I may start wearing my seatbelt

[peternap]

I shot this last night and this isn't the most graphic footage. I spent a little time under the truck seeing if he was pinned. He wasn't, he just couldn't move.

http://news.oldva.org/?p=44356

[bayview]

   In the fall of '76 I was the first on the scene of a van rollover (2 am).   The van rolled over sideways 3-4 times to come to rest on the wheels.   He was not wearing his seatbelt.   A real mess . . .    That image has stayed with me forever.   I didn't need anything more to convince me to wear a seatbelt.   

/

[MountainDon]

That would be good for you and the grand kids, Peter.

I've worn seat belts in every vehicle I've owned since 1965. My open Jeeps had harnesses. I've been lucky never having to put them to the test in a road accident or 4 wheeling 'event'. What convinced me back then was experiencing what a person can survive when strapped into a race car that did three barrel rolls without suffering any major injuries.

Since then I have had a friend, who never wore seat belts, killed in local street accidents when they were ejected from the vehicle.

I'm also bug on helmets. I bought my first motorcycle in 1964 with a Bell helmet included. In 1968 bought one of the first full face helmets, a Bell Star with flip up wind shield.

[rick91351]

Peter, I echo MD.  I always wear a seat belt.  My dad refused to wear one and he suffered a broken neck in his eighties.  He at the time was still both very mentally and physically fit.  He however never returned to norm.  Police and the Dr.s both told me if he had wore one he would have been fine.  On Don's comment about helmets.  I never ride cycles, I do however wear a helmet on my four wheelers all the time.  Excluding just around the ranch getting from say the place the fifth wheel is parked to the orchard about a quarter mile away, it is all flat, no traffic.  If I am on the road or trail with one of them I have a helmet on.  As banged up as I have been; (Lot and lots of broken bones and stitches.)  I have come to the conclusion life is meant to be lived, and not from a hospital bed.  So I try not to provoke any more injuries.           

[SardonicSmile]

I usually don't wear a seatbelt.. mostly because of spite. I have a grudge against the seatbelt violations in this state. First offense is $25 and then every violation after the first accumulates another 25 to the fine.

Don't get me wrong.. if the weather is bad or I'm on a very busy freeway I have my seatbelt on.

I may be young, but I'll never change when it comes to my hate for excessive health and safety regulations. My mother was an extreme hypochondriac and I guess I've learned to live without worry.

[kenhill]

My 18 year old son was minding his business driving down ouir residential street at 25 mph when he rounded a tight bend to find a school bus in his lane passing a bicyclist.  No where to go but head on.  Folded the front end of a 1993 Chevy truck in half and arched the frame behind the cab.  Walked away with bruises from seat belt and the rest of his life to look forward too.  Many times your life is put in harms way by someone else and you cannot count on your own skills to save your life.  You never know when that belt will be needed in that split second.

[MountainDon]

I usually don't wear a seatbelt.. mostly because of spite. I have a grudge against the seatbelt violations in this state. First offense is $25 and then every violation after the first accumulates another 25 to the fine.

Not to pick on anyone, but I've heard things like that from a number of folks for many years. "I'll be darned if I'm going to let them tell me what to do!"

We all make our own decisions, decide on whether or not to abide by this and that. There may be monetary consequences, such as fines and so on, but there are other factors to be considered too. I realize that we are all different, our heads work in different ways. Usually mine is very ordered, logical and rational weighing the pros and cons and making a decision that is sensible to myself. That's not to say emotion and passion doesn't sometimes win out, because at times it does. I was smitten by my wife the first time I saw her, there was nothing logical, it was emotion and passion.

I was a seat belt believer before there were any laws (that I know about) that stated we should wear them or pay a fine. I clearly saw their utility in the roll over accident. The belts I used were the first generation of over the shoulder, plus lap, type that were a pain in the butt. Back then there were no inertia reels. Once buckled you couldn't lean over to the other side.

The first time I drove with my future wife I had to show her how the belt worked and had to adjust it for her. If she had balked at the idea of wearing the seat belt we would not have gone anywhere. I would have never got to first base I guess, let alone where we are today. Maybe it helped having severe accident experience at an early age. My choice to always belt up was reinforced when in the late sixties a friend spent months recovering from crash injuries when he was ejected. He was only three blocks from home. Decades later here in NM, a contractor and friend I subbed for was killed about a mile from where we both lived. He was traveling about 35 mph, well within the speed limit according to the police report. Distance away from home base has nothing to do with the likelihood of a crash, except that it may be more likely because more time is spent close to home and familiarity breeds inattention in some cases.

At 64 years of age I have no idea how many miles I have driven. A bunch. I could say. look for all those miles I've driven I've never been injured in a vehicle accident, so I probably don't need to wear a seat belt. But that would not be logical. Every time one gets behind the wheel the crap shoot starts all over, a new game every drive.

To say I don't like being told that I must do this or that just because of a disagreement on principle is not logical to me. I don't like unnecessary laws, unnecessary poking of government's nose in my business, and rail against it at times. However I do see there is value to me personally if I wear a seat belt, if I wear a helmet, if I don't talk on the cell phone when driving, etc. Let it also be noted that I use eye protection when performing certain workshop tasks, hearing protection for some things, respirators in dusty environments, push sticks for some sawing tasks, chaps when I use my chainsaw...  I still have my eyes with nicks in the goggles from splinters of steel, I have all my fingers but have cut up a few push sticks, I have most of my hearing ( I was a late starter on ear muffs), and I can still hike at 9000 feet without too much breathing difficulty, plus the chaps have a small tear where the chain slipped once. And there are no laws about those things that pertain to me as an individual. But they all seemed like a good idea. Just like wearing a seat belt.  Oh, and I don't flip model airplane propellers without a thick glove anymore. The finger tip scar illustrates why. Actually an electric starter is best, but then the old timer in me says model engines are meant to be flipped just as motorcycles are meant to be kick started.    Even big stubborn 4 stroke singles.


I once sais that people who don't wear seat belts should be left at the side of the road until everything and everyone else is taken care of. I don't really mean it, but I sort of do.    


Our 29 year old son wore a belt or child restraint from the time he was born. He'd fall asleep in his seat in the Jeep when we'd be on the roughest of 4x4 trails. It became second nature to him to wear a seat belt and it makes me happy to see that.

I hope nobody takes offense, and I'll leave the soapbox now, but I do hope that maybe somebody somewhere may rethink the value of wearing a seat belt at all times.

[SardonicSmile]

What's the point in trying to live a long time when all your time is spent trying to live a long time? 

[MountainDon]

I get to do stuff I otherwise couldn't.    It's not like I stay home hiding in a bomb shelter or something. I'd just rather not go through extensive hospital stays that I can prevent (been there, done that, a couple-three times) and I'd like to keep as many parts functional until I don't need any of them anymore at all. That day will come, but I'm in no rush. None of those mentioned precautions take away any enjoyment as far as I am concerned. Others may see things differently.

[Don_P]

message deleted

[Pox Eclipse]

I may be young, but I'll never change when it comes to my hate for excessive health and safety regulations. My mother was an extreme hypochondriac and I guess I've learned to live without worry.

So you are the reason my auto insurance is so high! 

[peternap]

As always, Don makes sense..Pox is Pox  and Don P. needs to learn that Google Cache keeps everything deleted or not.

I happen to agree with SS in principle. I don't like being told what to do either...but, I wear a helmet when Kayaking and climbing. I wear a hardhat and facemask when cutting trees and I wore a motorcycle helmet before it was law.

Since I spend most of my time where there is little or no traffic (a lot of places in the mountains it may be months before someone came along).. I'll trade off some of my seatbelt law protest so I don't spend my last time on this earth pinned under my truck.

Here's what I didn't show. The truck was still smoking when I got there and three of the kids in it were down. All had been thrown from it.
I had a pencil camera on when I crawled under the truck to see if the one kid was pinned. He was bleeding from his ears, had a bad cut on the back of his neck and a crushed hand.

The next kid had a compound fracture of his arm and the bone was sticking out near the elbow. He was up and moving. He wanted his glasses and a Cigarette. My wife found his glasses and I got him away from the truck and gave him one.
The next one was down and from the angle of his head, had a broken neck. The last one was scuffed up and other than being unconscious, looked OK.

The truck wasn't in any danger of catching fire and I had gotten the Fire Extinguisher out just in case.... and there wasn't anything I could do with those injuries, so I got the other camera and started taking real video.

People stopped and stood around looking scared, after 15 minutes the Sheriff's Dept showed and walked around looking snotty. A nurse stopped and did what she could and finally, the paramedics showed.

The bottom line is, you need to take care of yourself because no one else will. I really had to laugh at the first cop on the scene. He asked the unconscious kid under the truck, if he was OK.

[rick91351]

Wow Peter I love your line:  The bottom line is, you need to take care of yourself because no one else will.

[zion-diy]

I usually don't wear a seatbelt.. mostly because of spite. I have a grudge against the seatbelt violations in this state. First offense is $25 and then every violation after the first accumulates another 25 to the fine.

Don't get me wrong.. if the weather is bad or I'm on a very busy freeway I have my seatbelt on.

I may be young, but I'll never change when it comes to my hate for excessive health and safety regulations. My mother was an extreme hypochondriac and I guess I've learned to live without worry.

I hear you. while living out west, I was ticketed for a seatbelt violation. I had cut the shoulder belt off my 78 chevy pickup. still wore the lap belt, but that wasn't good enough. Funny thing, my 73 chevy pickup only had seat belts. no shoulder strap, from the factory. same exact cab. I still think most of these laws are strickly money grabs. they don't really care about your safety. Same with helmet laws. I have ridden motorcycles since I was 15. (now 64) only wear a helmet when I ride in a state with mandatory laws. I get tired of hearing the old arguement about veggie bikers costing taxpayers all kinds of money. I'll make this wager with anyone who thinks taxpayers foot too much of the bill. Go to the nearest welfare apartment in your town, and figure how much taxpayer dollars are spent there. I'll guarentee it will be more money spent in that one town, than all the money spent on injured bikers in the whole country.
Ok, climbing off my soapbox now. just my 2 cents.

[Woodsrule]

Don't really care about the particular laws in each state regarding seat belts. I am a retired cop and saw hundreds of serious crashes and dozens of fatalities. Each fatal car wreck shared one thing - the victim was not wearing a seat belt. I never saw a dead person in a car with a seat belt on. If they are good enough for our children they are good enough for us adults. Just my .02 cents.

[dug]

If they are good enough for our children they are good enough for us adults.

I don't agree with it (seat belts) being mandatory, but there is no doubt they work. I wear mine for my kids sake.

[glenn kangiser]

I do not like the law making it mandatory but I do it to keep from becoming all squishy some day.

Thanks to my seat belt I was able to watch the sparks flying off the top left corner of my car while sliding down the freeway upside down when I was about 18.  That probably looked real stupid...

[zion-diy]

glenn, been there, done that. but, that coin has two sides. mine was without seatbelts. 3 people walked away with just minor scratches.

[glenn kangiser]

That was a great looking old car once, it looks like.

It sometimes works  that way and sometimes the seat belt makes things worse but most of the odds favor us faring best if we are strapped in the seat.

I installed roll bars on Caterpillar type tractors for six years and one of the things they stressed was not getting thrown out and rolled over.

[John Raabe]

It's just a good habit to get into, kinda like brushing your teeth. Get in the car, put on the seatbelt. End of story.

Then you don't have to think about it. Your chances of staying alive are greatly increased by that simple act.

Would we not consider it a bit immature if our kids refused to brush their teeth because they don't like "stupid rules"?

[glenn kangiser]

[ouch]    I  still don't like stupid rules though, John. 

I have to justify following them by making it my idea to follow them because some things are easier to do alive and un-mangled..... not because they told me I have to... 



...that may interfere with my ability to follow the rule if they tell me I have to....

[zion-diy]

[ouch]    I  still don't like stupid rules though, John. 

I have to justify following them by making it my idea to follow them because some things are easier to do alive and un-mangled..... not because they told me I have to... 



...that may interfere with my ability to follow the rule if they tell me I have to....

I second that.

[glenn kangiser]

[John Raabe]

Do your own thinking, Absolutely!

Following rules blindly is just as stupid as reacting against them blindly. Either way produces a predicable knee-jerk reaction.

Better to be more unpredictable, slowing down and questioning habitual thinking can disconnect the knee and the jerk.