Do you wear seatbelts while driving?

[KC]

It became a law in America about 10-12 years ago that the driver and passenger of a car must be seatbelted. I know this is the case in England as well. Do you wear your seatbelt? Do you use the child seats for your small children? I wear mine. I did before it became a law. All it took was a bad wreck to prove it too me.

I see so many people driving down the road not wearing their seatbelt. And worse, I see so many people driving witht heir kids bouncing up and down in the back seat like it was a trampoline.

I've heard a lot of excuses. What if I crash into the river? I could drown! If you regularly crash into the river or any other large body of water you should not be driving at all.
What if my car catches fire? I could burn to death! Do not drive a car that you fear may catch fire at some time.
I am a good driver. I never have accidents. Eventually you most likely will be involved and possibly through no fault of your won. The statistics are littered with people with impeccable driving records who have been killed through no fault of their own.
My kids just won't stay buckled up. Who is the parent here? Who is in charge? That is a very lame excuse.

What do the rest of you say? Is it a law in your country as well?

[R]

Here in Norway we also have a law to wear seat belts, and that goes for driver and passengers alike. I always wear my seat belt, and insist that everybody else in the car wear theirs as well. I've never had an accident as a driver (knock on wood), and only been involved in minor shunts as a passenger, but wearing my seat belt is something I always do automatically, also for short distances.

I think parents who are not securing their children in the car are down right irresponsible. I don't have any children of my own, but if I did, they would be seatbelted, that's for sure! Children are the most important we have in the entire world, right?

Normally between one third and half of people on the road are "caught" without wearing seat belts when controls are made - that's far to much! Maybe in some accident scenarios you will benefit by not wearing your seat belt, but those are far outnumbered by the situations where being buckled up just might be the very thing that saves your life.

[Gerard]

In the Netherlands there's also a law to wear seat belts.
I know there are positive and negative effects of wearing seat belts, but since the positive ones exceed the negative ones, I'm always wearing mine.
Actually, there's a system in my car that prevents it from driving away untill the seat belts are on.

[TimD]

There's a certain resonance in the argument - what if a seatbelt traps me in a sinking/burning car?

Of course, the immediate answer is that an impact that has pitched your car into the river, or ripped open the gas tank, will probably have rendered an unbelted occupant unconscious anyway.

The only time I don't wear a seatbelt is when there is none fitted. In Britain, the law does not require belts to be fitted to a car dating from before 1965, on the grounds that there may not be suitable anchoring points on the chassis/frame.

Bluebottle's old Land Rover was a '65 with no seatbelt fitting, and I have to say, while Bluebottle is an exceptionally skilled and disciplined driver, it was not easy to feel at ease behind the unpadded metal dashboard and plate glass windscreen of a 1965 Land Rover on the open road.

[Bluebottle]

Cheers Tim!
The old Landy really did focus my mind when I drove it! The only comforting factor in it not having belts was that I would have been able to duck quickly if it turned over, the hardtop being unable to support the weight of the car.
I always wear a belt, but the two accidents in which I've been involved were as a back seat passenger with no belts. I wasn't hurt in those accidents, but had the front seat passengers not been wearing belts, they would have gone through the 'screen in both cases.
Here's another question:-
Do ultra safe cars make for complacent drivers? (ask any cyclist what they think of Volvo drivers!)

[Crash Test]

What happens when you crash into a lake and catch fire?

Down here in OZ it has been law much longer than i have been alive. The only time in my entire life when i haven't warn one was when i was going off to hospital to get my appendix out. I think it is a habbit of mine, even if i am just getting a lift at the race track from the top of the hill to the pits (a whole 200m down a grass slope with a slow driver) i put on my 'belt.

[Heeltoe6]

Acutally, in America, it's not a natioanl law; it's up to the states. But it is a de facto federal law because the federal govv't will withhold highway funding if the states don't have one, which, imho, is extrotion.

Anyways, I have to wear one cause I've got a passive restraint shoulder belt (although the lap belt in manual, I do use it). BUt even if the belt was mounted on the B post (where it should be, because I hate to think what will happen if my door comes off in a crash, leaving me with only a lap belt) I would still use it.

[Liz]

My dad had seatbelts installed in every car I can remember us having; he was used to them in his stock car, and besides that he said it kept us sitting still while he was driving. The newer cars are not designed with seatbelts for more than four passengers, two of whom must be dwarves, so for our family of six (Me, sister Nancy, current husband and three kids) even a modern "big" car was a very tight fit.

The really big problems arose with the RV. You can't belt the kids into the seats in that thing, and it was hard to make them understand they were in a motor vehicle travelling at a substantial rate of speed, frequently on I-75 to Florida. Any ideas on how this problem could be handled? I can't think of a thing.

[Crash Test]

"because I hate to think what will happen if my door comes off in a crash, leaving me with only a lap belt"
-Isn't that a little silly? If your door fell off, or something tore your side of the car off, i doubt that any amount of belts or otherwise would help you survive...

[IAM]

My brother survived a head on crash with a tree in a Mini Cooper S by not wearing his seatbelt, he was thrown out the door, just cut the back of his head.

However, I always wear a seatbelt these days, since about 1988 when driving a car. Refuse to wear onr driving Semi's (Artic's) due to being able to walk after an accident in 1984 by not wearing one, which would have crushed my pelvis if I had been wearing one.

I also have always worn a crash helmet when riding a Motorbike, by choice since 1967.

Ian

[tourist]

"..in answer to your question..": no, i dont. everytime i crash, the person in front saves me.
car:logic

`crack` `split`

>>>>> another
>>>>> roadkill

[EERO]

Yup, always have, always will.
Riding without one is like one of those dreams in which I'm the only one not wearing trousers; here I am and yet something doesn't seem quite right.

[Heeltoe6]

Crash: I don't think so. Cause if I lost my goor for whatever reason, it means I could just basically go along with it. If the belt was on the B pillar (or better yet, on the seath, where some newer ones are now), I would still be protected form being launched out of the vehicle. Now obviously if the crash is that bad, maybe it wouldn't matter, but I think it'd be a huge deal not to be ejected form the car with the door.

[Crash Test]

Cars must crash differently in your part of the world....

[Neil C]

I never dont wear one. ????

Yes, all safety devices make drivers complacent. On the other hand, put a nice sharp steel pike on the steering column aimed right at the drivers sternum, ban seatbelts, and watch how careful we become.

cheers