Seat Belts and Driving Poll

[okarol]

One vote per person.

[Sara]

Always.  It's so dumb not to. 

[thegrammalady]

i wear mine because colorado has a seat belt law. HOWEVER..i am alive because in 1971 i wasn't wearing a seat belt when the rear break malfunctioned on the car i was riding in, causing the car to roll at 65 mph, landing on top of me. i went out the passenger window. if i had been wearing my seat belt the metal frame around the windshield would have been driven into my heart.  i wear mine, but have mixed feelings about it and it was years before i could bring myself to wear one.

[Sluff]

Nope. I don't have one on the motorcycle. I have an airbag in the car.

[jbeany]

If you ride in my car, you wear a seat belt.  My car, my rules. 

[charee]

If you ride in my car, you wear a seat belt.  My car, my rules. 

Don't know if the same over there but here in Aus if your passenger isn't wearing a seatbelt you get the fine and demerit points taken off your license so Jbeany your rules are mine to !

[Joe Paul]

In Pennsylvania they passed a new law called "Click-it or ticket". Even if it wasn't for the law we wear our belts, last September we lost a good friend, who if he was wearing his seat belt, would still be with us.

[Sara]

Nope. I don't have one on the motorcycle. I have an airbag in the car.

Don't they show more fatalities when an airbag is deployed and you're not wearing a seat belt?

[Sluff]

They have a law here too but it is my belief that it is a persons personal liberty to decide no government will take that right away from me.  I know the dangers but it's more about principal to me. I'm a lot safer in that car than the motorcycle yet there is no seatbelts on the bike.

Honda has an airbag prototype for the Goldwing. I don't see how effective it would be. I'm not saying that a seatbelt won't save lives, just as I'm not saying Helmut's don't save lives but I think , like smoking people are losing the right to decide for themselves.

[Wattle]

In Australia its law. The law is there for a reason. Our medical system is pushed to the limits already. It doesn't need the hospitals filled with car accident victims. We have a very hard hitting add campain here promoting road safety. The latest addition being - you are only allowed to drive at 40kms around schools during the drop off and pick up times. This includes schools on very busy roads. All traffic must only do 40km. The fine is $250 and the loss of three demerit points from your licence. Even if you are only doing 5kms over 40.

http://www.tacsafety.com.au/jsp/homepage/home.jsp

Seatbelt statistics in Victoria, Australia (and we have seatbelt laws)

In 2004, 37 drivers and passengers killed were unrestrained. Of these:

the majority were males (86%),
76% were involved in single vehicle crashes,
65% of fatalities occurred on rural roads,
78% occurred during high alcohol times,
59% of those killed were in crashes between the hours of 8pm and 6am, and
29 were drivers, 7 were front seat passengers and 1 was a rear seat passenger.
Many unbelted vehicle occupants killed are intoxicated. Of the 37 drivers and passengers killed in 2004 who were not wearing a seatbelt and whose BAC reading was known, 51% were intoxicated.



I understand your stance Sluff on the personal choice angle, but accidents happen through no fault of our own.

[KICKSTART]

Its the law here to belt up ! 

[Sara]

They have a law here too but it is my belief that it is a persons personal liberty to decide no government will take that right away from me.  I know the dangers but it's more about principal to me. I'm a lot safer in that car than the motorcycle yet there is no seatbelts on the bike.

Honda has an airbag prototype for the Goldwing. I don't see how effective it would be. I'm not saying that a seatbelt won't save lives, just as I'm not saying Helmut's don't save lives but I think , like smoking people are losing the right to decide for themselves.

I respect that you have your opinion, but I don't really understand it.  You'd rather risk your life for a principle?!  I mean, this is not the freedom of speech or something.  It just doesn't make sense to me.   

[kitkatz]

There is song that says "If you are coming with me you need nerves of steel." You better buckle up, too, if you are coming with me!

[Hawkeye]

In Pennsylvania they passed a new law called "Click-it or ticket"

The click it or ticket campaign is really big in Illinois and Indiana.  I have driven through several seat belt check points in the last few weeks where if they see your not wearing a seatbelt they wave you off to the side of the road and give you a ticket.  The thing is that it causes a traffic jam while they watch each car drive by so you have more than enough time to put your seatbelt on before you get to them, just to take it backoff after you drive past.

[glitter]

here in Florida we have click-it or ticket also....but motorcycle riders don't have to wear a helmet....

I too think it should be a personal choice. Not saying it isn't a good idea, but I don't like decisions taken out of my hands and made by the government. If people want to use bad judgment, it just helps clean-up the gene pool.

[skyedogrocks]

We have the click or ticket law in Massachusetts too.  I wear my seat belt all the time and would love everyone in my car to do so.  However, if they don't that is their choice.  I don't make a person put it on, I think that is wrong, it's their perogative.

We also have the helmut law on motorcycles, which I think ALL states should have.  Rob wiped out on motorcycle once and what saved his life was the helmut.

I live about 10 mins from the NH border and they just voted to not make seatbelts for people over 18 the law.  They are the only state now that doesn't have it as a law.  They also don't have the law to wear helmuts for motorcycles.  They truly take the "Live Free or Die" motto to heart.

[Sara]

If people want to use bad judgment, it just helps clean-up the gene pool.

I just hope they're organ donors. 

[Sara]

I wear my seat belt all the time and would love everyone in my car to do so.  However, if they don't that is their choice.  I don't make a person put it on, I think that is wrong, it's their perogative.

Yeah, but their broken body being thrown about the car can hurt somebody who is wearing a seat belt.

[Hephs-little-lady]

  It's law, we get fined and points on our licence if we don't. The driver is also responsible for the passengers too. Belts definately on in my car!

[skyedogrocks]

I think seatbelts should be worn too.  However, my husband would disagree.  When he was 19 his car was hit by another head on, at over 70 mph, if he had been wearing a seatbelt, he wouldn't be alive today.  It was wearing one that saved him.  Only after my urging does he now wear one.  Like I said, I believe everyone should wear one, but I can't make a person do it.

[tubes]

I always do now.  When I was 18 I was driving myself to the hospital for monthly labs and I fell asleep at the wheel.  I was about 2 blocks from the hospital.  I ended up rear ending a '99 chrysler concorde, not once but twice.  I slammed into the rear of their car, hit the windsheild fell back into my seat and hit the gas again, smacked the rear of their car and smashed into the windsheild again.  Didn't break anything but was pulling little shards of glass out of my forehead for awhile.  So I always wear mine now.  If u are a passenger in the front seat u wear your seatbelt, I don't make rear passengers.
We have the click it or ticket law here also.

[Wattle]

I don't make rear passengers.

So its o.k for them to come hurdling over the seat in an accident and hit you in the back of the head.   

For those of you who DON"T wear seatbelts. Do you restrain children who travel in your car?

[goofynina]

I don't make rear passengers.

So its o.k for them to come hurdling over the seat in an accident and hit you in the back of the head.   

For those of you who DON"T wear seatbelts. Do you restrain children who travel in your car?

What chaps my hyde is when i see the adults with seatbelts and the kids jumping around in the backseat or what is even worse, sitting on the parents laps   

[Hephs-little-lady]

A few years ago here in the UK, we had this tv ad, where the mum and sister were in the front of the car with seatbelts on and the son was in the back without one. The car crashed and the guy in the back smashed into the back of his mums seat and basically splatted her on the windscren killing her, he survived!

It was quite graphic, but I think a bit of an eye opener!

I think everyone should wear a seatbelt. By law here everyone in the car must be belted in and children must be in a suitable car seat or booster seat. (That doesn't mean everyone follows the law!)

 

[tubes]

I don't make rear passengers.

So its o.k for them to come hurdling over the seat in an accident and hit you in the back of the head.

For those of you who DON"T wear seatbelts. Do you restrain children who travel in your car?

A few years ago here in the UK, we had this tv ad, where the mum and sister were in the front of the car with seatbelts on and the son was in the back without one. The car crashed and the guy in the back smashed into the back of his mums seat and basically splatted her on the windscren killing her, he survived!

It was quite graphic, but I think a bit of an eye opener!

I think everyone should wear a seatbelt. By law here everyone in the car must be belted in and children must be in a suitable car seat or booster seat. (That doesn't mean everyone follows the law!)

 

 i'm definately rethinking my rule for rear seat passengers.  especially when I"M a passenger in the back seat.