Seatbelts are a good thing.

[hecube]

Not wearing a seatbelt is freedom! Don't you oppress my rats.

I know it's a joke but there are people who think like that. They should also be free from medical treatments and let nature heal their injuries.

 

[MenaceMartin]

I dunno how anyone can't wear belts. I tried it once as a passanger, and hate it. I hate the feeling of being loose as the car moves and free to move. With my driving style, it would be especially difficult. I can tend to take some corners pretty swiftly

Most OTS belts won't keep you in a roll over...
I use these:

You know what, i really do love those harnesses. I love to feel 'attached' to the car, if you know what i mean? It feels more safe, and can feel the car's movements far better.

But, as Paracelsian previously says, unless you've got a cage, the harness will prevent you from haunching down away from the roof should you ever have a nasty rollover.

Otherwise i would have them installed in my car in a heartbeat!

 

[Fracture]

Funny, I was distressed when they passed the law statewide in Illinois,
felt it was an infringement on my personal freedom.
Had received one citation in an upscale community where it was an ordinance,
$50 fine.
Now that the law has been in effect for sometime, I can't drive with out having them on.If I just move a car, it's ok, but if I get past the driveway, they're on.
One time I was wearing a seat belt, as a passenger, it saved my life.
In the mid '70's, the driver of the car went into a ditch at about 70 in a full size
station wagon. The door skin was ripped off on my side, and the impact was so intense
the radio exited the dash and broke my ankle.
Probably would have been thrown from the vehicle, likely impact would have been a guardrail.

 

[bscenefilms]

I T-boned a woman as I was headed up the street and she executed a U-turn from the curb to my right... I remember looking at the windshield and thinking "My head would have made a nice hole right there if not for this belt.".

 

[KSG_Standard]

My dad started making us put on our seatbelts back in the 60's. I'ts been ingrained in my mind since then and in my kid's now too. I was in a bad car accident several years ago, and the seat/shoulder belt probably saved my life.

 

[Daniel]

Even more dangerous in a rollover than standard belts. Safety belts are designed to push you down to the console in a rollover, as the roof crushes. Not keep you upright. Not to mention side/front collisions, ever heard of basal skull seperation? If you aren't wearing a HANS and have your car fitted with a cage you just made it more dangerous.

You have no idea what you are talking about... These have ASM tech built in so they are not like a solid 4 or 5pt... (However I do have a 3/4 cage in my car).

This is what I did for 1/2 of a living 'till my back blew out 6 months ago.

 

[Kezman]

I buckle up, as do my passengers.

 

[matthew bear]

Jeezus. How fast was he going?

not fast, as he was driving a Beetle...

 

[Ginger Beer]

Funny. When seat belts became mandatory, there was a lot of bitching about the gubment telling people what to do.

You hear the same complaint about motorcycle helmets. People are silly creatures.

 

[geochem1st]

....

I rolled my Volvo in 1969 screwing around. Quite spectacular event, but I was lucky too (that, and the superb triangular belt: and that old Volvos were good in a wreck!).

One of the few shining moments of industrial history....1959 was a banner year:

"In 1958, Volvo Car Corporation hired Bohlin, who had designed ejector seats for Saab fighter airplanes in the 1950s, to be the company's first chief safety engineer. (A relative of Volvo CEO Gunnar Engelau had died in a car crash, which helped motivate the company to increase its safety measures.) Bohlin had worked with the more elaborate four-point harnesses in airplanes, and knew that system would be untenable in an automobile. In designing the new seat belt, he concentrated on providing a more effective method of protecting driver and passenger against the impact of the swift deceleration that occurred when a car crashed.

Within a year, Bohlin had developed the three-point seat belt, introduced in Volvo cars in 1959. The new belts secured both the upper and lower body; its straps joined at hip level and buckled into what Bohlin called "an immovable anchorage point" below the hip, so that they could hold the body safely in the event of a crash. According to Bohlin (as quoted by The New York Times in his 2002 obituary): "It was just a matter of finding a solution that was simple, effective and could be put on conveniently with one hand."

In the interests of safety, Volvo made the new seat belt design available to other car manufacturers for free; it was required on all new American vehicles from 1968 onward."

Three-point seatbelt inventor Nils Bohlin born — History.com This Day in History — 7/17/1920

 

[lariat]

I didn't start regularly wearing my seatbelt until I was in my mid to late 20s, but now I always do.

If fact, when I'm a passenger in a car with a bad driver I'll put on my seatbelt, grab the 'holy fvck' bar by the window with both hands, look straight ahead and say, 'Ok, ready'.

 

[Comanche]

Roaches and volvos is all that will survive the pokieclipse.
When is the Mad Max reboot due?

 

[PraXis]

I'm for seatbelts, but not for seatbelt laws.

 

[Thumpalumpacus]

Seat belts are a requirement in my truck. The Air Force required it of all members at all times, and that solidified a habit I had already started.

Of course, seeing my first non-belted casualty pulled out of a car was just as convincing. He died before the ambulance arrived.

 

[Daniel]

I'm for seatbelts, but not for seatbelt laws.

Have to disagree on this one... An un-belted driver is dangerous to everyone.

Aside from making a crash more survivable, they keep you behind the wheel when it gets squirrely.

 

[Deus Vult]

seat belt laws are a way to generate revenue.

people still choose to not wear them. and when they die, we give them a Darwin Award.

 

[sonar1]

seat belt laws are a way to generate revenue...

Only if you are caught not wearing one.

People are free to exercise their right to civil disobediance all they want: if they're willing to pay the ticket when caught.

I look at it this way: racing has developed applied science in matters of safety, as well as performance.

Why not take advantage of the lessons of physics?

Anyone has every right to ignore the advancements in safety at their own peril. But why should I have to pay increased societal expenses in the form of keeping the brain dead alive somewhere in a ward at taxpayer's (or higher insurance costs) expense?

Buckle up. Airbags work better when you're held in place so they can save the passengers and drivers caught in the mayhem that is world driving conditions.

My friend who rolled his (privately owned) tractor over on himself and was killed had every right to drive that tractor. I was happy my employer was forced to comply with ROPS (Roll Over Protection System) on the one I drove (which was of minimal use if I chose not to belt in: in fact it was arguably more dangerous than a bare tractor if not belted in).

 

[KP]

Funny. When seat belts became mandatory, there was a lot of bitching about the gubment telling people what to do.

The only people who bitched were the stupid ones. Persons with even a modicum of intelligence were using seat belts long before they became mandatory.

 

[Deus Vult]

Only if you are caught not wearing one.

People are free to exercise their right to civil disobediance all they want: if they're willing to pay the ticket when caught.

I look at it this way: racing has developed applied science in matters of safety, as well as performance.

Why not take advantage of the lessons of physics?

Anyone has every right to ignore the advancements in safety at their own peril. But why should I have to pay increased societal expenses in the form of keeping the brain dead alive somewhere in a ward at taxpayer's (or higher insurance costs) expense?

Buckle up. Airbags work better when you're held in place so they can save the passengers and drivers caught in the mayhem that is world driving conditions.

My friend who rolled his (privately owned) tractor over on himself and was killed had every right to drive that tractor. I was happy my employer was forced to comply with ROPS (Roll Over Protection System) on the one I drove (which was of minimal use if I chose not to belt in: in fact it was arguably more dangerous than a bare tractor if not belted in).

i agree 100%. Ride in my car, buckle up or walk.

But the law is an excuse to make money.

 

[sonar1]

Fair enough.



Some laws do protect the innocent sometimes though, despite also being a sort of tax levied by flat-footed tax collectors in blue suits or smoky the bear hats.