More people than seatbelts

[VinoEsmeralda]

So annoyed at the stupidity of some adults. Why would you take 5 teenagers and only have 4 seatbelts. "Ohh it will be allright".
No it bloody won't if it goes wrong. They can scrape the 5th person of the road and lets hope they havent hit any heads or other bodyparts on the way out. This a driving on an A road.

Rant over. Will go and pick up later.

Was somebody offering to drive your child somewhere and you subsequently discovered there would be five children in the car?

Have 1 person sit on another's lap. Problem solved.

Strap 5th person to the roof rack.

That’s what it’s there for, after all.

Gertrude are you suggesting they use one seatbelt to go around the person seated on someone’s lap, thereby “securing” the two of them? Because that is likely a more dangerous situation in a crash than not having a seatbelt at all.

Gertrude I seriously hope you are joking.
MsVestibule yes the father casually said "I'll suppose I can have 4 on the back seat" More annoyed with myself for not saying anything there and then TB. DC knows I'm picking up and will let other parent know i'm driving.

We have a VW Up. It only has four seatbelts because it is a tiny car and only suitable for four people.

Yes, we could fit a fifth person on the back seat if we squashed up. But yes, we could also fit another person in the miniscule boot if they were a baby, and if the car had a roof rack we could probably fix a dozen or more people and the odd pig, dog or cow to it with cable ties if we wanted.

That wouldn't mean any of them would be safe.

Four seat belts means four people in the car and no more.

It's not that hard to understand.

Stick number 5 in the boot

In all serious though, this is not good. I know people don't think they will have accident, but it only takes once

The car will only be insured to carry 5 people, a 6th person in the car renders their insurance invalid.

Mum11
Surely insurance policies only specify passenger numbers if its a policy for a cab?

In 15+ years of owning and insuring cars, I've never seen any mention of passenger numbers on my insurance policy, nor have I been asked how many seats my car has got when I've owned a model that came in a 5 or 7 seat option...

Deadly serious. Use a bit of rope if desired to increase the strength. Have fun!

More annoyed with myself for not saying anything there and then TB.

I know; I'm great at being assertive after the event!

Deadly serious. Use a bit of rope if desired to increase the strength. Have fun!

Hemp rope, I hope?

Must be environmentally sustainable.

It’s not the strength of the seatbelt you’d need to change Gertrude, it’s the laws of physics!

I'm pretty sure there is something about not carrying more people than the car is designed for as Mum11 says.

My insurance quote asks how many the vehicle seats, although even my 15 year old five seater has five proper seatbelts.

Excess people call a taxi. And someone on lap? Jeez.

special there are six people travelling. Five teens pluse adult driver.

So one needs a taxi or another car. Obviously.

Through the windscreen is bad.

Unthinkable (almost) now, but go back 20 years and it was normal, our best worst was 10 in a Honda Civic, 7 was more normal, and if some one had a transit van, well as many in the back as needed.

Reminds me of a few months ago, to save 2 trips onto a restricted site with a ban and 5 people needing transporting, on the inward journey, driver 40+ didn't bat an eyelid at 2 in the back.
On the return journey driver under 30 what's 'what all of you?' And raised eyebrows at 2 getting in the back.

The recent incident was not on a live road so was a calculated risk and I thank my lucky stars nothing happened when I was younger, especially as my spot was the passenger set footwell!

Yes, it was normal when I was a child and a teen. Largely because there were no seatbelt laws, so we crushed in as many as possible.
I’m very particular now, seatbelts, car seats and the rest. So are my children, they’ve walked, taken public transport or rung me rather than risk being projectiles at 60mph.
Apparently the downside of seatbelts is that organs available for donation have fallen in number.

They would all be wedged in so tight they probably wouldn't budge.

Everyone thinks they're a "good driver" and won't crash. Right up until the moment they slam the brakes and realise it's too late.

november well done to your kids for saying no.
Sad as i am ive got a few clips re not wearing seatbelts& what happens for DC to watch tomorrow.

It doesn't matter about insurance or how good a driver you are if you're hit at 70mph by a drunk driver.