Seat belts....should it be my choice?

[italian-stallion]

if you arnt wearin a seatbelt in my opinion ur wishin death upon urself!!! end of

only a thick t*** wud do that

[jinjin]

I find wearing a seat belt very uncomfortable, so I never bother wearing mine when I'm driving, I reckon that's my choice, I'm harming no one else by my actions.

As for my own safety, there are pros and cons for wearing seat belts or not. There are numerous cases of drivers trapped in cars, due to wearing seatbelts after a collision, and many drivers also suffering serious chest / abdominal injuries.

Many police turn a blind eye to drivers not wearing a seat belt, or pull them over and give them a warning. Two coppers the other day pulled me up though and treated me like S***.

I was on the way home from work when they stopped me. They kept me for at least 10 minutes in their car, asking all the usual shite questions, then cautioned me.

I'm not arsed about the poxy £30 fine, but reckon it's just a money making excerise by the police this seat belt policy.

It's the principle that pisses me off more than anything regarding the seat belt issue, as I said it should be my choice, if go flying through a windscreen cos I wasn't wearing one, then I've no one else to blame.

At the end of the day the law makers/police couldn't give a S*** about my welfare, they're just out to make a fast/easy buck.

It is not only about you. By not wearing a seat belt, you have not use due diligence in maintaining control of your car and have increased the risk of losing control and harming others. Should that happen and you killed someone and managed to survive, how will you deal with it?

[Exodus]

If he loses control of his car, I highly doubt the seatbelt is going to be the blame.

[ssphinxx]

I find wearing a seat belt very uncomfortable, so I never bother wearing mine when I'm driving, I reckon that's my choice, I'm harming no one else by my actions.

As for my own safety, there are pros and cons for wearing seat belts or not. There are numerous cases of drivers trapped in cars, due to wearing seatbelts after a collision, and many drivers also suffering serious chest / abdominal injuries.

Many police turn a blind eye to drivers not wearing a seat belt, or pull them over and give them a warning. Two coppers the other day pulled me up though and treated me like S***.

I was on the way home from work when they stopped me. They kept me for at least 10 minutes in their car, asking all the usual shite questions, then cautioned me.

I'm not arsed about the poxy £30 fine, but reckon it's just a money making excerise by the police this seat belt policy.

It's the principle that pisses me off more than anything regarding the seat belt issue, as I said it should be my choice, if go flying through a windscreen cos I wasn't wearing one, then I've no one else to blame.

At the end of the day the law makers/police couldn't give a S*** about my welfare, they're just out to make a fast/easy buck.

thats fine as long as its not me scraping your face of the road or the remains of your windscreen

[GUEST007]

Who cares if seatbelts are uncomfortable?! Would you rather be dead or alive? You should wear a seatbelt no matter what (if your in the back or front)! If you don't want to wear a seatbelt then you are a complete idiot! I have lost a friend in a really bad car accident and he was thrown from the car. I still believe that he would have survived if he had been wearing a seatbelt. Yeah he still would have gotten hurt but his injuries probably wouldn't have been as fatal....So next time you get in a car just take a second to think about buckeling up! You only get one chance to be who you are!

[Moira]

If you fear suffering abdominal pain through a seatbelt, perhaps you should consider wearing it across your lap, where it's supposed to go. If you stop quickly your whole body goes forward at the same rate, not just your upper body.

There is no foolproof way to stop people getting killed, but wearing a seatbelt certainly reduces most of the risks. There is a Fiat something or other at a garage near me, the engine block is still where it was put when it was built, but the gap between the steering wheel at the bottom and back of the drivers seat is barely enough to get my hand through without touching either it or the airbag. The car was hit whilst parked, and luckily no one was in it.

The car is at Glenfield Motors in Kilmarnock, or at least it was last Thursday.

[Moira]

Who cares if seatbelts are uncomfortable?! Would you rather be dead or alive? You should wear a seatbelt no matter what (if your in the back or front)! If you don't want to wear a seatbelt then you are a complete idiot! I have lost a friend in a really bad car accident and he was thrown from the car. I still believe that he would have survived if he had been wearing a seatbelt. Yeah he still would have gotten hurt but his injuries probably wouldn't have been as fatal....So next time you get in a car just take a second to think about buckeling up! You only get one chance to be who you are!

There are medical exemptions for not wearing one, and also some drivers are killed by the person behind them, as in, the rear passenger as they make their way to the windscreen.

[K-Babe]

Really to be honest since seatbelts were made compulsory there isnt a massive decrease in the amount of RTA's in comparison with the amount of vehicles on the road.

Same diff as far as im concerned. I dont like them so what i do is i put it on, but then i slip the top bit behind my back, i find i can turn round easier which is good for me as i do alot of town driving.

And how can i have a serious crash at 15mph?

[Guest]

And how can i have a serious crash at 15mph?

15mph is about as fast as a normal person can run.
Now think about running that fast into a car dashboard and steering wheel.

Of course you NEVER exceed 15mph do you? Unless you drive a milk float you almost certainly do. To stay below that speed you must never go out of 1st or 2nd gear. Do you use 3rd or above?

[KiltyCol]

What ever you all think about compulsion for front seat belts. I think that rear seat belts should be compulsory wherever there is someone in front, to protect the front passenger or driver from the effect of a rear passenger catapulting into the back of their neck during an accident. The seat will probably not restrain the weight.

[Bobin]

Wearing a seatbelt causes known injuries. The injuries are very predictable. When someone gets hit in the rear, I can write the medical report and be 95% correct without even examining the patient. The injuries are:

1. Sprain strain of the lower part of the neck,
2. Sprain of the mid thoracic region,

If they were wearing the seatbelt correctly acros the pelvis, as Moira has pointed out:
3. Sprain of the lumbosacral joint, at the base of the spine,

If they were wearing the seatbelt across the belly,
3. Fracture or dislocation of the L3 or L4 vertebra,

4. Strained Trapezius muscle,
5. Swelling at the top of the neck,
6. Disruption of the normal curve in the neck.

It is quite a bit harder to predict injuries when not wearing a seatbelt. This is because the body pretty much becomes a projectile. These injuries are harder to predict because it depends on what stops you. Don't expect the windscreen to stop you, what will happen is you will go right through it, accumulating glass in your body, and then something else will stop you, usually the ground 30 feet away. If the person was not wearing the seatbelt, typical injuries include

1. Fractured ribs from the steering wheel,
2. Glass imbedded in various parts of the body,
3. Crushed bones (not just broken),
4. Injuries requiring plastic surgury to correct,
5. Internal organ damage,
6. Spinal fractures,
7. Concussion

And, although not considered an injury,

Death.

[K-Babe]

And how can i have a serious crash at 15mph?

Of course you NEVER exceed 15mph do you? Unless you drive a milk float you almost certainly do. To stay below that speed you must never go out of 1st or 2nd gear. Do you use 3rd or above?

Actually where i live, when im doing town driving i am lucky to get above 15mph as its very congested and its just not a very big place. Lots of traffic lights aswell etc, so nobody gets anywhere quickly. So yes, in town im probably the queen of third gear. When i can actually get going, but all the lights and everything moving so slowly i am constantly changing from 1st to 2nd all the time.

Anyway, i dont know what your problem with me is. I actually do wear it all the time, but as i said, when im going around town at my mere 15mph (if someone manages to hit something going so slowly they dont deserve a driving licence, to be frank) i do slip the top bit behind me so as i can turn around without it slicing my neck off. But when i get out of town and end up on a proper road i put it on properly.

And ive been driving for 6 years and the only thing ive ever hit was my own fence LOL

[Sharon den Adel]

I find wearing a seat belt very uncomfortable, so I never bother wearing mine when I'm driving, I reckon that's my choice, I'm harming no one else by my actions.

Don't wear a seatbelt if you don't want to, but don't complain when your head ends up out the windscreen.

[honbuns]

two thoughts on this.

Understand about the discomfort thing a few years ago I had a period when I found it very uncomfortable and found a device that allowed the seatbelt to go round you but it relieved the tension a little bit, this did not interfere with the operation of the seatbelt in the event of a crash or so they claimed and I felt much more comfortable. They were sold in Halfords.

The second issue is that seatbelts will not reduce the number of RTAS but they do reduce the severity of injuries however and as a consequence the cost to the national health service. This being the case if you choose to not wear a seatbelt, and I think this should be your choice, I think you should pay for the treatment of any injuries that you may suffer in the case of an accident.

[AussieAdam]

On Thursday 30th May i was driving with my wife and kids. I was doing 26-27 in a built up area when some idiot driving in the opposit direction swerved and hit me full on.

My car was written off. It took the fire brigade two hours to free me from the car. my wife has whiplash injuries. My oldest a broken arm and whiplash. My other daughter escaped with bruising and a few cuts. I have three fractures in my leg and a broken foot.

The police said it was incredible we got out alive and that in 9/10 cases there would have been at least one fatality.

The Ambulance guy comfoted it me by telling me that if we had NOT beeen wearing seat belts then I would have been killed because part of my body would have gone through the windowscreen and the rest would have been stopped by the dashboard and steering wheel. The kids in the back would have been thrown forward and hit me and my wife before continuing towards the dashboard and screen. My wife would have been killed by the force of impact against the dashboard - Without doubt he said we would have all been dead.

So DONT tell me that you shouldnt wear a seatbelt IN the proper manner at ALL times..........tell the parents, kids and family of those who didnt.

Anyone who doesent wear a belt hasnt got enough sense to be let behind the wheel of a car