do you wear your seatbelt?

 

always man, its a habit now. always was actually.

ROger

 

Yes, why wouldn't you?

 

of course i do. i was just curious and asked, because i counted the amount of modified cars to see if there drivers wore them, and no-sb beat sb 7 to 2.

 

I always wear mine, I feel naked without it. I dont think there should be a law mandating that you wear one. If you are stupid enough not to wear it all the time, you deserve what happens to you if you get hurt. that's my $0.02.

 

j/k...
i always wear mine...
and insist that all passengers do as well...
(don't need any flying projectiles if the unexpected happens!)

 

I sure do! and now its a law in NJ, don't need any(more) tickets!!

 

I feel like I'm flopping around the car w/o it, even when driving to the mailbox in my apartments.

 

...laws in all Canadian provinces require seatbelts be worn, with hefty fines for offenders. In fact, cops will quite often set up spot checks in the most unlikely places to nab violators. Interestingly enough, when car manufacturers first began installing AIRBAGS, the air bag was engineered on the basis of typical driving habits of the U.S. driver,which is a male over 5' 10", and one who doesnt wear a seatbelt, as most U. S. drivers DONT. Of course, what they found was that for your average CANADIAN who does wear a seatbelt, the force of the first generation airbags was doing more harm than good. Essentially, first gen airbags were designed for the motoring public who werent buckling up and driving safely. People who routinely buckle up would likely be much safer without an airbag at all. Case in point: a few months ago, a woman in Toronto was stopped at a light, rear ended, and then pushed into the car in front of her. This low speed impact would under most circumstances not have harmed her. The air bag KILLED her! And of course, as with the average heighted female, she needed to be closer to the wheel than the prescribed safe distance in airbag active cars. If you have a car with airbags in the seats, have you ever read all of the DONTS on the DONt list..ie: dont rest your arm on the door ledge, Dont rest your body on the door,etc etc. It's also interesting to take note of how many dealers will de-activate your airbag for you vs. those who have been told by the manufacturer that they are not allowed to do so under any cricumstances. Find the right dealer, and he will do it for you. If your wearing a seatblet, you DONT need to have your face or arm ripped off or burned off by an airbag!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Airbags only work in a miniscule percentage of frontal accidents. Most accidents dont involve frontal impacts. So what we are all living with is a mini time bomb waiting to go off in our faces. Personally I'm having mine deactivated and sticking with the seatbelts!

 

If I dont have a seat belt on, I feel like somethings wrong! The car just doesnt feel right.

 

I agree with some of the other guys here...I feel naked without the belt on......plus I've was a front seat passenger in a VW Jetta that was rear ended pretty hard a few years ago....I'm convinced that the belt prevented a much more serious injury than just being shaken up...

 

At all times. Does not feel right without it.

 

...when i back out of the garage to wash my car.

 

I do only on long trips. I don't if I'm just riding around town errand running,etc.

 

Originally posted by LeoB:
>>laws in all Canadian provinces require seatbelts be worn, with hefty fines for offenders. In fact, cops will quite often set up spot checks in the most unlikely places to nab violators.<<

49 US states, plus the District of Columbia have seatbelt use laws. 13 states have "Primary Enforcement", which means a law officer can pull you over and give you a ticket if they see you're not wearing a seatbelt. I don't know about other states, but where I live, in California, I know that the fine given to a friend who forgot to wear his belt was about $285.00.

>>Interestingly enough, when car manufacturers first began installing AIRBAGS, the air bag was engineered on the basis of typical driving habits of the U.S. driver,which is a male over 5' 10", and one who doesnt wear a seatbelt, as most U. S. drivers DONT.<<

I'd like to see some CURRENT data on this. In US states where the seatbelt use laws were upgrades from secondary to primary enforcement, the percentages of people who were wearing belts went up significantly. In California's case, it went from 70 percent useage to 90 percent. Also, airbags are and always have been engineered as SUPPLEMENTAL RESTRAINTS. In the 1960's when they were being engineered by Mercedes Benz, the USA was the largest consumer of cars, and was just starting to include seatbelts as OPTIONS. They weren't standard on ALL cars until the 1970's. Only a few European/Swedish cars offered seatbelts at that time.

>>Of course, what they found was that for your average CANADIAN who does wear a seatbelt, the force of the first generation airbags was doing more harm than good.<<

If you'd look at the http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov, you'd also see that it's happened to people in the USA as well, NOT just to "average" Canadians.

>>Essentially, first gen airbags were designed for the motoring public who werent buckling up and driving safely.<<

Again, I don't believe they were designed for anything other than SUPPLEMENTAL safety. You may mean that they were tested by using dummies that weren't buckled up and rammed into a static object at 35mph - look, when airbags were first thought up, dashboards and steering wheels were very hard, and in some cases the steering columns didn't collapse. The bags were to help with the head and chest injuries. I've never seen any auto manufacturer's reference to an airbag as a substitute for a belt.

>>People who routinely buckle up would likely be much safer without an airbag at all. Case in point: a few months ago, a woman in Toronto was stopped at a light, rear ended, and then pushed into the car in front of her. This low speed impact would under most circumstances not have harmed her. The air bag KILLED her! And of course, as with the average heighted female, she needed to be closer to the wheel than the prescribed safe distance in airbag active cars. If you have a car with airbags in the seats, have you ever read all of the DONTS on the DONt list..ie: dont rest your arm on the door ledge, Dont rest your body on the door,etc etc. It's also interesting to take note of how many dealers will de-activate your airbag for you vs. those who have been told by the manufacturer that they are not allowed to do so under any cricumstances. Find the right dealer, and he will do it for you. If your wearing a seatblet, you DONT need to have your face or arm ripped off or burned off by an airbag!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Airbags only work in a miniscule percentage of frontal accidents. Most accidents dont involve frontal impacts. So what we are all living with is a mini time bomb waiting to go off in our faces. Personally I'm having mine deactivated and sticking with the seatbelts!<<

This is why there are airbag defeat switches on many cars, the result of a movement that started in the 1980's - in the USA, after a child was killed from the force of an airback that deployed in a low speed impact. Many dealers will be more than happy to defeat a passenger airbag if you are willling to sign a waiver. The manufacturers are legally required to have the airbags there, which is why many of them won't give a dealer permission to deactivate them, but they'll also tell a dealer how to do it. There are laws on the books for this defeat switch to be mandatory in all cars within a few years.

I know it's trendy to blame the USA for many things - heck, we deserve blame for many things, but I think your facts are about a decade out of date, and that because of the the US agencies like NHTSA, DOT and the Insurance Crash Safety Institute, all of our cars are safer.

 

always!
its the most hippest hoppest thing to do =P

 

I always wear my seatbelt. Since I was a little kid I always had to have it on before the car would move (thanks mom). I totaled my work car (Sentra) and all I got was 2 small burns from the airbag (right forearm and right thigh). All went away. I believe that the seatbelt helped me more that the airbag. I really believe in their effectiveness.

 

..whether or not you feel "safer" with or without an airbag. And whether or not you trust a significant number of auto manufacturers who are still unwilling to provide the public with detailed information about their airbag products, such as type of propellants used; deployment patterns, velocities; etc.
The data I have been looking at suggests that U.S. drivers wear their belts anywhere from 20 percent of the time to 70 percent,whereas in Canada it's 97 percent. I dont think this has anything to do with trendy-blame the U.S type stuff. Lets not be defensive. On the whole, drivers in various countries DO drive differently, and Canadians are way safer drivers than not only U.S. drivers, but also way less aggressive than South American or European drivers. These differences are reflected in country by country per capita accident and automobile death rates. If you figure that the data I'm using is 10 years out of date, what does that say about the safety of passengers driving around in airbag laden cars made in the past 10 years? It's not a pretty picture. I would never blame my friendly neighbours to the south for anything, but hey, I know why I have never purchased a "big 3" automobile. But thats a whole different kettle of fish

 

since at least '86
rarely in the back seat though unless either we've put down a few beers or the driver just sucks.

 

Originally posted by LeoB:

>>whether or not you feel "safer" with or without an airbag. And whether or not you trust a significant number of auto manufacturers who are still unwilling to provide the public with detailed information about their airbag products, such as type of propellants used; deployment patterns, velocities; etc.<<

What I meant was that because of the agencies, the cars are safer, not because of airbags. I don't believe airbags are useful or appropriate in all situations.

>>The data I have been looking at suggests that U.S. drivers wear their belts anywhere from 20 percent of the time to 70 percent,whereas in Canada it's 97 percent. I dont think this has anything to do with trendy-blame the U.S type stuff. Lets not be defensive.<<

At the risk of sounding defensive, I believe the percentages in the USA are higher than that, at least in the last two years.

>>On the whole, drivers in various countries DO drive differently, and Canadians are way safer drivers than not only U.S. drivers, but also way less aggressive than South American or European drivers. These differences are reflected in country by country per capita accident and automobile death rates.<<

I agree that there are fewer highway fatalities in Canada. The people who talk about "roadkills" on this forum really disappoint me, since they all appear to be USA residents.

>>If you figure that the data I'm using is 10 years out of date, what does that say about the safety of passengers driving around in airbag laden cars made in the past 10 years? It's not a pretty picture.<<

I was referring to the data on the seatbelt useage. Obviously, airbags are a sore spot with you, and I pretty much feel the same way about them. My daily driver is a 12 year old vehicle without airbags, and I feel safe.

>>I would never blame my friendly neighbours to the south for anything, but hey, I know why I have never purchased a "big 3" automobile. But thats a whole different kettle of fish<<

Well, my comment about blame was probably off the mark - I probably read more into your post than you intended to make, but when I first read your post, it seemed that your assertions and tone could be distilled down to: "Drivers in the USA don't wear seatbelts, and because of this airbags are dangerous."

I don't disagree with the airbag issues, but I feel the USA seatbelt statistics you cited are lower than current stats.

 

close to home VS on the highway, I would suggest you re-evaluate your priorities regarding seat belts. When not wearing seatbelts, you would be absolutely amazed how little speed can result in serious bodily injury. Consider two cars only going 30mph BUT THEY ARE GOING TOWARD EACH OTHER.

 

a few years back we were traveling on an icy road and a buddy of mine was driving and he lost control and we hit a tree going appx 40 mph. i had 3 broken ribs, a punctured lung, a collapsed lung, ruptured spleen, nerve damage in my back and leg which caused me not to be able to walk for a year, and an absessed kidney. all those injuries came mostly from the force of the seatbelt jarring me, however that same night there were a few accidents that were brought into the ER where guys didnt have a seatbelt on and they flew thru the windshield and smacked the tree they hit and 1 died and the other is now a vegetable. so yeah even the seatbelt has its flaws, but for the most part its a life-saver, heck it saved mine

 

The comment about the "Big 3" auto manufacturers in the U.S. was not intended as a disparaging one to the U.S. citizenry. Aside from the Big THREE, I would never consider buying a Volvo, VW, Mitsubishi, Fiat, Peugot, Saab, Alfa..and the list goes on

Maxima's rule ! )

 

Its been a law in NJ for a LOOOOOOOOOONG time...

Its just that NOW they can pull you over JUST for not wearing your seatbelt...whereas before there had to be another reason to pull you over.

If you ask me...that gives the officers TOO much discretion...now they can just pull over anyone for any reason and say... "Oh! I saw him pass by and i noticed he didnt have on his seatbelt. THATS how i found the 5 lbs of marijuana stuffed in a dufflebag up in the underside of the dashboard."