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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To not understand why people don't wear seatbelts

134 replies

QueenSconetta · 29/02/2012 14:12

I just don't get why you wouldn't, yet so many people seem not to.

Also people who drive away then steer with their knees while they put their belt on. My DP is one if these.

OP posts:
jennifersofia · 29/02/2012 16:50

'Because I was driving before they had them and it never did me any harm' 'You never had them as a child so I don't see why you think your children need them' Hmm (a relative doesn't wear them)

YonWhaleFish · 29/02/2012 16:50

And no one has suggested not wearing seatbelts causes accidents.

I think it's foolish not to wear one if you are able, and the facts support it.

TalkinPeace2 · 29/02/2012 17:13

its probably best if I don't explain why I am so vehement about seatbelts as I believe at least one of the children of the lady who was killed on their family holiday is a MN poster

Bunbaker · 29/02/2012 17:13

"'Because I was driving before they had them and it never did me any harm'"

Statements like this are up there with "I smoked hundreds of cigarettes a day and they didn't do me any harm" We didn't have penicillin in our day and it didn't do me any harm" etc, etc. These are trotted out by people who have no idea of the facts and don't understand risk or statistics.

solidgoldbrass · 29/02/2012 17:27

Look, getting your undies in a bundle about seatbelt-wearing is just superstition and magical thinking. Same as people who get all screamy about pregnant women having a half of shandy, for instance. What you are doing is believing that if you make enough of a fucking racket about something then the bad shit won't happen to you. Because not only are you Being Good, you are pointing your finger at the person who is Not Being Good so that lightning will strike them and not you.
But there are no guarantees except that something is going to get you and sooner or later you are going to die. So act according to your own perception of risk by all means, but don't think that wailing and slobbering at those whose risk assessment differs from yours is going to convey any extra protection to you.

YonWhaleFish · 29/02/2012 17:35

SGB I don't really understand your post. It's a fact that seatbelt save lives, how much alcohol a pregnant person chooses to consume is an ongoing debate for healthcare professionals and mothers on which the advice changes all the time.

Encouraging others to wear seatbelts if they can doesn't mean I think that it will somehow protect me? I find that train of thought a bit odd.

solidgoldbrass · 29/02/2012 17:44

Seatbelts may save lives in some cases, may cause deaths in others (car sinking under water, car on fire, person who thinks that seatbelt-wearing means they can drive like a dick with impunity).
I take care of my own safety by not travelling in cars which is statistically not only better for me but for the environment. But mundanes love to get all hysterical about those who don't Obey The Rules, when the rules are often questionable/made up with a profit motive in mind.

YonWhaleFish · 29/02/2012 17:45

Oh, ok then SGB, I get you now. Yes, there are instances where wearing a seatbelt can be detrimental as you say.

YonWhaleFish · 29/02/2012 17:46

I don't think, in this particular instance though, that seatbelts are a profit making thing, although I do see what you mean in relation to other things that we froth about.

TalkinPeace2 · 29/02/2012 17:51

I would be interested to know how many people (according to the inquests and the emergency services) died as a result of wearing seatbelts.

After a serious crash, the person in the burning or sinking car may well be unconscious
but if they'd not been wearing a seatbelt they would have been dead from hitting the windscreen or dashboard
Anybody alert enough to get themselves out of a vehicle would be able to release a seatbelt first

RoSPA asked and William and Harry tentatively agreed but were overrruled
because if Diana had been wearing a seatbelt she would not have smacked into the back of the front seat and received the internal injuries that killed her.

LizzieMint73 · 29/02/2012 17:54

Everyone (barring medical exemptions, although the suggestion about using the lapbelts seems a good one) should wear a seat belt no exceptions.

For those who say only them would be affected if there was an accident, what about the huge amount of tax payers money that would be spent investigating an accident that may otherwise not be fatal?

I was in an accident on the motorway last year (someone run into the back of us) and suffered bruised ribs due to seatbelt impact, but if I hadnt have been wearing it I would have probably been thrown through the windscreen and killed - even at a low speed accident in traffic it was terrifying how violent the impact of the car running into the back of us was.

As for those who set off and then put their belt on - what's that all about?? Although as a diesel car driver, putting the belt on is something I've got into the habit of while waiting for the light to go out

Hecubasdaughter · 29/02/2012 18:09

On the way to an ante natal appointment a speeding driver smashed into us. A&E Dr said if I had not been wearing a seatbelt I would have been seriously injured and would probably have lost dd2

Woodlands · 29/02/2012 18:32

It always surprises me how many people I see not wearing seatbelts - once you start looking you see it all the time. Plus kids who are very obiously not restrained. Crazy. Just occasionally if I stop off at the shop at the end of the road (20mph, speed bumps, quiet residential road) I don't do up my seatbelt to drive the 50m or so to my house and I feel totally naked driving without it.

Aribura · 29/02/2012 20:38

think.direct.gov.uk/seat-belts.html

Play with tool at bottom of page.

I'm a rad seatbelter, I didn't even take it off in my test when I was allowed to, so not worth it.

Aribura · 29/02/2012 20:39

Pick a scenario then click on the little characters to find out what happened to them. Imagine it's your loved ones.

Lueji · 29/02/2012 20:55

SGB

Many more people died before seatbelt were compulsory.
Obviously most people is cars didn't die, because most didn't have accidents, but accidents were more fatal or incapacitating.

The likelihood that a seatbelt is a problem is much smaller than that it will be useful. Even if a car dives, it takes a good few seconds to fill with water, during which you undo the seatbelt. in any case you can only open the door easily once it fills with water. Before it's difficult. Besides, without the seatbelt you may be unconscious and therefore not able to actually swim to safety.

Oh, and I have scoliosis and no problems with seatbelts.

zookeeper · 29/02/2012 21:00

Talkinpeace pulling the handbrake when someone is driving is wildly irresponsible .

TalkinPeace2 · 29/02/2012 21:03

not as they are pulling away on the drive its not.

I know full well what can happen if its done at speed - handbrake turns used to be a Sunday morning fave at the shopping centre carpark
alternatively people die

but at two miles per hour ...

MadderHat · 29/02/2012 21:24

I have the corollary to BeckyBrandonNeeBloomwood's MIL's story - two of my year at school went on holiday with their boyfriends from the boy's school. One insisted on wearing her seatbelt for every trip in their hire car. She was teased about it mercilessly by the other three.

They went over a cliff. She was the only one who survived.
Afterwards, she regretted not managing to persuade them to wear theirs.

On the other hand, my husband was in a crash and survived only because he was flung clear.

I would never not wear a belt, despite them being uncomfortable because I am short (they dig into my neck). And my husband wears his, on the principle that on average they are safer, but acknowledges that there are special cases where they aren't.

I have been known to give lifts to adults and refuse to move off till they had theirs on - even though the law would prosecute them and not me, I also don't want them killing me or my front seat passenger by flying at us. If they don't want to wear them, they can sort out their own transport.

TalkinPeace2 · 29/02/2012 21:27

Madderhat
No, YOU would be prosecuted too for taking passengers in your car without a belt
AND you might be deemed to be driving outside the terms of your insurance ....

tralalala · 29/02/2012 21:38

through work I have seen more than enough injuries as a result of carcrashes I can assure you that seat belts are a very very good idea. I will never get over the distressed paramedics who hadn't found the baby that was thrown from the car but wasn't found untilt there mum regained consciousness long enough to ask after him. Her DP died as well. None of them belted.

tralalala · 29/02/2012 21:42

also my ex, who had a crash at 30 mile an hour got thrown through the windscreen and has so much bits of glass in his back (20 years on) is unreal. The driver lost an eye.

fatherchewylouis · 29/02/2012 21:44

MadderHat: I believe it is in fact you that would be in trouble for a passenger not wearing a seatbelt. As the driver you are responsible for ensuring all your passengers are belted and (where applicable) in appropriate car seats / booster seats.

Sidge · 29/02/2012 21:50

To all fellow shorties that find seatbelts uncomfortable - did you know that most modern vehicles have a slider near the door pillar that allows you to lower the seatbelt? That way it feeds over your shoulder instead of up near your ears.

ReindeerBollocks · 29/02/2012 21:51

DH shouldn't wear a seatbelt. It has to be declared to to the DVLA and the insurance company. It is ok for certain people not to wear belts.

However when we explain it to the children we are really clear that everyone should wear them, and that DH only doesn't for x reason.

I agree with seatbelt usage but they also cause problems. When I was involved in a crash I was told that sometimes the seatbelt can cause problems to the heart if the impact is quite harsh. But seatbelts are probably better than the alternative.