Do you buckle up?

[EJS2016]

Every single time.
It only takes a few seconds to fasten the belt.
A life-changing or life-ending catastrophic accident can happen in a split second.
Worked Trauma ICU for about 5 years in the early '90s...saw too many mangled bodies and shattered lives.
And besides, it's the law.
Please safe out there everyone.

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[Norm Peterson]

What hasn't been acknowledged so far is that even the OE 3-point belts will hold you in place behind the steering wheel better than nothing at all (even though they will slacken a little by design intent as an OE mfr concession to normal-driving comfort).

Any belting at all means you're using the steering wheel more for controlling where you're going and less as an "oh shit" grab handle when a driving situation suddenly heads for the toilet.

It's a requirement at autocross (where speeds are generally highway speed and lower and incidents rare) and at track days (where everybody is going the same direction driving in predictable fashion and where passing in most run groups is by courteous point-by); why wouldn't you wear it when you're out in traffic that's far less predictable in any good way?


Norm

 

[Earlsays]

Always have, always will, was never a question, grew up in seat belt required times, and even with that in mind, still seen PLENTY of idiots out there driving without them, citing things like not being able to exit the vehicle after a crash - I feel like, if that's the case, then it's just your time...you would've been tossed around and crushed and killed, but instead, you survived only to not be able to exit the vehicle....point is, in that situation, you may have been destined to die at that point regardless...but that's speculation.

Seems to me that most of the people I have known who have been die hard non users of seat belts, seem to have quite the narcissistic streak to them as well, so maybe that is part of it...they're too talented to get hurt...famous last words, hold my beer and watch this shit...

 

[HISSMAN]

I can't remember a second of my life once I started driving that I haven't worn a seatbelt. Now, growing up, I would just roll around in the back of the station wagon.

 

[terryz]

I don't see how such a question worths asking...

 

[tom_sprecher]

After surviving two high speed (80 mph) wrecks racing at Road Atlanta involving concrete walls that totaled the car I would wear a 6 point harness if the car came so equipped.

 

[Norm Peterson]

I don't see how such a question worths asking...

It's easier to understand when you went many years riding in cars that had no seat belts at all. And that when they first became widely available, not everybody rushed to embrace the then-new safety technology. Among the people in that segment there will still be a few who are comfortable enough not buckling up every single time.

Now that seat belt technology is older than the memory of majority of this and most other sites' members, I can expect most of the younger members to not understand this at all, since they almost certainly haven't known any different. Younger here being anybody not yet eligible for membership in AARP (age 50).

I'm not saying I think that answering OP's question in the negative is the right message to send, only that for some individuals that's just the way their outlook runs and was their individual life choice.


Norm

 

[Rough Hollow Man]

Only people that believe that the "laws of physics" don't apply to them don't wear their seat belts. Such a person, such as Princess Di, would be alive today had she been wearing one!

 

[terryz]

It's easier to understand when you went many years riding in cars that had no seat belts at all. And that when they first became widely available, not everybody rushed to embrace the then-new safety technology. Among the people in that segment there will still be a few who are comfortable enough not buckling up every single time.

Now that seat belt technology is older than the memory of majority of this and most other sites' members, I can expect most of the younger members to not understand this at all, since they almost certainly haven't known any different. Younger here being anybody not yet eligible for membership in AARP (age 50).

I'm not saying I think that answering OP's question in the negative is the right message to send, only that for some individuals that's just the way their outlook runs and was their individual life choice.


Norm

That's fair, I see your point that ppl from that era had the choice and chose to not wear since then.

Still, the benefit far outweighs the slight inconvenince, specially for those aforementioned ppl who have passed their physical prime and need extra protection.

 

[tom_sprecher]

<<< eligible but not paying for it.

 

[SWETRID]

I always buckle up now. I actually flipped my 89 LX 5.0L end over end multiple times and went thru the windshield. I was lucky to be alive without the seatbelt.

 

[Norm Peterson]

That's fair, I see your point that ppl from that era had the choice and chose to not wear since then.

Still, the benefit far outweighs the slight inconvenince, specially for those aforementioned ppl who have passed their physical prime and need extra protection.

We didn't start out even having the choice to wear them simply because the belts themselves didn't exist (except perhaps as rarities from very early attempts). Call that part of the 'old normal', that also included rigid steering columns, totally unpadded dashboards, single piston brake master cylinders, and single-pivot rearview mirrors.

Basically, you either accepted the risks or you didn't drive.


Norm

 

[ranger56528]

Started wearing my seatbelt every day when I brought my daughter home from the hospital the day after she was born back in 1983,figured if the baby needed to be buckled in so do I,don't put a vehicle in drive without buckling up now it's just a normal thing to do.


On a side note.....If I would of been wearing my seatbelt back in Nov 1978 I would of been crushed in the car as it rolled(I was a passenger)I was thrown out and survived but badly injured.....

 

[Heardcuh]

Always

 

[brandonsmash]

Absolutely. The only exception is if I'm moving a car a very short distance.

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