Why do we need seatbelts?

Maybe, kinda. Can you imagine being sued as a school bus driver because 1 kid of 50 wasn't buckled in? (It helps if you've ever been involved in a lawsuit, as plaintiff or defendant.)

Can you imagine a school bus driver trying to ensure all 50 are buckled-in, and stay that way as long as the bus is in motion?

Can you imagine the child of parents who believe wearing a seat belt is some sort of violation of their "freedom" voluntarily buckling-up?

 

Get yourself some of these. They work

http://mobile.walmart.com/ip/Custom-Accessories-2pk-Seat-Belt-Adjuster/16795121

 

Apparently PA could care less if people want to turn themselves into vegetables.

 

Same here in VA for people over 18. It's because people in the rear won't go through the windshield. The front seats will stop them. Could still get pretty messed up though.

 

Unless you're in a truck (any size) and over 21. Again, go figure.

 

This is why under some circumstances I do not wear a seatbelt...



The facts of the matter are we are driving in trucks with cabs built no more sturdy than a standard pick up truck but we are dealing with 20X the weight and many more times the inertial energy of said pick ups. Additionally our cabs have no crumple zones,air bags or any other safety features used in common passenger vehicles. You get yourself into a bad wreck and the cab will crumple into nothing in a second. Your only chance at survival is being ejected out of the vehicle.

Statistically speaking even gathering data from sources heavily biased towards seat belt use the chance of dieing with/without a seat belt are 60/40. I would argue in reality it's closer to 50/50.

Now as i mentioned earlier i do sometimes wear my seat belt and sometimes not.

I will wear my seat belt when I'm at risk of a low damage crash such as driving around a city as mentioned by the OP not wearing a seat belt can get you a bump on the head.

I will not wear my seat belt when I'm at risk of a high damage crash like listed in the picture above traveling at a high rate of speed for the reasons listed above.

I see much bashing going on this thread but little critical thinking skills being applied to the problem. Please keep that in mind if you choose to argue this as i dislike repeating myself.

 

^^^^

Nope, can't argue with that level of ridiculousness ... but I find it odd of all the images he chooses to post, he posts a 1 in 300 type of crash and ignores the other 299 types of crashes where seat belts probably would have been helpful. But whatever.

 

So you don't wear seatbelts sometimes because you feel there are situations where your only chance for survival is to be ejected. And you also feel that you can predict with some amount of accuracy when those particular accidents will occur vs when they will not. Fair enough, that's your opinion and you're entitled to it.

Of course making such a statement leads one to assume that you personally know of multiple accident cases where either drivers survived by being ejected or would have survived if they had not been wearing a belt. And naturally one would also assume the photo you've included in your post would be one of those instances. So for the sake of clarity allow me to ask you, did the driver in the photo you posted survive? And if not, do you know for a fact that the driver in the photo you posted would have survived had he or she not been wearing a belt?

 

This is actually not true, the rear seat passenger frequently kills the front seat passenger on the way to and thru the glass. I used to be a Vol Fireman and have seen this first hand. I have found vic's from the rear seat under the dash in the front .

Laws are required because normally rational people lose the ability to think when they get behind the wheel. And I have the tickets to prove it.

Was listening to the base station earlier and heard one driver tell another, Man I was fallin asleep, but Im ok now. If I was still a Vol I would have headed for the truck when I heard that. I got on the radio and offered to bring him some coffee or what ever if they pull over and take a break, was told in some rather bad language to mind my own business.


seatbelts are required because we live in a lesss than perfict world, where we allow people that should not, still be allowed to make life and death decisions that can involve you and your loved ones.

 

I personally think that if your going to target bridge pillars, seatbelt should not be required during that maneuver.

I guess in that situation a seatbelt makes no difference,