorrow, the next day, whenever, don't be silly. Grab the seatbelt and buckle up for the ride. If it ends abruptly, you probably won't.

It was a Saturday morning and 50 people had gathered to watch a video on why they should wear a seat belt. They fidgeted in their chairs, yawned and looked like they would rather have been anywhere else until Darcy Hunt began to talk.

"On Oct. 1, 1988, something happened that changed my life forever," the 22-year-old Thunder Bay man said in a shaky voice that forced his audience to listen closely.

He explained how he was fined for not wearing a seat belt in June 1988, but continued not to wear one.

Four months later, he was in an accident where the vehicle he was in rolled three times. He was thrown from the truck because he wasn't buckled in.

Hunt suffered a broken pelvis, a severed urethra and needed a tracheotomy to breathe. He was in a coma for eight months after the accident and in the hospital for another year and a half.

The driver, who wasn't thrown from the vehicle, walked away from the accident almost unharmed.

"Life is still not easy for me, but I consider myself a lucky man. Lucky that I am alive," Hunt concluded. "Now, like me, you have been charged with not wearing your seat belt. . . I know what can happen if you do not. Please buckle up."

The people in the room applauded when Hunt finished.

"It makes you realize," Ken Shaffer, 19, said after the presentation.

"At first I came to save myself 80 bucks," said his friend Sheldon Skirten, 18. "How he was talking about getting thrown out of the car -basically, it's not something I thought of before."

They were two of more than 700 people caught in a recent seat belt crackdown in the city, who chose to attend the film and speech instead of paying the $78.75 fine. After Hunt spoke, the crowd was shown a video which aims to disprove some of the excuses people have for not wearing seat belts.

It's part of a program developed by Thunder Bay Police and the Ministry of Transportation to increase awareness about why drivers and passengers should buckle up.

Throughout September, police concentrated on stopping motorists and passengers who weren't buckling up. They issued a special ticket, giving the choice of paying the fine or attending the video session. More than 90 per cent chose to attend the presentation.

THUNDER BAY KICKOFF

Because of the program, provincial Seat Belt Safety Month will be kicked off at Westgate High School today by Revenue Minister Shelley Wark-Martyn (NDP- Port Arthur) .

Studies show Thunder Bay has a seat belt compliance rate of just 56 per cent, compared to a provincial average of 80 per cent and 85 per cent across the country.

Questionnaires are handed out at the end of the presentations, asking what impact Hunt and the video had on those attending and whether they will now buckle up.