Poll: Americans and Seatbelts
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I'm from the US and I always wear a seatbelt. The only person I've met who doesn't is a friend who was in an accident where they removed him through the trunk afterwards (he was driving) and they informed him that if he were wearing one they wouldn't have been able to get him out. Thats a personal phobia for him, but I've never met anyone else who doesn't wear them.
Narrowly avoiding a high speed crash means dealing with a whole lot of inertia, often more than the human body is capable of resisting while maintaining control of a car. So seatbelts that keep you at the wheel before a collision not only save other people's lives (and save the public money spent on rescue and recovery), they also reduce the likelihood that your car is going to spin into my lane or my living room.
So grunt about fascism on your blog, then get over it.
So grunt about fascism on your blog, then get over it.
Assuming your head isn't made of Styrofoam, any collision over 12 mph can be fatal.
You do realise that is a very dangerous and stupid thing to do? OK so you might not end up going through the windscreen but in the event of a head-on crash, there is a high probability of you involuntarily headbutting the person in front of you. This could result in serious injury or death for you, the person in front or both of you. Cars have seatbelts in the back as well as the front for a reason so BLOODY WEAR THEM!viking97 said:
Sorry mate but based on this testimony, you are an enormous pillock! It doesn't matter how short the journey is, accidents can and do happen at ANY TIME. If you really don't care enough about your own well-being then fine but please consider this:HapexIndustries said:
In the event of an accident, say a head on smash, your unrestrained body will transform into a human-shaped ballistic missile. If you are in the back, you will most likely kill the person in front of you (and maybe yourself too!) when you smack into them thanks to the wonderful miracle that is inertia. In a head-on crash, there is a good chance that you will go through the windscreen of the car you are in and right through the other car's windscreen too. The potential for serious injury / death is there and if you really can't see it / don't care then you should not be allowed anywhere near any kind of motor vehicle!
It really makes my liver fizz when people think / say that wearing a seatbelt makes you a "******" or a "pansy" or whatever. Whatever they may think it makes you, not wearing your belt makes you a certified idiot who should not be allowed to be within ten feet of a motor vehicle.
I really don't give a flying fuck if people don't give two-shits about their own lives but what so many people forget is that seatbelts are there to protect OTHER PEOPLE'S LIVES AS WELL AS THE PERSON WEARING IT!!! When driving at speed in a car that weighs several tonnes, you and the vehicle are both potentially lethal weapons, as are any passengers. The driver might not be legally required to make an adult passenger wear a seatbelt but any driver with more than 2 brain-cells should make them anyway, if not for their own sake then for other road-users.
People who don't have any consideration or respect for other road-users should not be allowed to drive because mentality is just as important as ability when driving.
And yes, I always wear my seatbelt. Not because it's the law but because of what I said above. It actually feels strange to be in a car seat without it on anyway, probably because the feel of it has become so inexorably linked with driving / being a passenger.
If people weren't such idiots (or if thick people were not allowed to drive) then wearing a seatbelt wouldn't be required by law because there'd be no reason to make it law - people'd just wear them.
And what's all this shit about "uncomfortable"? Bollocks! If they are cutting into your neck, adjust the bloody thing! Or grin and bear it - I guarantee a little neck-chafage is nothing compared to having your face scraped off by a combination of smashed windscreen and a high-speed face-to-tarmac interface!
And if you still think that razzing around without it on makes you more manly and some kind of Billy Big-Bollocks then I urge you to have a chat with my Uncle. Many years ago, when seatbelts were not law, he was involved in a bad accident on a remote road - at night. After going through the windscreen and landing chin-first on the road, he spent many hours lying inapacitated by the side of the road before someone found him and called an ambulance. He considers himself lucky to be alive and for years he had to wear a beard to hide the damage to his chin and throat. He learned his lesson the hard way and he is the first to admit it was a stupid thing to do (especially when you consider that he is now a father and a grandfather) and has the scars to prove it.
There are no if's, but's and maybe's when it comes to road-safety. Belt up or take the bus!
Wardy
I'm glad my disregard for my own safety is so indicative of who I really am, because you have quite squarely nailed it.Varrdy said:
Do I think I'm invulnerable? Maybe. Do I exist within a bubble of my own self-delusion? Probably. But I am making a choice, a choice to live dangerously and stupidly. That is my choice, for me to make, and I don't apologize or need to justify it. The question was "do you where them?" not "How do you justify being so stupid about something so obvious?" I don't think there's anything effeminate about wearing a seatbelt, and I'm not saying it's smart. It's just what I do, as I drink and drive and smoke blunts and trip my balls off all the way into town. I'm not making a safety video, I'm just being honest.
I do wear my seatbelt.
I used to think that those laws were stupid. I thought that if you were too stupid to wear it than you deserve whatever you got. But then I realized that although that works on paper, in practice it isn't very good. Consider how many people survive car wrecks, even without seatbelts, and consider how many of them require intensive care and hospitalization. The costs associated with injuries due to not wearing seatbelts make it more than worth it.
I used to think that those laws were stupid. I thought that if you were too stupid to wear it than you deserve whatever you got. But then I realized that although that works on paper, in practice it isn't very good. Consider how many people survive car wrecks, even without seatbelts, and consider how many of them require intensive care and hospitalization. The costs associated with injuries due to not wearing seatbelts make it more than worth it.
Since I haven't been in a car for about a year and not being American I voted for the Communist option.
Seatbelt saved my life.
About eight year ago me and my current Girlfriend were driving over to hers (on my birthday no less) after a night at mine. I was understandably a little sleepy (
) and just didn't put my seatbelt on for no real reason, just the old pistons upstairs weren't firing straight.
We got halfway to hers and the lights at a roundabout in the center of Bradford were out and they had traffic cops managing the flow, suddenly realising my lack of belt (and it being a law here) I starting inching it across everytime the traffic cop turned his back and stopping when he looked - kinda a game, we were just joking about.
As it turns out I had just enough time to get it all the way across and latched by the time we pulled away.
Five minutes later, a few hundred yards from her place *BANG* some dizzy bint was looking left and pulled out right, hitting us on the passenger side doing around forty.
The impact was so great my passenger side chair slid forward and I smashed my knees into the glovebox which has left me with a meniscus problem ever since.
Of course if it wasn't for the lights being out I'd've been thrown clear of the crash and my knees would've been fine.
About eight year ago me and my current Girlfriend were driving over to hers (on my birthday no less) after a night at mine. I was understandably a little sleepy (
) and just didn't put my seatbelt on for no real reason, just the old pistons upstairs weren't firing straight.We got halfway to hers and the lights at a roundabout in the center of Bradford were out and they had traffic cops managing the flow, suddenly realising my lack of belt (and it being a law here) I starting inching it across everytime the traffic cop turned his back and stopping when he looked - kinda a game, we were just joking about.
As it turns out I had just enough time to get it all the way across and latched by the time we pulled away.
Five minutes later, a few hundred yards from her place *BANG* some dizzy bint was looking left and pulled out right, hitting us on the passenger side doing around forty.
The impact was so great my passenger side chair slid forward and I smashed my knees into the glovebox which has left me with a meniscus problem ever since.
Of course if it wasn't for the lights being out I'd've been thrown clear of the crash and my knees would've been fine.
