Two more people died yesterday because they were too lazy, stupid or macho to wear their seatbelts. Wear them dammit. My first wife was an EMT. She always used to say she never had to unbuckle a seat belt to pull a dead guy out of a car.

 

Its terrible, but it could be viewed as natural selection at work.

 

Of all the accident's I've ever heard of, I only know of 2 cases where the person w/o the seatbelt survived, but the person w/ died. #1 - friend of a friend was ejected (no belt), car burst into flames and the one with the belt didn't make it out. #2 - my motorcycle accident...so that doesn't really count.

Oh, I'm sure there are others, but the odds are reallllllly against you if you're not strapped in.

 

darwin... life a beach!

 

What I find amazing is that the majority of people I know who refuse to wear a seatbelt do so because they feel its safer that way. They think they're better off getting thrown from the car to avoid whatever explosion will inevitably happen. Logic, as you can tell, alludes them. Which comes back to my post about natural selection...

 

Personally i'd rather be blown to bits or burned alive and die in 5-7 seconds than be ejected from a car into a cement wall at 90 MPH and sit there with various fluids oozing out of different parts of my body... but that's just me .

On a slightly less gruesome note, seatbelts are REQUIRED in my car. I don't move until everyone has them on...

The fasten seatbelt sign is always on, as is the no smoking sign .

 

^same here..i wont move until everyone is buckled up...
here in my town a 16 year old died in a one car accident...because he was thrown out of the car and crushed by it...

as i am about to turn 16...it reallly reminds me to use my brain and wear a seatbelt when i drive!

 

seatbelts are worn by people who are much cooler than you who actually race as well.

i never understood not wearing one. It also plants you in your seat when you want to be cool and race around. A crash into a bumper in front of you at 30 mph could easily kill you when you hit the windshield or the steering column.

but... worse than death is being paralyzed. who the hell cares about not living? you are dead. no worries there. its the 50 years of being f'ked up that will make you wish you had the belt on. people die hard, people linger longer.

 

I feel naked without mine on. My Lady is an ICU nurse, she sees the results of not wearing one. It will save your life, just buckle up, it's simple to do, and it works.

 

It really amazes me this day and age when someone does not wear a seat belt. I have to admit that way back, when it became mandatory, I was rebellious at first. Now Im not comfortable (literally) without it on. Sometimes my husband gets in the car and doesnt put his on. He gets blasted in both ears (one side me, one side our daughter) until he puts it on.
Its great in the MINI because I told him it will "ding" at him 90 times!!! He doesnt have the patience for that

 

I won't start my engine until everyone is belted up.....PERIOD.

 

I can say that seatbelts are the reason I am able to drive my MINI today. My story sucks. On our honeymoon my wife and I were in a 5 time roll over. Since we were wearing our seatbelts we basically walked away from the accident. Were we not strapped in we would both be dead!

 

Governor Corzine of New Jersey was in a car accident on the Garden State Parkway last night. Right now they're saying "it appears" he was NOT wearing his seatbelt. He's in critical but stable condition with a badly broken leg, several broken ribs, broken sternum and vertebrae. He will require more surgery.

 

Would they care to look at the satistics comparing how many die by ejection or being hurled into the dash/trough the windshield versus those killed in a vehicle explosion?? Their argument is bs and they and every one knows it.

 

I think everyone should ware there seat belts but I hate that the man (government) tells me I have too.

 

He was on his way to a meeting involving Imus and the attention ***** (I mean Al Sharpton) when he was in the accident.

 

Not wearing a seatbelt and surviving a serious accident is analogous to heavy smoking and not getting cancer. While these practices don't guarantee the outcome, the statistics don't work in your favor. My Mini doesn't move until everyone is strapped in.

 

I feel the same way about helmet laws. I *always* wear my helmet when I'm on a motorcycle, regardless of whether the law requires me to or not, but I dislike the laws themselves.

 

I agree, Putz. I hate being told what to do. Especially when it's something I want to do anyway.

 

I understand your analogy, but I'd just like to point out that you usually don't have to worry about some other smoker jamming a cigarette into your mouth. You can't be so sure about another driver and his car.

 

Remember in California the month of May is click it or ticket month!

 

So, no tickets the rest of the time?

 

No. They just really look for you in May. Gotta use up that grant money from the state.

 

I totally agree here. I can't stand that the the Government (in reponse to the public's idiocy) passed laws requiring helmets (and seat belts). If the motorists don't have the common sense to wear them, then by all means just let them go about their business.

In Myrtle Beach, where I used to live, helmets aren't required, and surprisingly only about 8% of the motorcyclists actually wore them. Idiots.

 

Well, for a lot of people their only education about what cars do in a crash is Hollywood movies. If you believe Hollywood, even a fender-bender is enough to create a miniature mushroom cloud.

If you're one of those people, hear me now: cars are just not that prone to explosion. That's just movie magic. The worst you're likely to get in a typical real-world crash is some small flames under the hood, not a full-on explosion.

Wear your seatbelt. You're safer being in the car until it comes to a stop. After that, by all means get out as soon as possible if you're able to.

It's no accident that professional drivers from NASCAR, etc. do exactly that: wear seatbelt/harness, stay in car until it stops moving, afterwards exit quickly if they can do so safely. If it's good enough for pros, it's good enough for you.