Seat Belts

[JB4310]

I wear mine most of the time, and wore them when it was not the thing to do. I figured if race car drivers wear them it can't be that uncool.

I was thinking about this the other day, there will be no need for a discussion on future generation's use of seat belts because the kids now are programmed to wear them from Birth.
Unlike past generations where it was just good practice, not a law, or the transitional period where people were just starting to follow the law.

My kids automatically buckle up, never once caught them without a seat belt on, before I can even say it, it's done. So I think going forward this will be less of an issue for the vast majority, of course there will always be some who wont.

JB.

 

[TripleR]

Airbags are made to work in conjunction with seatbelts.

Agreed, but I think an earlier poster said something to that effect.

For those of us who have long been in the habit of wearing seat belts, it's just impossible to comprehend why anyone would decide not to wear them.

I started when I installed seat belts myself in a new 1962 Austin Healy Sprite that came without seat belts.

I mentioned earlier in this thread that there is no doubt it saved my left on December 29, 1965, (almost a month before our first daughter was born).

Then on February 2, 1999, my wife lost control of our 1993 Ford Escort Station Wagon, and rolled it. I don't really know how many revolutions she made, but she cleared a barbed wire fence without touching or damaging it, and came to rest upside down in a briar patch in a pasture. She was pretty severely bruised, but no broken bones; almost certainly would have been killed without the seat belt.

When I taught our daughters to drive, I also told them I'd take their drivers license if I ever caught them without their seat belts on (before the days when it was illegal to fail to wear one).

I can understand someone thinking it feels odd to put that belt on, if you've not been accustomed to it, but it's not uncomfortable, and when you've worn one as long as we have, it just wouldn't feel natural or comfortable to move a car without having it on.

I know what you mean, I actually feel uncomfortable without one. I put mine on just driving around the farm.

You can get use to just about anything. I am sure there are those who will tell you, you would never get comfortable carrying two plus pounds of steel hanging off one side day in day out, but we both know better.

 

[Soundguy]

i'm both more comfortable wearing a seatbelt AND 'carrying'.

I much prefer to drive my tractors that have rops ..

I'm slowly starting to refit my older tractors with rops.. 3 down.. um.. lots to go!

 

[mjarrels]

Funny story... we took a taxi ride a few weeks ago to treat my inlaws to sunday lunch at a upscale place. We all buckled up except for my MIL/FIL, they are in the mid 70's and had no clue how to use a seatbelt, this of course is in the Philippines. My son had to show them how. They looked like they were doing a Hundi act trying to wrap that seat belt around their arms and neck.

mark

 

[aczlan]

Airbags are made to work in conjunction with seatbelts.

Older (1987-1993??) Volvos with airbags refer to them as a "Supplemental Restraint System" aka SRS.

Aaron Z

 

[bdw593]

Older (1987-1993??) Volvos with airbags refer to them as a "Supplemental Restraint System" aka SRS.

Aaron Z

Supplement:
Something added to complete or improve a thing

So as Volvo states the airbags were made to complete or improve the seatbelt. Not to be relied on for primary protection.

 

[dcyrilc]

Older (1987-1993??) Volvos with airbags refer to them as a "Supplemental Restraint System" aka SRS.

Aaron Z

Supplement:
Something added to complete or improve a thing

So as Volvo states the airbags were made to complete or improve the seatbelt. Not to be relied on for primary protection.

My '07 Tundra still lists them as SRS devices. Enough said.

 

[TripleR]

TripleR, I'm sorry to hear of your misfortune...

Thanks for your concern, you are are a fine young man. All in all I consider myself a lucky man. We can't change what happens to us, only how we react and I focus on the things I can do and not those I can't; the good things in life like my wife of 43 years, four children and eleven grandchildren. I know it may sound hokey, but every day I wake up is a gift from God.

 

[CompactTractorFan]

Thanks for your concern, you are are a fine young man. All in all I consider myself a lucky man. We can't change what happens to us, only how we react and I focus on the things I can do and not those I can't; the good things in life like my wife of 43 years, four children and eleven grandchildren. I know it may sound hokey, but every day I wake up is a gift from God.

Thank you very much.

 

[NC tractor driver]

I don't have a problem with adults not wearing them IF, they clearly mark the outside of the car that that they do not wish to have assistance from emergency responders and medical treatment. OR they have a $1,000,000 policy that will cover them and anyone else they injure in the accident while not wearing a seatbelt. I promise, after they price the policy, they will just buckle up. Parents with children in the car would be exempt from both and must always wear a seatbelt. This is only to prevent the emotional scarring the children would have after watching their parents die from their arrogance.

The other thing I would propose is that if you are in an accident, regardless of who is at fault, if you are not wearing your seatbelt you have given up any recourse for compensation. Same goes for motorcyclists who don't wear a helmet.

Seatbelts are not 100%, people can and do get injured while wearing them, sometimes even by them. But, the margin of safety they add is far greater than any risk they carry. If people aren't smart enough to see that, perhaps they should die in a car crash.

A little blunt, but I agree.

 

[Duffster]

If it is your time to go......... it is your time to go.

 

[Bird]

If it is your time to go......... it is your time to go.

As the old story goes about that being told to the fellow going up in airplace the first time, and of course he asked, "What if the pilot's time to go comes?"

 

[Duffster]

As the old story goes about that being told to the fellow going up in airplace the first time, and of course he asked, "What if the pilot's time to go comes?"

And as Ron White said "Make sure you hit something hard, 'cause I don't want to limp away from this!":laughing:

 

[Qapla]

...I can understand someone thinking it feels odd to put that belt on, if you've not been accustomed to it, but it's not uncomfortable, and when you've worn one as long as we have, it just wouldn't feel natural or comfortable to move a car without having it on.

I would have to disagree on this portion of the comment. I have worn many belts that cut across my neck and are very uncomfortable. I have also worn ones that continue to retract the entire time you have it on. You have to keep tugging on it so that it will loosen up a bit ... then it goes back to choking mode.

I know that most of the newer belts are far more comfortable then those from back a few years ... but to say they are NOT UNCOMFORTABLE is where I have a problem with them (some of them)

The one in my Titan is fine. However, the one in my daughters car is so far back that I have to pull it out before I finish getting in or I have trouble reaching it to put it on.

I do not disagree with wearing them, I just don't think they should be able to ticket you if you don't. (Going out an a limb here) I might add, since they do make it law to wear them and can ticket if you don't, they should outlaw smoking while driving and ticket you if you do.

 

[Bird]

I do not disagree with wearing them, I just don't think they should be able to ticket you if you don't. (Going out an a limb here) I might add, since they do make it law to wear them and can ticket if you don't, they should outlaw smoking while driving and ticket you if you do.

I'll bet there's not a single one of us who doesn't think some of the existing laws shouldn't be laws, and also that some things we don't like should be illegal when they are not.:laughing:

And I'm no exception. I don't like laws that make you take care of yourself; i.e., seat belt laws, motorcycle helmet laws, and many others. It so happens that I like seat belts, but I'd rather there was not a law that you have to wear it. But I can understand the reasoning behind the law. Whether that reasoning is right or wrong is something I really don't know.

 

[wsp617]

I'll bet there's not a single one of us who doesn't think some of the existing laws shouldn't be laws, and also that some things we don't like should be illegal when they are not.:laughing:

And I'm no exception. I don't like laws that make you take care of yourself; i.e., seat belt laws, motorcycle helmet laws, and many others. It so happens that I like seat belts, but I'd rather there was not a law that you have to wear it. But I can understand the reasoning behind the law. Whether that reasoning is right or wrong is something I really don't know.

How do you feel about the guy that doesn't like the seat belt law and doesn't wear it. One day he drops his cigarette in his truck. When he reaches down to pick it up he drifts off the road. When he tries to get the truck back on the road he over-corrects and rolls the truck. The accident leaves the guy paralized from the waist down. You're thinking "sucks to be him". But in the end he can't work, gets on a governmen run health care plan and collects disability payments every month. Disability payments that come from the tax payers like you and I.

You may not like "laws that make you take care of yourself" but sometimes people have to be protected from themselves.....

 

[wvpolekat]

You may not like "laws that make you take care of yourself" but sometimes people have to be protected from themselves.....

I don't see it as protecting them from themselves. I see it as protecting our tax dollars from them.

 

[TripleR]

Just about anything can be countered with, "yeah, but what if...".