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AIBU?

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Original poster

To think the Rishi seatbelt nonsense is just tedious?

228 replies

Cuppasoupmonster · 20/01/2023 22:39

Not a Tory voter, never have been.

But seriously all this over the fact he wasn’t wearing a seatbelt? Anyone would think he’d been exposed as a sex offender or a user of Class A drugs 🙄

OP posts:
countrygirl99 · 21/01/2023 04:29

LozzaChops101 · 20/01/2023 23:01

I don’t care half as much that he wasn’t wearing a seatbelt as I do that he’s bloody dim enough to do it on camera. Shows some really shite judgement.

Incredibly dim and did no one involved have the nous to say they didn't think it a good idea?

TheFairyCaravan · 21/01/2023 05:17

I don’t believe he ever had the seatbelt on at all and I don’t believe it’s a one off. He’s a smarmy, arrogant man who thinks rules aren’t for him, just like most of his cabinet.

MeinKraft · 21/01/2023 07:59

havemybreakfastthen · 21/01/2023 00:12

I wear my seatbelt every time and insist my passengers do too.

Some people don't care - however to blame it on being a Tory is just ridiculous.
Whipped up frenzy by the left perhaps? Sounds familiar....

Whipped up frenzy by the media, not the left.

Pinkkite · 21/01/2023 08:20

I don’t think it’s the act of doing it that is outrageous (although puts anyone in the front at greater risk so very selfish), it’s the constant behaviour of this government who seem to think that they are above the law. It’s also the fact that as our leaders it belittles to laws and gives the message that the laws don’t need to be followed.

If our leaders don’t follow the rules, why should we? If we don’t follow the rules, which rules shall we break? why bother having laws at all?

Laws are there to keep us all safer. If the message from the top is they are not worth following it’s a dangerous precedent to set. so whilst it’s a small thing, the context makes it more serious.

YetMoreNewBeginnings · 21/01/2023 08:24

LozzaChops101 · 20/01/2023 23:01

I don’t care half as much that he wasn’t wearing a seatbelt as I do that he’s bloody dim enough to do it on camera. Shows some really shite judgement.

This exactly.

That was one of the stand out things in the whole party-gate saga for me as well - that our country is being run by people stupid enough to do things against the rules in front of other people who would, inevitably, leak it at a convenient time.

It’s bad enough when they have no respect for things we all have to do, but to be thick enough to do it in front of people and cameras is basically insulting.

LlynTegid · 21/01/2023 08:25

Road safety is not nonsense.

The person driving the car may be a good competent driver, a large number of other cars on the road will not be driven by someone like him or her. Road crashes are more often that not accidents.

LegoBoobs · 21/01/2023 08:27

everyone has done it in the past couple of months

I really, really don’t think they do. Of course I only have a small sample of me and those I know but I’d be really surprised.

It’s important because it speaks to an attitude, and a dislocation from reality. It’s wasn’t an unlucky paparazzi shot as he scrambled to buckle up, it was a planned and released video. The face that neither him or his team could foresee that it’d cause a shitstorm suggests a high level of arrogance and/or incompetence.

(I’m also diabetic and, pre pump, found it perfectly easy to inject without removing my seatbelt)

Potatopuffsandtangytoms · 21/01/2023 08:35

Another one here to say I don't think everyone has done this in the last couple of months at all.

I don't know anyone who doesn't wear their seatbelt. It's dangerous not to.

He is the prime minister so should be not only for beating laws but setting a good example.

darjeelingrose · 21/01/2023 08:35

For something that you are not invested in, as a non Tory voter, and somebody who cannot understand why it is not ok to take off a seatbelt for, first, a "second" then in a later post a "minute" with all those nasty paps about, you must be pretty embarrassed right now @Cuppasoupmonster . Poor innocent Rishi was just a law breaking instagrammer with more money than sense after all.

darjeelingrose · 21/01/2023 08:37

Also, personally I cannot remember the last time I didn't wear a seatbelt in my whole life. I think the person who says people do it every few months has an old car, ours wail if the kids are even a bit slow to put them on when the car is in gear and not moving!

NotTerfNorCis · 21/01/2023 08:40

Agree with OP, and I'm not a Tory either. It's a distraction from much more serious issues.

GolfEchoRomeoTangoIndia · 21/01/2023 08:46

It's trivial, and I'm not prepared to expend moral outrage about what it says about his character, but it's a good entertaining story of someone voluntarily incriminating themselves that no journalist could resist. It's a low-key variation on the stories everyone loves about bank robbers who hand over a note saying "give me the money" written on the back of an envelope with their name and address on. But it's the PM doing it!

And I think that it's right that if the police are presented with cast iron evidence on film of the PM breaking even a minor law they expend the fifteen minutes or so to whizz him off a penalty notice. At least he had the sense to just shut up and pay it immediately.

lljkk · 21/01/2023 08:50

virtually everyone has done it in the past couple of months

I haven't gone without, doubt DH has. DC aren't allowed to.

I can confirm that I'm not interested. Can't wait for this one to escape the News Cycle.

Patineur · 21/01/2023 08:55

Cuppasoupmonster · 20/01/2023 22:45

It’s one of those ‘crimes’ that is so incredibly minor that virtually everyone has done it in the past couple of months and if this was a politician they happened to like and support, they would quickly switch their view to that as well.

Virtually everyone? I haven't driven or travelled in a car without a seatbelt in the last 20 years, and I'm perfectly sure I'm not alone in that. For most people it becomes a habit so they feel uncomfortable if they aren't wearing a belt.

Lostinalibrary · 21/01/2023 08:57

I genuinely don’t understand the argument that every one does it at some point. Not unless you’re a complete idiot, no. It’s as natural as breathing. You get in the car and put your seatbelt on without a second thought, surely?

Patineur · 21/01/2023 08:59

Cuppasoupmonster · 20/01/2023 22:51

It is about as criminal as overlapping a double yellow by 5cm or overstaying your parking ticket by a few minutes. An ‘offence’ on paper but so trivial it’s nothing to get worked up about. I doubt he flung the belt off singing IM FREEEE TO DO WHAT I WANTTTTT ANY OLD TIME he probably just unbuckled for a minute to do something and got papped

Show quote history

It really isn't on the same level as parking rules, though, is it? Overlapping a yellow line doesn't normally have the potential to leave someone dead or severely disabled.

PinkButtercups · 21/01/2023 09:04

Yeah and if he was riding about on the regular with no seatbelt on then I would agree, but as a one off the phoney outrage is ridiculously over the top. Have you never ever taken it off for a second for any reason?m

You're silly if you think this was the only time. It was the one time he got caught.

He should be wearing a seat belt end of. It's the law. Just because he's PM doesn't matter if it was one time. He deserves the fine, not like he can't pay it is it.

Patineur · 21/01/2023 09:05

To see to a small child in the back, because the driver pulls away before you’ve had the chance to do it up, to reach for something on the back seat, sometimes I do so I can inject my stomach on a long trip if I need to (diabetic)

How hard can it be to stop the driver pulling away before you do the small child up? When is it so urgent to reach for something in the back seat that you can't wait till you can pull in somewhere? As for diabetic injections, the diabetics I know can manage absolutely fine with a seatbelt in place if they can't wait till we stop for a break anyway.

Hellsmovie · 21/01/2023 09:07

I cant believe its £100 fine. It was only £30 when I was caught. Suppose that was about 20yrs ago

Ncgirlseriously · 21/01/2023 09:08

YABU. The Tories constantly act like they’re above the law and it’s fucking infuriating.

And as for “everyone does it” - speak for yourself. In my social circle cars don’t move unless everyone is plugged in.

cakeorwine · 21/01/2023 09:09

To quote Sergeant Wilson from Dad's Army

"Is that wise, sir?"

Or Sir Humphrey"That's a courageous decision"

Did none of his advisers suggest to him that removing his seatbelt and filming a video to go on social media whilst in a moving car might not be the best move?

Like when politicians are in cars that are speeding and they film themselves and the car can be seen speeding.

Think about the optics. Think before you post

LikeTearsInRain · 21/01/2023 09:13

To be fair he is living up to his pledge to serve us with integrity and humility. He owned up straight away.

cakeorwine · 21/01/2023 09:13

DelphiniumBlue · 21/01/2023 00:19

I don't care at all. But if we expect everyone in public office never to have committed even a minor infraction, there'll be no one left to run the place.
Let those without sin be the first to cast stones etc.
Boris throwing parties in lockdown while people were dying alone is one thing, being a passenger in a car without a seatbelt for short amount of time is different. I'm annoyed at the waste of police time in investigating this trivia while people are being mugged and worse on our city streets with no visible police presence at all.

I can't imagine it took too much time.
Watch video
Send a fine to Rishi, Number 10 Downing Street

IamnotSethRogan · 21/01/2023 09:15

I'm not outraged by it and when I first heard I didn't give a fuck. Then I realised he made the video, and someone filmed it and whoever runs his social media approved it. I'm not outraged but I am bemused that the Prime Minister and his team around him could be so thick.

IamnotSethRogan · 21/01/2023 09:16

To be fair he is living up to his pledge to serve us with integrity and humility. He owned up straight away.

He couldn't really get away with not owning up when it was a video. Or are we just happy when our politicians don't gaslight us?