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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

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

180 replies

FunkyKingston · 02/05/2019 00:01

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?

OP posts:
Original poster
FunkyKingston · 03/05/2019 17:26

glass, you lacerate your head and neck. I often had patients who’d been scalped by their windscreen and lost the sight of an eye to penetrating glass injury

My dad once spent two weeks in an eye hospital*in the late 70s after an eye injury playing squash. He was at 28 the oldest patient in the ward by nearly a decade. The rest were teenagers or just out of their teens who'd lost their sight in exactly the way you've described.

OP posts:
IntoValhalla · 03/05/2019 17:55

Babdoc that is fucking hideous Sad

NoCauseRebel · 03/05/2019 18:13

I think all the emotive. Posting is unnecessary because as a rule people are involved in car accidents for all manner of reasons. Personally i think that drink driving is far more of a problem as is driving while talking on a mobile phone. Drink driving should IMO result in a lifetime ban but it doesn’t. And points on licences would only work for non seatbelt wearers if they are driving. What if they’re passengers? Then what?

I’ve always worn a seatbelt in the front but as a child we regularly drove long distances (grew up in a different country) and wearing a seatbelt in the back wasn’t the norm. As such I frequently will just forget. It’s not a deliberate thing it just doesn’t enter into my thinking iyswim but that doesn’t mean I rebell against it iyswim.

Gwenhwyfar · 03/05/2019 19:38

" as a child we regularly drove long distances (grew up in a different country) and wearing a seatbelt in the back wasn’t the norm."

When I was a child, most cars didn't even have set belts in the back so you don't need to have grown up in a different country.

MorrisZapp · 03/05/2019 19:41

Yup, seventies child. Full monty: no seat belts, parents smoking, us leaping about in the back.

A lot has changed since then.

Moneypenny007 · 03/05/2019 20:03

Friend of mine doesn't wear it and often sits on with her toddler on her lap while her husband drives!
No point talking to her!

RedSheep73 · 03/05/2019 20:15

Morons don't wear them, because they're morons?

More seriously, dh saw some research at work recently from the police indicating it's mostly younger males doing it - the ones who think they're invulnerable.

CamillafromCobham · 03/05/2019 22:33

@JessieMcJessie thank you for sharing that. I watched it. Suffice to say I think I'll be wearing a seatbelt in the back seat from now on.

JessieMcJessie · 03/05/2019 23:01

Great stuff Camilla Smile.

Acis · 04/05/2019 07:28

NoCauseRebel, I also grew up somewhere where wearing a seatbelt in the back wasn't the norm. I'm perfectly capable of remembering to wear one now, in fact I feel uncomfortable if for any reason I can't.

As for your query about how points on licences would work in relation to passengers, I think the driver would have to be penalised if s/he allows passengers not to wear seatbelts. It would actually make life easier for drivers: I refuse to move if a passenger hasn't got a seatbelt on, but it would probably make the argument easier if the passenger realised that their actions might endanger my licence.

cherrryontop · 04/05/2019 07:34

The simple answer to why people don't wear seatbelts is that they are really stupid.

The evidence is there that they stop a car crash being worse for passengers and can save lives too.

Stupidity and ignorance.

JenniferJareau · 04/05/2019 07:41

I worked for a man who would not wear one. His reason was because he once had a car crash in which he would have died if he had been wearing a seat belt. He wasn't wearing one so was thrown free of the smash through his soft top.

Chuggachugga · 04/05/2019 07:43

When dc3 was born we couldn’t get 3 car seats in the back of the car. We ended up putting the eldest in front and myself squished between the two car seats in the back. I couldn’t even sit down properly, let alone manage a seat belt. Defo wasn’t the safest way to travel but it had to do till we saved up for a bigger car!

Greenandcabbagelooking · 04/05/2019 07:50

My friend has told her two little children that the car can sense if there are undone seatbelts, and doesn’t start until everyone is buckled up. I think that is a genius lie to tell!

greenelephantscarf · 04/05/2019 08:01

And points on licences would only work for non seatbelt wearers if they are driving. What if they’re passengers? Then what?

I don't know about the uk, but in germany points/fine/ban go to the driver as they are ultimately responsible.

wrt taxis not waiting until you are buckled up - keep one of the doors open until everyone is strapped in.

ArgyMargy · 04/05/2019 08:03

@Chuggachugga you chose the least safe option for your child by putting them in the front.

ivykaty44 · 04/05/2019 08:05

I know someone who didn’t wear a seatbelt as they were a careful driver and not going to be in a crash.

They were in a crash, they ran a red light at low speed as trying to retreated a cigarette from back seat - they crashed and the bags went off, spent 3 days in hospital and a year later had surgery connected with this

Front seat passenger walked away unharmed

TapasForTwo · 04/05/2019 08:15

I'm shocked at the number of children not wearing seat belts. I get that some adults are exempt, but not strapping children in or sitting them on adults laps is the height of stupidity.

Why don't more cars have height adjustable seat belts? My late MIL was short, and struggled with them as she felt as if she was being strangled.

Both of our cars have sensors that bleep if the seatbelt isn't being used, but I never need to remind people to put one on because it is an automatic thing for them anyway.

TheWashingMachine · 04/05/2019 08:29

I grew up in wearing a seat belt and always wear one.

We've been unlucky enough to have two serious car accidents, both with our kids in the car, neither was our fault. the car rolled twice and we were all in seat belts and got out unharmed. Kids were four and three and were in good car seats too which the emergency services said saved their lives.

Recently in the second crash again everyone fine, good car seats everyone wearing seat belts, all fine. But I read something yesterday about a woman who was brain damaged and had constant pain because she was hit by someone else on a motorway going at 75MPH, this was similar to the crash we had and my blood ran cold. You never know what other people will do so be as responsible as you can, belt up, wear shoes in the car, and buy a safe car, each time we've been in a Volvo, which helped.

None of our cars were very expensive, we bought second hand and they cost about £4,000 but both cars had an excellent safety records if you have kids I really urge you to invest in good car seats (consult Which for best buys) and a safe car, some are very poorly designed.

BrightYellowDaffodil · 04/05/2019 08:37

To the poster upthread who said about cars not passing an MOT without seatbelts, not all vehicles are cars and are therefore subject to different rules. I drive an oldish (late 80s) lorry and it doesn’t have seatbelts. It’s failed its MOT for many things but not a lack of seatbelts.

DonkeyHohtay · 04/05/2019 08:40

I lived overseas for a while and the rule there was that seatbelts only had to be worn on the open road, outside town. Nobody wore seatbelts around town. I would get into a car and automatically put mine on, after a while my friend who was driving asked me about it and was quite huffy, as if I didn't trust her driving or something.

For me it's automatic. Other people not so much, especially if they've come from another country.

AreYouGonnaGetThaf · 04/05/2019 09:43

My DF is Black Taxi Driver and they're exempt from wearing seatbelts due to safety and getting in and out of the taxi to help with luggage/wheelchairs/disabilities etc.

Other than that, everyone I know wears one. I won't drive until everyone is buckled up.

Ferii · 04/05/2019 09:45

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

My DH and I always wear seatbelts on coaches, we're regularly the only ones strapped in as well which I find bizarre. Its second nature for most ppl to wear one in a car but for some reason on a coach they decide it isn't necessary. Regularly you hear in the news about coach crashes on motorways or off cliffs in foreign countries so personally I'd never risk it.

floraloctopus · 04/05/2019 09:51

She is in her late 20’s and I can’t even begin to understand her stupidity

Maybe her ambition in life is to win a Darwin Award.

Seat belts are non-negiotable here. I was made to wear mine by my parents before the laws came in and my children have to do the same.

Taswama · 04/05/2019 10:15

My DF would not leave the driveway until everyone was belted up, although seatbelts in the back were not compulsory at that time. I do the same with my dc.
I rarely carry adult passengers but recently had someone in the back (a friend of a friend) who didn’t seem to be putting their belt on. I just said something like, ‘let me know when you’ve got your belt on, so we can go’. She looked a bit sheepish and complied. The car would have beeped anyway, DP later told me but as we never have anyone without a seatbelt on, I wasn’t aware of this feature.