Seatbelts

...so you were unsecured in the bunk getting tossed around & wound up with a back injury and could barely move. Your wife...same vehicle...same wreck...was wearing her seat belt, and was able to maintain enough control over the vehicle to avoid other roadway users (instead of being tossed around like a ragdoll...like you...and the truck barreling down the road with NOBODY at the controls) and she wound up hanging in the seat by the belt...no injuries. If she had a knife in her pocket, she could have cut herself out....

.....and you don't see the irony behind your anti-seatbelt stance?

I have no problem arguing the validity of the state mandating restraints being used in any other position...but the driver should ABSOLUTELY have a belt on. If for no other reason, it keeps them in the drivers seat....at the controls....the only place in the vehicle where they have a chance to influence the direction the vehicle is going or when it will stop.

 

Interesting the cop complimented her on how well she managed to crash. Lot's of people drive millions of miles without crashing. What is their secret? I don't know but I've encountered black ice and never crashed. Am I just lucky?

 

When I'm driving in a yard or inside a chem plant I do not wear a seat belt. I want to move around and see all around. And I don't believe I will get thrown thru the windshield doing 10 mph. When on the road, yes i buckle up and put down both arm rests.

 

On a very windy and rainy morning December 7 2007 I was going to work about 0400 in the morning I5 southbound to the I205 transition, got hit pretty good by a gust of wind and caused my Sportrac to fishtail. The truck was going sideways down the freeway aiming for a guardrail, t-boned into that with the rear passenger door (luckily wasn't my door or it could have crushed my hips)-- then rolled down the embankment 1.5 times landing on the roof. Truck was still running, lights all on, fuel tanks plum full. The only injury I got was when I unbuckled the seatbelt and all my weight transferred to my neck as my head was now touching the ceiling.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dgx5ahUg8Jk&list=UUBYGB7ww88lnDP9Fkv0m2GA

 

Many things boil down to a personal choice, seat belts being one.

Funny thing is, evolution has a way of weeding out those that make poor choices.

Sure, you might get in an accident wherein you survive because you didn't buckle up.
More likely is that you were saved from being thrown through the windshield in an accident, because you had that strap.

Even a severe braking incident, in a vehicle with air brakes (the lag time, you know), without even hitting anything, can toss you about greatly.
Having that belt securing you could be the only thing that saves you.

But, your choice.

Me...
I'll go with the higher odds of surviving.

 

A combination of skill, luck and a cool head.

That would be my opinion.

 

I read that the #1 cause of driver death was eviction from the vehicle,I wear mine.