To wonder who doesn't wear a seat belt and why!

[FunkyKingston]

metro.co.uk/2019/04/30/seat-belt-laws-become-lot-tougher-9357163/

It seems ludicrous to me that not wearing a seat belt doesn't carry at least a three points or even six points when not doing so selfishly and recklesly endangers the lives of others. Thankfully i don't knlw anyone in real life who'd ve as daft to not use the seatbelts fitted.

However, even if they don't give a shit about other people what kind of idiot isn't interested in saving their own skin in the event of a crash, when the effectiveness of seat belts in preventing death and serious injury is beyond doubt?

Does anyone here not use seatbelts or know anyone who is militantly anti seatbelt and what rationale do they use?

My first car (a 1984/86 - can’t remember exactly which - Renault) didn’t have rear seatbelts as they were not compulsory at that time.

I am very hot on people not wearing seatbelts and won’t start the journey until everyone is wearing them - and sometimes get cross with back seat passengers who say things like ‘but we’re only going 5/10 minutes up the road’ or ‘oh, I’m fine; I never wear one and it’s not been a problem before’ - my answer to them is they’re always welcome to walk then or, if they want to be a passenger in my car, they will follow the rules the same way as I do!! DH was one who used to say he didn’t like wearing them - so I told him I wouldn’t like it if he was seriously injured or killed because he hadn’t bothered wearing one - he now doesn’t need reminding to put it on!!

But how can it be selfish if you are the only passenger in your own car? If you take a risk on your own life, how is that selfish?

Well lets see, your body flies out and causes an accident as people try to avoid it or it goes crashing into their car.

And in all honesty I don't think people should have to see bodies being scraped up from the road because people haven't bothered to use a safety precaution that takes seconds.

I am a habitual wearer (will often end up sitting strapped in for ages without starting the car because it’s an automatic reaction to strap in as soon as I sit down. But I really really don’t like the way they are designed. I’m always a bit paranoid that my head will get sliced off in some cars. I’d never put my child in a seatbelt without one of those booster seats that adjusts the height of the seatbelt to a safe height. While they are an important safety mechanism, the typical design is a death trap for children and short people. They should be better designed.

@Damntheman? I really don’t think that’s normal. The only person I know who keeps a knife in their car is my DH. He uses it to make sandwiches.

My DH car pools to work and of the three men he drives with two don't wear seatbelts. One is a big fella too and it really worries me (and DH) because the road they have to travel is notorious and many people have been killed on it. If they crash and worse, roll, my husband would be crushed.

DH's BIL doesn't wear one either when we pick him up and I don't let DH drive off until he puts it on because I really don't fancy a grown man crushing my children to death in the event of an accident. Mind you, this is a man who, when I started dating DH decades ago, thought it was okay to hand me their 1 year old to hold on my lap in the back when we travelled with them. I was young and too nervous to say anything but it makes me feel ill I didn't stand up to them and say no.

While they are an important safety mechanism, the typical design is a death trap for children and short people. They should be better designed
There are clips you can buy that adjust for shorter people and kids that are infinitely adjustable across the length of the seatbelt

My dad was in a serious accident in the mid-70s, so before seatbelt wearing was properly enforced. He escaped with minor injuries because he was able to dive down across the front seats before his car roof crumpled. He was told by police at the scene that had he been wearing a seatbelt and therefore pinned into his seat, he would have been decapitated. He's held onto this his entire life and refuses to wear a "death trap" seatbelt. Doesn't help that (a) he was also a taxi driver so exempt professionally and (b) he now lives in a country where seatbelts are most definitely not enforced.

I do refuse to drive with him as a passenger unless he belts up, which has caused no end of arguments.

Boggles I'd seriously consider it if I were you! A knife within reach could be a life-saver if you crash and need to get out fast, or if you get yourself into a large body of water. Belts jam. Likelihood is you'll never need that knife, but isn't it better to have it just in case?

he now lives in a country where seatbelts are most definitely not enforced

Not Cyprus by any chance? The country where it would be easy to assume that driving while wearing a seatbelt and not holding a phone to your ear is actually illegal.

Interesting about taxi drivers. How awful that people would use a seatbelt to try and strangle somebody.

Did you know US airbags are bigger than European ones because they are designed to work even if the driver is not wearing a seatbelt? European ones are smaller, but if you're not wearing a seatbelt, you probably won't be in the correct position for the airbag to work.

I think the thinking about it being selfish even when alone is that you could injure people outside the car if you are ejected from it, plus it would be more traumatic for witnesses/emergency respondents if your body is more mangled. But not as big a problem as not wearing one in the back.

Under 12s in the back only applies when you're talking about children travelling without car seats unless they are tall enough not to need one. They can be in the front with a car seat (forward facing only unless airbag is disabled). In the back, a child (over 3) can be without car seat if you can't fit three across, it's a classic car without rear seatbelts, it's a taxi and you don't have a car seat with you (also under 3s), or it's a short, necessary and unexpected journey (and you don't have a car seat with you). The RoSPA site stresses that these exceptions are made for practicality and not with safety in mind, it's not magically safe to do these things, so you should try to use car seats if you can.

Valhalla that's really sad :( Seatbelts unfortunately aren't really designed for women but for the average man, which means sometimes shorter women (teenage girls?) or those with big boobs can find the belt routes in an unsafe way. There are products you can get which help, similar to booster seats, but they aren't very well known and I'm not sure they are properly regulated and crash tested.

Who doesn't wear a seatbelt?
Idiots, that's who.

Unless you never drive on public roads, I can't see how you "don't need" one.
Last weekend we were on the M25 - a car bombed along behind us, then swerved across into the next lane, only just missing us. Ten minutes later, a BMW pulled across all lanes of traffic to get to a slip road. Split seconds later, another vehicle, possibly racing or with the BMW did exactly the same. How we didn't have a collision I don't know.

^Re my PST above - you don't know if someone is going to drive like a complete tool, but, had we collided, at least nobody would have gone through the windscreens.

Oh god does any one remember the advert years ago of the family driving the car and the son didn't have his belt on, car crashes he's in the back seat goes flying forward into his dad in the front seat and kills him, and then he's screaming at the end Dad Dad. That advert terrified me

When I took my driving test my examiner didn't wear a seat belt. He had a medical exemption.

But how can it be selfish if you are the only passenger in your own car? If you take a risk on your own life, how is that selfish

For all the reasons already listed, plus the fact that the family of the person who died and could still be alive if wearing a seat belt are the ones left behind having to deal with all the grief, identifying a mangled corpse etc.

@spicypickle those ads HAUNT me!

I don't even put the key in the ignition until I've put my seat belt on (and any passengers are clipped in).

DH laughed at me a couple of weeks ago when I used the seat belt on a coach!

Over Easter we were driving on the motorway and realised there must have been at least 5 unrestrained children in the backseat of the car in front. As we passed you could see clearly that the driver was using the phone as well.

I phoned the police, dont know if they did anything though.

My dh has a sort of “dummy” seatbelt clasp that he uses to stop the truck from beeping at him

I have one of those. It stops the car beeping at me when I put my handbag/shopping on the passenger seat!

I always use the belts on coaches and busses @amusedbush ! Solidarity. Also I love your username.

I used to work with someone who never wore a seatbelt. She'd keep it clipped in constantly and just sit on top of it. Not sure why. And she really wasn't the safest driver, she got sppeding tickets on a regular basis, and was known to write notes to herself whilst driving.

I was walking along a country road a few years ago and a friend stopped for a chat. They had their two year old in the front seat, with no seatbelt on. I refused to move out of the window until they belted their child up. They tried to say it was ok as they were only going half a mile, yet they were belted, and they'd never walk that particular road (would cut across the fields) as they thought it was too dangerous - windy with fast traffic. Yet they thought it was ok for their child to be without a seatbelt?????? Madness!!!

Unfortunately I have a spinal condition, and have fused cervical vertebrae. I turn by moving my whole upper body. I take my seatbelt off a lot, for manoeuvres, tricky junctions, parking etc...and frequently forget to put it back on. To be honest I worry more (for me) about the life-changing effects of an inertia injury from the seatbelt than going through the windscreen. I am never a back seat passenger, but if I was I would wear one to protect others from my body weight in an accident.

I always were my seat belt. If I'm distracted then I may forget, will suddenly remember as I'm leaving the drive! Without it I dont feel safe. Near 10 years ago I had a bad car accident, managed to roll the car over and without my seatbelt I would have easily died. Seatbelts literally save lives!

@Damntheman

Thank you very much

And I'm glad to hear I'm not the only geek on the coach