What's new
CK5
Register an account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members.

who else here drives without wearing a seat belt?

It's no different than smoking or drinking. You become a burden on your family with medical bills that way too. So how is flying through your windshield any different than liver or lung failure directly caused from a personal choice? Should smoking or drinking be outlawed as well? Obviously they are not "smart" choices either for long term health. So what is the difference? Like you said, YOU chose to smoke/drink, why should I have to pay for it? As a matter of fact what do you honestly believe costs you more? The people who are injured because of seatbelts or cancer caused from smoking or liver failure from drinking? This isn't even factoring in heart problems caused by both.

And that's exactly what it is, it's giving police a reason to further extort the tax payer more than we are already extorted.
 
Last edited:
wazzabie said:
There is no law that the seat belt must work. Just that it is worn.
Click to expand...
California says that your seatbelt must be properly worn which means it has to be functional. I know they give people tickets here for wearing the seatbelt pulled underneath their arm so it doesn't rub against their neck.
 
I'm willing to bet the seat belts in all my GM vehicles will fail to "catch" if an impact happened...those ratchet "reel" mechanisms never seem to work right from day one half the time..
The one in my pickup fails to retract the belt half the time,so it ends up getting shut in the door--and if I pull out on it fast as I can,it just pulls out 8 out of 10 times...so wearing it only satisfies the cops,not so much it adds "protection"...they use webbing strong enough to lift the truck off the ground,but cant make a "reel" that works properly..:screwy:
 
I actually can't remember the last time I put the one in the work truck on, I used to keep it buckled behind me to shut the dinger up. In my own vehicles I usually just sit on it so it looks like it's on, if I'm on a road that I know see's police traffic, otherwise it just stays off, and If I'm riding shotgun with anyone I always wear it, assuming it works.

My dad never really wore one until 2009 or so, when he got pulled over for it. Before then he never wore it, citing mainly three accidents he had been in, where if he had been wearing one, he wouldn't have survived, or at the minimum received some kind of grievous injury.
 
diesel4me said:
I'm willing to bet the seat belts in all my GM vehicles will fail to "catch" if an impact happened...those ratchet "reel" mechanisms never seem to work right from day one half the time..
The one in my pickup fails to retract the belt half the time,so it ends up getting shut in the door--and if I pull out on it fast as I can,it just pulls out 8 out of 10 times...so wearing it only satisfies the cops,not so much it adds "protection"...they use webbing strong enough to lift the truck off the ground,but cant make a "reel" that works properly..:screwy:
Click to expand...

They also have a pendulum, that if it swings slightly in any direction, the belt locks.
 
The Griff said:
My dad never really wore one until 2009 or so, when he got pulled over for it. Before then he never wore it, citing mainly three accidents he had been in, where if he had been wearing one, he wouldn't have survived, or at the minimum received some kind of grievous injury.
Click to expand...

This is a pretty good study that has some easy to understand statistics: http://www.penndot.gov/TravelInPA/Safety/Documents/2014_CFB_linked.pdf

Of particular note is page 35. Breaking that down (assuming my math is correct), you are ten times more likely to die without a belt, and 9 times more likely to suffer a major injury. Risk of death or serious injury in an automotive crash is still very small (in the tenths at worst) but if you want to up your chances 10 fold, don't wear a belt.

There are going to be variables not addressed that can impact those figures, however those multiples are going to be impossible to bring to par simply through factoring other variables.

With a sample size of 223,488, my buddy who used to never wear a belt and survived 3 or 4 significant accidents without serious, immediately apparent injury is an outlier.

There is this as well: "The complete ejection rate, however, was reduced significantly by a factor of about 600". https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3503426/
Those are the statistics that drive up costs of our vehicles.
 
Last edited:
My dad based that on the three major crashes he was involved in. (As far as I know) First one was when he was in high school, and his 55 Chevy got T-boned in the driver's door by a dump truck, He got thrown into the passenger seat, and the driver's seat was pushed half-way across the car.
The second one was in a radio equipped MUTT Jeep at 29 Palms, where he was pushing too hard into a soft bend and rolled it down the bank, he was thrown clear of it while it was rolling down, and it landed up-side down.
The third one was with a big block 60's Thunderbird. He was doing about 130 when a car pulled out in front of him, he put the car in the ditch and hit a culvert, He told me didn't remember anything after this until he came to in the back seat. The steering wheel was touching the roof and the dashboard was about 8 inches from the seat.
 
I've only cut one seatbelted dead person from a car in about 700 crashes. Even suburbans can't win against long nose kw's.
 
I have been in a couple semi bad accidents. Wearing my seatbelt. Had passengers in one. Neither wearing their seatbelt. Both of them ended up out of their seats. I being belted in still had my foot on the brake. We went off the road hard, pretty sure my hands were off the wheel. Pretty sure if I had been unbelted my foot would not have stayed on the brake. All my brain power and physical strength was screaming stay on the brake.

Why is this important? Well we missed going into oncoming traffic by about 5 ft.

Second one wasnt actually an accident but a very near one. In that one I steered and braked all the way till I got stopped.

In my personal experience wearing a belt allowed me to maintain some control over the vehicle.
 
In my personal vehicle, 100% compliant. In the garbage truck at work I'm about 60%...on route in areas where I will be getting in and out often I usually leave it off. As soon as I'm going for a bit of a drive it's on though. Of the wrecks I've been in, I have always been belted and have come out OK in all.
 
thearborbarber said:
I've only cut one seatbelted dead person from a car in about 700 crashes. Even suburbans can't win against long nose kw's.
Click to expand...

Both of Shania Twain's parents died in a Suburban that hit a logging truck head on,when she was in her early teens..don't know if they were wearing seat belts or not,but it probably would not have made any difference..:(..
 
tRustyK5 said:
In my personal vehicle, 100% compliant. In the garbage truck at work I'm about 60%...on route in areas where I will be getting in and out often I usually leave it off. As soon as I'm going for a bit of a drive it's on though. Of the wrecks I've been in, I have always been belted and have come out OK in all.
Click to expand...

I think your safer in a garbage truck with or without seat belts,compared to any smaller vehicle...you'd probably be the last one to die or be injured...unless of course,you hit another garbage truck or semi..

I used to think why bother buckling up ,when I was just going across a store parking lot,or at the mall--but after seeing how fast and distracted many people drive in those places,I now put the belt on regardless of the speed I'll be going,or getting out in "just a short distance"..several people have died and been wounded at the entrance and parking lot of Walmart near my house...
 
About the only time I don't have a seatbelt on is moving a vehicle in the driveway. Heck, even put on the seatbelt when loading the K5 on the trailer. I know of several people who have died in an accident because of being ejected from the vehicle where as they likely would have just had cut and bruises if they had their seatbelt on. Working construction years ago I saw a backhoe operator put his face through the windshield going 10 mph which required about 20 stitches. If he had the seatbelt on nothing would have happened.

Just like the stories above the people I talk to that refuse to wear a seatbelt all claim they had been in an accident in which they were saved because they did not have a seatbelt on. Sure, there probably are a very, very small percentage of accidents in which not having a seatbelt is better but those are pretty rare. Also, they claim that they would have been seriously hurt or killed if they had a seatbelt on.......exactly how do they know that? Every once awhile a person gets thrown out of there car after a 70 mph roll-over and walks away, but are they willing to try their luck 9 more times. Also keep in mind these stories almost always involve a very old car. Safety standards of modern cars make it more important to wear a seatbelt.
 
diesel4me said:
I think your safer in a garbage truck with or without seat belts,compared to any smaller vehicle...you'd probably be the last one to die or be injured...unless of course,you hit another garbage truck or semi..
Click to expand...

I don't. Hitting that dashboard is gonna hurt...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest Posts

Top Bottom