Seatbelt Law

[ashylarry]

Sure its your choice, I dont think they should give tickets for not wearing one. But you are stupid for not wearing one. My seat belt has saved me from getting hurt a few times.

 

[ElkhartGunner]

stupid for not wearing one? i drove over the road for 7 years and almost racked up 1,000,000 miles of driving without and accident and without a seatbelt. in commercial vehicles, your also required to wear it, but the state troopers really dont enforce it. we just keep giving our freedoms away without a fight. do you want the govt to tell you you can carry your gun but it has to have a trigger lock on it or you cant have one in the chamber when carrying? i still dont wear it and dont want to because i choose not to. who knows, maybe it will catch me one day but thats a gamble i'll take.

Sure its your choice, I dont think they should give tickets for not wearing one. But you are stupid for not wearing one. My seat belt has saved me from getting hurt a few times.

 

[ashylarry]

i still dont wear it and dont want to because i choose not to. who knows, maybe it will catch me one day but thats a gamble i'll take.

see thats your choice and your problem if you ever get into any type of accident. Like I said i dont think it should be enforced, but its dumb not to wear one. You never know when **** is going to go wrong.

 

[KDUBCR250]

Sure its your choice, I dont think they should give tickets for not wearing one. But you are stupid for not wearing one. My seat belt has saved me from getting hurt a few times.

Some people say Im stupid for carring a loaded firearm with me at all times I say FTW lol

 

[SavageEagle]

I am stupid so stupid is as stupid does! Sometimes I don't wear my seatbelt either!

Now calling people stupid for not wearing their seatbelt is kinda wrong. They are just taking a chance is all. You take the SAME chance anytime you drive a vehicle, buckled or not. As AshyLarry said, **** can happen at any time. There are times when seatbelt or not, you are probably going to die anyway. Well, I look at it like this. If it's my time to go, it's my time to go. I'll go when the good Lord wants me. If He wants me in a wheelchair the rest of my life, that seatbelt isn't going to stop that.

Now, you can call the Government stupid for thinking they can make money from seat belt tickets. Figure in Man Hours alone, not including supplies to carry out the following, you have people who are out looking for people not wearing a seat belt. They have to spend 10-20 minutes pulling you over and writing the ticket. How much to cops make an hour? Then you have the person at the PD HQ who processes the tickets to the Court Clerk. Then you have the Court Clerk who processes the tickets and sets appointments for the Court Date. If you pay it, she/he must cancel said court date.... You get my point. It costs more to write and process the ticket than $25 the ticket will bring in.

Oh crap. Someone's gonna read this and raise the fine. Then we get a lawyer and fight the law in court. Get it repealed. Hmmm... Sounds good to me!

 

[ashylarry]

I dont think its wrong. Yes I also agree that when it is your time nothing including a seatbelt will help you there. I flipped my car about a month ago and would have been hurt pretty bad if I wasn't wearing my seatbelt. But I had my seatbelt on and didnt even get a scratch on me.

I know some of you have never had a wreck or anything, but I would be more worried about the other idiot drivers on the road hitting me.

 

[SavageEagle]

Accident one: 16, Put truck in a ditch/big drop off when I had 250lbs extra in my passenger seat that made me catch traction in the dirt. Head on into the ground, no seatbelt or airbag, no injuries.

Accident two: 16, T-boned, was rolling in first gear, hit by 83yo woman doing 65 and accelerating who ran the red. Truck spun 3 times, was hit just behind the drivers door of the truck. No seatbelt, no airbag, truck totalled, very minor injuries besides a bump on my head where it hit the top seatbelt pivot. Passenger, no seatbelt, head went through back window. Besides a headache and some whiplash, no injuries. Seatbelts would have increased injuries according to investigators after conclusion.

Accident three: 18, Camaro slid on ice hitting light pole. Small crack in bumper, no seatbelt, no injuries. No incident report taken.

Accident four: 19, 96 Ranger, Rear-ended a van during rush-hour who slammed on his brakes. No where to go, was trying to change lanes but was cut off. No seatbelt, airbag deployed bruising and cutting up my face. Passenger and no seatbelt, airbag turned off, bruised knee from dashboard. Seatbelt would not have prevented either injury. Truck totalled.

Accident five: 20, 95 S10 had clutch and brake issues. Ran stop sign, seen car coming, dove across cab bracing myself against the door, seat, and dash. No seatbelt, obviously. No injuries to either driver. Other driver not wearing seatbelt either. Took off my front end, other car also totalled. Seatbelt would have made injuries worse to both drivers.


So you can see where I get my "No Seatbelt" mentality. Also notice at no time was my vehicle traveling over 40 mph. That is the limit at which most times I will buckle up. I also buckle up when road conditions are less than favorable. I.E. Snow, Ice, Rain, lots of leaves + morning dew, signs of standing water, etc.

 

[ashylarry]

damn you've had some luck there lol. My incident was just before 5am on the way to work. Hit some ice over a bridge and went down into a nice 8-10 ft. ditch then onto the roof. scared the **** out of me cause i still wasn't completely awake. I know I would have had some sort of head injury landing on my face if I wasnt wearing my seatbelt.

Maybe being in my line of work just makes me pro seatbelt wearing.

 

[SavageEagle]

WOw, yea, that would suck. Sorry to hear about that man!

Yea, I've had a run of bad luck from 16-23. All my fault of course. Bad decisions is all. I consider all my accidents learning experiances as I've never made the same mistake twice. Being young and dumb, I've had many more close calls. Since I've had kids I don't drive like that anymore, Thank God. But all those experiances give you the instinct to react when that situation presents itself again. I guess I take my driving way too seriously though. When I get a new vehicle I take it to my two favorite roads to test it's limitations, careful not to push it too hard. Always good to know what your car/truck/van/SUV can do when you need it too.

 

[ashylarry]

When I get a new vehicle I take it to my two favorite roads to test it's limitations, careful not to push it too hard. Always good to know what your car/truck/van/SUV can do when you need it too.

yah when I had my car I loved to autocross it through the SCCA. found out its limits and had lots of fun. now I have a jeep cherokee and wont be needing to worry about that stuff anymore.

 

[dburkhead]

Accident one: 16, Put truck in a ditch/big drop off when I had 250lbs extra in my passenger seat that made me catch traction in the dirt. Head on into the ground, no seatbelt or airbag, no injuries.

Accident two: 16, T-boned, was rolling in first gear, hit by 83yo woman doing 65 and accelerating who ran the red. Truck spun 3 times, was hit just behind the drivers door of the truck. No seatbelt, no airbag, truck totalled, very minor injuries besides a bump on my head where it hit the top seatbelt pivot. Passenger, no seatbelt, head went through back window. Besides a headache and some whiplash, no injuries. Seatbelts would have increased injuries according to investigators after conclusion.

Accident three: 18, Camaro slid on ice hitting light pole. Small crack in bumper, no seatbelt, no injuries. No incident report taken.

Accident four: 19, 96 Ranger, Rear-ended a van during rush-hour who slammed on his brakes. No where to go, was trying to change lanes but was cut off. No seatbelt, airbag deployed bruising and cutting up my face. Passenger and no seatbelt, airbag turned off, bruised knee from dashboard. Seatbelt would not have prevented either injury. Truck totalled.

Accident five: 20, 95 S10 had clutch and brake issues. Ran stop sign, seen car coming, dove across cab bracing myself against the door, seat, and dash. No seatbelt, obviously. No injuries to either driver. Other driver not wearing seatbelt either. Took off my front end, other car also totalled. Seatbelt would have made injuries worse to both drivers.


So you can see where I get my "No Seatbelt" mentality. Also notice at no time was my vehicle traveling over 40 mph. That is the limit at which most times I will buckle up. I also buckle up when road conditions are less than favorable. I.E. Snow, Ice, Rain, lots of leaves + morning dew, signs of standing water, etc.

This is a small-scale application of the anthropic principle. If you'd gotten killed in any of those accidents you wouldn't be here to tell us about it.

Consider, what are the odds of throwing "snake eyes" five times in a row. (The math for that one is fairly simple: 60,466,176 to one.) Now, imagine having 100 million people rolling snake-eyes five times each. What are the odds that snake eyes will come up five times in a row for at least one of those people? Answer: 8 in 10. When you start looking at the whole population, quite unlikely things do happen. Doesn't mean that's the way to bet, however. Somebody might make a big win at Vegas (does happen from time to time) but that doesn't change the fact that, day in and day out, more people lose than win.

 

[dburkhead]

yah when I had my car I loved to autocross it through the SCCA. found out its limits and had lots of fun. now I have a jeep cherokee and wont be needing to worry about that stuff anymore.

It's been a couple of years since I've been out. Where did you run and in what class(es)? (Originally E Stock in a Mitsubishi Eclipse, then C Stock in a Mazda Miata, followed by STS2 in the Mazda Miata after some work done on the suspension.)

 

[SavageEagle]

This is a small-scale application of the anthropic principle. If you'd gotten killed in any of those accidents you wouldn't be here to tell us about it.

Consider, what are the odds of throwing "snake eyes" five times in a row. (The math for that one is fairly simple: 60,466,176 to one.) Now, imagine having 100 million people rolling snake-eyes five times each. What are the odds that snake eyes will come up five times in a row for at least one of those people? Answer: 8 in 10. When you start looking at the whole population, quite unlikely things do happen. Doesn't mean that's the way to bet, however. Somebody might make a big win at Vegas (does happen from time to time) but that doesn't change the fact that, day in and day out, more people lose than win.

I like your figures on this. When it comes to Vegas, you're right, more people lose than win. Of course when the games are rigged it will always work out that way. But when it comes to seatbelt laws, nobody wins. Not even Government.

Like I stated before, it costs more to process the seatbelt ticket than the fine, AND the fact that police are busy looking for people without seatbelts means they are more likely to miss the guy smoking a bowl driving down the road.

 

[FordMan08]

Its all a raket, nobody really cares.

 

[Soundslikejosh]

Accident one: 16, Put truck in a ditch/big drop off when I had 250lbs extra in my passenger seat that made me catch traction in the dirt. Head on into the ground, no seatbelt or airbag, no injuries.

Accident two: 16, T-boned, was rolling in first gear, hit by 83yo woman doing 65 and accelerating who ran the red. Truck spun 3 times, was hit just behind the drivers door of the truck. No seatbelt, no airbag, truck totalled, very minor injuries besides a bump on my head where it hit the top seatbelt pivot. Passenger, no seatbelt, head went through back window. Besides a headache and some whiplash, no injuries. Seatbelts would have increased injuries according to investigators after conclusion.

Accident three: 18, Camaro slid on ice hitting light pole. Small crack in bumper, no seatbelt, no injuries. No incident report taken.

Accident four: 19, 96 Ranger, Rear-ended a van during rush-hour who slammed on his brakes. No where to go, was trying to change lanes but was cut off. No seatbelt, airbag deployed bruising and cutting up my face. Passenger and no seatbelt, airbag turned off, bruised knee from dashboard. Seatbelt would not have prevented either injury. Truck totalled.

Accident five: 20, 95 S10 had clutch and brake issues. Ran stop sign, seen car coming, dove across cab bracing myself against the door, seat, and dash. No seatbelt, obviously. No injuries to either driver. Other driver not wearing seatbelt either. Took off my front end, other car also totalled. Seatbelt would have made injuries worse to both drivers.


So you can see where I get my "No Seatbelt" mentality. Also notice at no time was my vehicle traveling over 40 mph. That is the limit at which most times I will buckle up. I also buckle up when road conditions are less than favorable. I.E. Snow, Ice, Rain, lots of leaves + morning dew, signs of standing water, etc.

I am missing the part of this argument where a seatbelt makes the accident worse. You managed to come out of accidents, despite the lack of seatbelt. This is not evidence that you shouldn't wear a seatbelt. I have avoided this thread because even though you can lead a horse to water, you can't make them drink. I must ask though, don't you think that a seatbelt would increase your chances? It certainly won't decrease your chances.

 

[Prometheus]

I must ask though, don't you think that a seatbelt would increase your chances? It certainly won't decrease your chances.

You obviously haven't read the posts from the Medics and trauma team member (such as myself) who have posted real life situations where seat belts have killed and not using seat belts have saved lives.

I've also worked on people whose stories are similar to an earlier poster whose dad would have been impaled by the steering column if buckled in. Again, belts may save lives (they do), but they also take them.

14 years of emergency medical care from the streets to the operating rooms, under my belt and counting. No pun intended.

 

[Soundslikejosh]

Promethus,

My sincere apologies. I will admit that I didn't read the preceding 11 pages. It was my mistake. I will continue to take my risks with a seatbelt, however.

Regards,
Josh

 

[Hoosier8]

I know one guy that would have been beheaded if he wore a seat belt. Took out the left side of his van.

I also know a cop that will not ticket you for not wearing one.

 

[Prometheus]

I will continue to take my risks with a seatbelt, however.

I won't fault anyone for wearing a seat belt. I won't fault them for not wearing one either. It's a personal choice IMO. Equally good arguments can be made in either direction IMO.

 

[SavageEagle]

I am missing the part of this argument where a seatbelt makes the accident worse. You managed to come out of accidents, despite the lack of seatbelt. This is not evidence that you shouldn't wear a seatbelt. I have avoided this thread because even though you can lead a horse to water, you can't make them drink. I must ask though, don't you think that a seatbelt would increase your chances? It certainly won't decrease your chances.

Accident two:...Seatbelts would have increased injuries according to investigators after conclusion.

INVESTIGATORS who do crash scenes for living told us this. It shocked me too.

I won't fault anyone for wearing a seat belt.

I too won't fault anyone for wearing one and I'm not even saying that it completely decreases your chances for survival. But I am saying that under the right circumstances it can be fatal, but it can also save lives.

But that's not what this whole thread is really about. It's about the fact that the gubernewment has no authority to mandate us to do so. In fact, it costs them money to ticket people for not doing so. That's money you and I pay to get tickets all in the name of "Nanny-State" Safety.