Why don't people wear their seat belts?
 

The seat belt ad being shown here on subsim, got me to remember this accident we had locally last month.

What that news article doesn't tell you was
a.) After she was ejected from her vehicle and hit the Semi, she was literally smeared across the road. From what I understand, there were bits and pieces of her all over the place.

b.) I heard she had kids.

I cannot for the life of me fathom why people do not wear their seat belts. I mean, i was taught at a very young age to wear the damn things. If you end up the military they drill it into your head. In fact if you die in a vehicle and weren't wearing a seat belt, they wont pay out your life insurance. (SGLI). That and it's common sense that if you get in an accident and don't want to be kissing the windshield, or as a hood ornament, or as a greasy smear on the road, to buckle that damn belt. This isn't rocket science! (It's called inertia!) And yet, people don't wear them, and obviously enough people don't wear them to warrant ads like the one above, not to mention the local woman who for all intents and purposes earned a Darwin award. I don't understand these people at all.

In New Jersey, it is a huge no no to drive without a seatbelt.

They can pull you over for your front seat passenger not wearing a belt, they usually get ticketed .

But, on the garden state parkway, I can fly along at 85-90 miles an hour in the middle lane, and wave to a trooper as he passes me on my left at 120 mph. (mind you, [because most of you do not know] you are a moron if you do the speed limit on the GSP and not stay in the right lane. Even the cops speed.) Maybe it is because it should have been toll free years ago, but our crooked politicians kept robbing the fund. (But that is besides the point, and off topic)


(I love the NJ autobahn!)

Now in the townships it is different, I have alot of small towns around here, and they use a seatbelt as probable cause to screw people. As you know, if they do not spend the entire budget, it gets reduced, as it is with most taxpayer funded industries.


I also watched a car (6 car lengths in front of me) try to agressively pass, clip someones bumper, and nail one of those Steel posts on the overhead signs. He ejected through the windshield.

There is also a video floating about of a man who had a siezure on the same road (Garden state parkway) and ran into the triangular piece of cement between toll lanes. He was ejected too.

Jerseyans drive terribly, but you should see how the New Yorkers drive when they visit my shore.:D j/k

NJ is so congested with cars, I seen alot of messes, due to morons. Things that belts could save. I wonder myself why people do not wear them.

Safety is so lame, screw you squares man!

agreed

I always wear a belt, just as I always wear a helmet when I ride. While I think anybody who doesn't wear one is an idiot, I also stand squarely against seat belt and helmet laws.

I honestly dont have a problem with seatbet and helmet laws.
As one of my friends explained at airsoft to someone who wanted to use shooting glasses (?? google translate, think Oakley M frames),
sure, you can say "I do this, and im responsible for the outcome", but that doesnt take the guilt away from the other person when he shoots his eye out.
It's the same with the seatbelts/helmets, sure, he isnt responsible for the other person not wearing it and dying as a result, but i doubt that takes away the feeling of guilt after an accident.

I'm 100% certain that I wouldn't be here if I didn't wear a seatbelt. Rollbar helped too, but definitely the seatbelt.

And I always wear a bike helmet, they may not be perfect but they're obviously going to help over nothing!

I agree about the guilt part, but it's not my place to make someone else be safe from himself. I can think of several places where similar laws could be enacted, but others might think were extreme. I also believe that such laws aren't about safety but control.

I'm also certain that a seatbelt saved my life. That said, I still believe it's wrong to protect adults from themselves.

@Sailor Steve

A person who doesn't wear his seatbelt will be thrown around inside the car in case of an accident. If the person sits on one of the rear seats they might fly through the whole car and kill the people on the other seats as well. That's why I say that everybody HAS to buckle up. If not for his safety then for the safety of the other passengers.
Then there is the problem with group pressure: "You want to wear a seat belt, ohhh you're such a wimpy baby...". This would keep a lot of the younger drivers from using seatbelts and this group is especially prone to get involved in accidents.

On a secondary note a young death costs the society a lot of money. People went to school for years, parents got tax cuts etc. A person must have worked for several years to pay back what society has spend on them before they could work and so I think the society has a right to tell them to prevent some unnecessary early deaths by using a seatbelt.

@Ducimus
Yeah, it's also beyond me why a lot of people don't use them. When we drive to a local restaurant for lunch where I work a lot of my colleagues don't use their seatbelts which is especially stupid as they have cars with airbags (have fun facing those when not wearing a seatbelt....).
When it's my turn to drive I've always have to remind them that the seatbelts are paid for and can be used free of charge....:roll:

My dad has a phobia of being strapped into seatbelts after being blown off an APC in Vietnam. We always had to remind him to put his seatbelt on. Here in Michigan motorcycle riders don't have to wear helmets now. I think their insurance goes up though.

The firemen who cut me out of my mangled car that night 10 years ago told me that. I never go without my seatbelt and never have.

I don't know about it being about control, but it's definitely about raising revenue. Laws don't prevent anything - they only enact penalties for breaking them. Given that, they can't be about control by definition. Just because they made a seatbelt law doesn't mean that everyone wears them. But anyone who is caught not wearing one is assessed a hefty fine. The fact that it makes people safer is a good side effect and makes it more politically palatable and an easier sell to voters rather than calling it what it is: a scheme for the local governments to make money.

A seat belt saved my arse back in the 80's

I feel naked without a seat belt. I need to have it on.

My 54 Buick originally did not come with seat belts. I installed seat belts both front and rear as my family rides in the car. Safety first. Originality second.

Seat belts = attempt to control;

Seat belts = attempt by Gov't to increase revenue;

Hmm...

NO Seatbelts = increase in severe injuries, often to people under-insured or not insured whose costs are passed on to insured motorists and the taxpayers;

NO Seatbelts = increase in demand on trauma centers already spread thin resulting in decreased level and/or qulaity of care for all including non-driver injuries, increased costs passed on to insured patients and the taxpayers;

Just because there is a law or regulation, it isn't always "Big Brother" out to getcha'. I only gave two examples of the need to get as many people as possible to use safety belts and helmets. I also agree that it should not be necessary to legislate adult behavior; however, when there is a decided lack of adult resposibility, there is a need to indemnify, as much as possible, those who do act responsibly from those who do not. You wanna ride your cycle without a helmet, by all means go ahead, but don't expect the rest of us to pay for your rehab or burial costs because you choose to do so and don't expect an insurance compny to cover your stupidity, either. Same applies to drivers and passengers in cars without seatbelts. Think of the traffic ticket in the same light as Bill Engvall's routine about stupidity; the ticket is really just your "Stupid Sign":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yvj_acGhbPk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5ZkdHImCuQ&ob=av2n

I see no reason for the rest of us to pay for the stupidity of the few. If you want to be stupid. then prepare to ante up to cover your costs...

...

Seat Belt Syndrome....

http://medical-dictionary.thefreedic...+Belt+Syndrome

And your point is? First, by the time a belt is needed the car is already out of control and the belt is the only option left. Second, what I need to do to protect myself is my business, not yours.

Everybody HAS to buckle up? If you really believed in automobile safety then you would be insisting that every car built comes with a full NASCAR-approved roll cage, five-point racing harness and the everyone in the car wear a helmet.

As I said, I always wear a belt and insist that anyone who rides in my car wear theirs as well. Seat-belt laws, however, are not about being safe. They're about mandating that others fit your belief that they should be safe. You have a right to guarantee your own safety, which is why cars come with belts. You have absolutely no right to force others to be safe from themselves.

Or the government. You are correct Steve. However, one would hope that logical thinking would prevail and seat belts utilized. It is not the case sometimes. As a result the consequences are usually bad. Often I believe the nanny state oversteps their bounds but in this instance I do believe seat belts should be mandatory.