driving with/without seat belts... do you?

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(BobA\";p=\"52724)</div>

My thoughts on someone not wearing their seatbelt have slowly slid off into the ambivalent category. I’ve come to accept the fact that it’s just Darwin cleaning out the gene pool. ukeright:

I figure I need all the help I can get . . . that’s why I didn’t go cheap - I bought the Prius AM “safety model.â€
Every once in a while I’ll go into a mini-panic mode and check to see that I didn't forget to fasten my seat belt.

 

I always wear the seat belt. I've been in two major collisions, and the belt saved my life in both.

First was with a friend of mine, and myself on a road trip. I fell asleep at the wheel, (young and dumb at the time), and we went off road, and airborne. The car hit the ground on the front passenger corner. I got bumps and bruises, and my friend, who was on the passenger side, a broken ankle. The car, a 1986 Hyundai Excel, was totalled.

Second collision was a woman making a left turn to enter the highway. She pulled into oncoming traffic without looking, in a brand spanking new Jeep Grand Cherokee with the temporary paper plate still in the back window. I was in a Mitsubishi delivery van, the kind where you sit on the engine. She hit me right on the driver side front corner - totalling the van. Besides one bump on the head, I crawled out of what was left of the van unhurt.

Despite being stunned from the hit, I still couldn't help but laugh when her husband showed up - in another brand spanking new, identical Jeep Grand Cherokee with the temporary tag still in the back window. Needless to say, dude wasn't happy.

 

Driving in traffic without using a seatbelt is like having sex with strangers without using a condom. The only safe alternative is to just say "no".

 

I've heard that some cars use the seatbelt to measure the force exerted on the person so it knows where to position the airbag when it deploys. I've been in the back seat of an accident before without a seatbelt... came out with blood running out both nostrils

 

I've been accused of using strong language before, but I'll do it again here: anyone who does not wear a seat belt is an idiot. There are rare accidents in which a seat belt does more harm than good, but it's just statistics: You are much much much more likely to be killed or injured without a seat belt than with one.

I won't repeat the story in detail (told elsewhere) but I have a friend with whom I cannot ride: he refuses to wear a seat belt, and I won't start the car until all my passengers are belted in.

 

Ha, ha. 14 yes and zero no. Smart bunch here on Prius Chat.

P.S. I also bought the "AM" pkg because I wanted all the safety features.

 

:idea: It's difficult for me to imagine driving or riding WITHOUT seat/shoulder belts on. Being a light aircraft pilot and a driver who has used seat belts for *MANY* years, I would feel very insecure without them. I recall some of the nonsensical comments when auto seat belts first became widely available, like "But I'd be strapped in and burn to death if the car caught fire!" - "What if I ran into a lake and drowned because I couldn't get out?" - etc. etc. etc. ad nauseum. The much greater probability is being tossed around and battered in a collision.

Besides all that, in my beloved TEXAS It's the LAW.!! So, buckle up and live, y'all.

 

Circa 1980 I was driving to the Hospital where I worked the night shift.

I was going about 75 when I hit some "black ice" and I very quickly found myself going down the highway sideways at 75 MPH. I turned my head out the side window and saw a telephone pole coming at me at 75MPH. I hit the pole sideways and the pole pushed my left front tire about 2 feet into the engine. I did a spin and came to a stop in the breakdown lane. I was TOTALLY unhurt but my car was destroyed. I had my seat belt on and my left shoulder smashed into the door.

The cops called the hospital to tell them I'd be late. They then gave me a ride to work.

About an hour later at work, there was a major motor vehicle accident. I went to the ER to help and a kid who showed up turned out fine. But his mother died. There were quite a few lesser accidents that night as well. The black ice was apparently everywhere.

Later, I found out from the cops how that woman died. It turned out, she hit black ice and the car was going down the highway sideways and she hit a guardrail sideways with the front end of her car. She did not have a belt on and when she hit, her door opened and she went out the door and when she did, the car spun over her.

I had goose bumps. It was my exact accident one hour earlier and here I was fine at work and here she was dead.

I had my seat belt on and my car door stayed shut. My shoulder was a bit sore.

I was driving a 10 year old Datsun B210 that had 175,000 miles on it. She was driving a near new full size Chevy. Now I'm not sure if the door alone would have saved my life, but the belt surely would have.

I've heard of people who shut off the annoying beep that warns them that they did not put their seat belt on in the Prius. Personally, this is yet another feature that I love about my Prius.

Between the seat belt beep that protects me from my own carelessness, and all the safety features including VSC, I would not be surprised if this car also saves my life.

Daniel stated above about that rare accident that might result in more harm from the belt than good. Science tells us that such things have happened. But those events are super rare. Belts will almost always save your life and save your health. That is a fact.

Not wearing your seat belts through forgetfulness is a shame. Not wearing them on purpose is just stupid.

 

I am just thankful that the shoulder harness on the Prius is adjustable (one of those neat little extra that came standard). While I have always worn my seatbelt, at 5'3 1/2" most shoulder harnesses have been a pain in the neck for me for years... Literally. Especially on long trips. However, I always avoided my father's solution to the pain in the neck problem; he would tuck the shoulder strap under his arm.

Got my object lesson while I was in college. A single car 'accident', it involved wet leaves and me being overtired. The rest of the story is too embarassing.

 

I shut off the reverse beeper, but I don't need to shut off the seat-belt beeper: I fasten my seat belt before I press the Power button. And if I have passengers, I wait for them to buckle up as well, before I press the power button.

Many years ago (25?) my jeep got a flat tire at 55 mph on a wet highway. It spun out of control, went backwards into the ditch, rolled 360 degrees, and threw me out onto the wet grass. I had my seat belt on, so I don't know how I was thrown out. I had one shoe on, and the other was 10 feet away.

During the roll I was thrown from side to side, but remained in the seat until the jeep landed on its wheels. I was very badly bruised all over, but nothing was broken.

 

i wear a seat belt because they most likely saved my life also.

another thing is that now not wearing a seatbelt in the State of WA is a primary traffic offense. iow, you can be pulled over and ticketed for that and nothing else.

and yes, the cops enforce the law very very strictly. i know of several people who were stopped and given a ticket and had done nothing else wrong. (tinted windows are illegal here, so makes it real easy for anyone to see if you are wearing your belt.)

 

We've had the selt-belt law in effect in Minnesota for years. So the news about the dangers of not wearing one is quite blunt. They make sure to mention "was not wearing a belt" whenever there is an accident where the person was ejected from the vehicle.

Needless to say, that news is quite frequent. And most of the time, the person dies.

Safety is a choice. And that choice should be obvious. But frequently, it isn't as you'd hope. Some aren't interested in safety features.

Throughout the winter here, we get reports of vehicles sliding off the roads and causing accidents. And an overwhelming number of those were caused by the person driving too fast on the snow. Simply slowing down for the slippery conditions doesn't happen. They risk the danger. For what? I have no idea. MPG is clearly scarificed by the excess speed anyway.

Still to this day, I know of a few people that are fiercely against ABS. They just don't understand the benefit of retaining steering control while panic stopping, which is what ABS provides. It won't slow you down any faster, but it certainly makes getting out of the way of danger dramatically easier.

As for wearing a belt, I'd feel naked without one. (And yes, that time I actually did drive naked, I was still wearing the belt.)

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(john1701a\";p=\"52844)</div>

Whew, boy! Now that's gotta sting a little bit, no? :lol: :lol:

 

Why don't people slow down? Because they're in a hurry. And at some gut level they don't believe they'll have an accident. Why are they in such a hurry? I'm not sure, but I suspect it has to do with brain chemistry.

As for ABS, it's clearly a matter of ignorance: Anybody who understands what ABS does will want it. (Though not everyone can afford a car that has it.) A lot of people just don't understand what ABS does and when it engages.

 

I've worn mine since it became law in, I think, 1979 (as a child - it was 1981 for over-14s). In that time, I can remember only one passenger who needed reminding to wear her belt - and she didn't grow up in Britain. (Like John, she had a habit of undressing in the front seats - but I made her wear her seatbelt anyway!)

 

Seems to me ,if I have to wear a belt in the airplane,(given it's 100x safer in the plane than driving), then logic would dictate that a belt should be worn in a vehicle; unless you are in to going out of your car between 88-110 ft/sec when you get ejected...

 

As far as a law requiring seat belt wear, the civil libertarian in me has some stomach quivers (don't worry though, the Patriot Act will beat those feelings out of me soon enough, I'm sure.) The stories of people being ejected from their vehicles is why I have always felt safer wearing seat belts and ensuring that my doors are locked while driving.