Do You Wear Your Seat Belt?

[Norberto Coutinho]

All brazilian drivers need to use seat belt. If someone is not using it ( the driver or the passanger ), they give to the driver a penalty. The driver loss some points in their license driver ( I can´t remeber how much ) , but if goes up 20 points, the licence driver is hold by one year. After this the driver need to start how to get another license driver.

[Joe Chritz]

I don't care if someone wears a seat belt (or other safety gear). As soon as it stops costing me money (uninsured motorist insurance and catastrophic claim insurance) then they could ditch all the laws.

When insurance is mandatory and there is no opt out on catastrophic claim, etc then a mandatory safety equipment law is pretty much required.

I investigate accidents as part of my regular job so I get plenty of opportunity to see how the equipment works. I couldn't count the number of people that I have personally seen who are still around because of belts and air bags on several sets of hands.

Joe

[Joe Chritz]

You know what I don't understand?

When you are 1 year old, you HAVE to be in a child safety seat.
When you are 10, you need to be in a booster seat.
When you are old/big enough, you have to wear a seat belt.

But get on a big yellow school bus or on the Metro (city train) and NOTHIN'!

What's up with that?

I missed this before my other post.

It is a major topic of discussion but the current thoughts are that it is a risk/reward thing. It is difficult to keep kids in the belts and the driver would be heavily distracted from driving (and thus having more accidents) as well as having kids using them as clubs, etc.

Ideally they would be used on school buses but I doubt it will ever be very feasible. Plus, enforcement would be near impossible.

To the bus makers credit, school and passenger buses are extremely safe through the design. Even the seats are designed specially to reduce injuries in accidents.

Joe

[Brian Ashton]

It seems there is still about 16% of the population that still does not wear their seat belt.

This video:

http://www.alexandercommercials.co.uk/

is thought by many to be the most beautiful video to advocate the use of seat belts. It is being sent to friends by people all around the world.

Maybe a friend of yours should see it.

jim

When I lived in Canada I rarely wore it - drivers, were I lived were so laid back there was little fear of an accident. I now live in Australia where the drivers are by far the worst and deliberately the dumbest I've ever experienced and therefore I wear it religiously. Here you simply can't trust that the car coming towards you has a driver that is even remotely capable of operating a skateboard let alone car (that is usually driven well over the speed limit). Most drivers here think the sign is posting the speed minimum not speed limit...

[John Coloccia]

I wear mine all the time because I think it's a good idea. I don't care if anyone else wears theirs. I also don't care if they wear a helmet and riding gear. I generally wear a helmet and riding gear but people need to decide for themselves.

The insurance/public responsibility/opt out/whatever argument is wholly unpersuasive to me. By the same argument, I could make a very strong case that rock climbing and all forms of skating and biking should be outlawed, and that you must use push sticks, riving knives and blade guards for all table saw cuts. If we've gotten to the point that everything must be regulated in order to preserve some public good or sense or fairness, perhaps it's time to reconsider just exactly how much involvement in our own lives do we want commissions, actuary tables, paper pushers and the like to have.

Just my opinion. As I said, I wear mine religiously.

[Charlie Reals]

I wear mine all the time because I think it's a good idea. I don't care if anyone else wears theirs. I also don't care if they wear a helmet and riding gear. I generally wear a helmet and riding gear but people need to decide for themselves.

The insurance/public responsibility/opt out/whatever argument is wholly unpersuasive to me. By the same argument, I could make a very strong case that rock climbing and all forms of skating and biking should be outlawed, and that you must use push sticks, riving knives and blade guards for all table saw cuts. If we've gotten to the point that everything must be regulated in order to preserve some public good or sense or fairness, perhaps it's time to reconsider just exactly how much involvement in our own lives do we want commissions, actuary tables, paper pushers and the like to have.

Just my opinion. As I said, I wear mine religiously.

Well said John!! I quit riding for many reasons butt the Helmet law was the final straw. The helmet and seat belt laws are revenue laws. Most states didn't pass seat belt laws until shoulder straps were visible like helmets lol.
No politics here, just my 2c as I predate both seat belts and the laws

[Lee Schierer]

My car doesn't move until everyone buckles up. No exceptions.

[Jack Wilson]

Well I guess I need to be the skunk at the garden party. NO, I hardly ever wear mine, unless my wife is with me, and that's only because she nags me about it, (I still love her though). And NO, I don't have a blade guard on my table saws, and I have 3 of them. As far as laws go... we don't need more laws to tell us how to be safe, or to legislate safety. But that's another issue.

This is another one I just love.... some little thing holding on to her boyfriend or whoever.... tank tops , flip flops, shorts.... running about 90 m.p.h.

Is it really that wrong to secretly want to see that bike just lay over and peel that skin off like a potato peeler.....

And YES John, it is horrible to hope somebodys bike goes sliding down the road because they are "improperly" suited up.

[Tim Morton]

Well I guess I need to be the skunk at the garden party. NO, I hardly ever wear mine, unless my wife is with me, and that's only because she nags me about it, (I still love her though). And NO, I don't have a blade guard on my table saws, and I have 3 of them. As far as laws go... we don't need more laws to tell us how to be safe, or to legislate safety. But that's another issue.




And YES John, it is horrible to hope somebodys bike goes sliding down the road because they are improperly suited up.

I don't wear mine either....however i am thinking that maybe its time to start. I am one who does things because i want to, not because i think i should...or because its a law.

[Kevin Gregoire]

i have been wearing my seat belt since i bought my first new car back in 1988 when i got my first real job
and have been wearing it ever since. it has saved me 4 times (slow moving accidents) and my mother
and aunt once in the below accident.

[Garth Keel]

I even wear seat belts to move my truck from the back yard around to the drive way (200' on the road). One accident while wearing seatbelts convinced me in 1962.

[Bob Turkovich]

I don't wear mine either....however i am thinking that maybe its time to start. I am one who does things because i want to, not because i think i should...or because its a law.

Well, Tim, for you and Jack, I hope I can convince you to start wearing your belt.

When I started working in the Auto Industry back in the early 70's my first assignment was as a Vehicle Structure Engineer. I attended an industry seminar in which data (including photographs) was presented of multiple cases of similar accidents - one in which the occupants were wearing a belt, the second in which the occupants were not. I became a adamant belt user at that point.

I have mentioned in another thread that I was involved in a serious accident in April. I was driving a 2010 Dodge Journey and rear-ended a F550 dump truck that had stopped on I-75. Impact speed (after braking) was estimated to be 35mph. A photograph of my totalled Journey is attached.

The hole in the windshield is not from my head but is from the back of the dump truck. The air bag did not go off because of the high-low nature of the impact (The front rail did not crush, hence, the air bag sensor did not trigger the air bag.) The windshield pillar - made of high-strength steel to meet the latest rollover standards - prevented the back of the truck from protruding further into the passenger compartment. That - in combination with the seat belt/shoulder harness - kept my melon from contacting the back of the dump truck.

I walked away from the accident. I had two small pin-holes in my thumb and ear from the broken glass as well as sore muscles for about a week. The police and paramedics insisted I be taken to emergency - a full CAT scan and x-rays showed no other injuries.

For those that think that your odds are better in a rollover accident if you are thrown from the vehicle, think again. If you watch crashes at Nascar/Indy car races, notice that it is occupant restraint in conjunction with crush management (dissipating energy) that allows the drivers to walk away. The progress made by the auto industry - particularly in crush management - has shifted the odds astronomically in your favor if you stay restrained in the vehicle.

Sorry for the preaching - but I hope I've convinced you to wear your belt...always. I've been enjoying the SMC forums way too much and want to see all of you sticking around.

BTW - one of the aftermaths of my accident has been a heightened sense of safety in my workshop.

[Art Mulder]

The air bag did not go off because of the high-low nature of the impact (The front rail did not crush, hence, the air bag sensor did not trigger the air bag.)

Given all the other work on car safety over the past decades...
I've often wondered why no one has ever tried to standardize on bumper heights.

[David Christopher]

no, never !!!

[Bob Turkovich]

Given all the other work on car safety over the past decades...
I've often wondered why no one has ever tried to standardize on bumper heights.

Art,

They are standardized. Bumper heights for passenger cars and light duty trucks need to be within a certain height window. The vehicle I hit was a medium duty truck and had no such requirements.

Funny thing is...the accident occurred in the shadows of Chrysler's Tech Center. There is a mile stretch where there are 4 instances of traffic exiting and entering from the right. I drove that stretch over 4500 times before I retired in 2008. I told myself that someday I'd get involved in an accident there. On retirement day, I remember thinking I got through it.

On the day of the accident, I was going to meet my daughter at college. I remember sitting in the car wondering why didn't the air bag go off. It wasn't until after I saw the vehicle later that I realized why it didn't.

I had sent pictures of the crash to some of my friends by e-mail. I had forgotten that one of them worked for an air bag supplier. He showed the pictures to his crash experts and they stated this would have been the rare instance where I would have been more injured (albeit, not seriously) if the air bag went off (possible abrasions, injured hands, etc.) That being said it should be remembered that air bags are made to work in conjunction with seat belts, not in place of them.

Someone was looking over me that day....