I was never saying anything about wearing a seatbelt makes you a good or bad driver. I was saying bad drivers are bad and good are good regardless of a seatbelt. You just assumed it I guess. And as far as people not caring about themselves which means they don't care about others wellbeing. Sure it may be true for some people but I doesn't mean everyone that does wear a seatbelt is that way. I don't do anything that could be considered dangerous to others while I drive, well maybe one thing but that's debatable. (It'll be down below) I mean its not like I go around trying to do anything stupid in my car. That's why I think the seatbelt thing is dumb. If I drive the speed limit and all that other jazz, the only one at risk is me. Now do that other debatable thing. I have an automatic, but I drive with two feet. One on gas and the other on the brake. That's how I've always played driving games as a kid with the steering wheel and pedal controllers. It's just easier and to me is safer. It's easier to push down with my left foot then move my right to the pedal. Though I tell people this and they react like I murdered someone.
I didn't assume anything actually, I know what you said. I don't agree with it, as to why I am responding like I am. I am well aware there are probably people who don't wear a seatbelt and are probably some of the best drivers ever. I'm condensing a population of people who do not use a seatbelt. There will always be those few who skew from what could be expected of ANY given topic. I don't wish to state that you are a bad driver, I never tried to claim that since there are always exceptions. I'm just stating what I've observed and mostly what makes sense in my mind. After all this is a thread of gathering opinions, and that's really all that I can give.
Ah, well then I guess that is that. You disagree with me and I disagree with you. It's the circle of life. Twas fun though, I do enjoy a good 'ol whatever this was. It just makes time fly, lets me learn some stuffs.
Indeed, I do hope no hard feelings were made though. It certainly has passed some time, as I've just noticed how early it has gotten for me.
Not at all. I really didn't expect anyone to agree with me anyway. I'll just wait here for another to post so I can bother them with my silly ideas.
I agree that it should be a choice. When I'm a passenger, I wear a seatbelt about half the time. When I drive, I always wear it. On an emotional note, my older brother was killed in a car accident 17 years ago because of a seatbelt. I can't directly blame the seatbelt, but from everything I heard, he would have had a much better chance of surviving if he hadn't been wearing it. I'm sure in more cases than not, it's helpful, so I'll always wear it when driving. Bottom line, I think someone's concern for their own safety is their business. The way I see it, it's extremely rare for other people to be put in danger because of someone else not wearing their seatbelt.
I agree with Saikyo. Basically same reason why climbing on outside of a building is illegal in most of the world, or paragliding without license and training. Yes, you are putting yourself in danger more, but if you wanna kill yourself (which there shouldn't be any reason for killing yourself), then there are easier ways. It's 2 seconds of work (unless you have LFA), and it's keeping you from, at best scenario, hitting your head into steering wheel. It doesn't even have to be your fault, you can be excellent driver, but it can be someone else who causes the crash. For same reason, using mobile phones while driving is banned in Croatia. At least governments are trying to teach people some habits to keep them alive (if people are ignorant and "wanna be cool not wearing a seatblet" (although, I don't know a person that would consider that cool, but rather stupid) ).
I'm skimming through this threat and I'm a little bit surprised no one mentioned this: Has anyone considered that when people get hurt, like in an accident, that it costs the state money? Like, they have to send people out to the scene of the accident, if people are hurt then they have to get them to the emergency room. This is the real reason why we have laws preventing stupid behavior, because then the government has to clean it up and it's not all that cheap. It's like, over $100 for the ambulance ride to the hospital, at least in S. California. Now, serious problems and accidents do happen. Ones that result in people needing to be taken to the hospital and that's a good thing. But, if wearing a seatbelt can prevent small accidents from turning into major accidents, and it takes just a few seconds to put it on, then why shouldn't it be the law?
I don't think it should be a law. I feel the same way about helmet laws. I wear my seat belt and I would wear a helmet if I rode a motorcycle but requiring it by law is like requiring people to wear a mitt when they use the oven. I figure, if you decide to take the risk, then you are holding yourself responsible for the results.
I like when cops use the excuse that they're trying to protect people on the road like they actual care. Always makes me chuckle. Getting a huge ticket for something as minor as not wearing a seatbelt is ridiculous, even more so than getting one for a busted tail light. A simple warning would suffice. I always wear my seatbelt when driving anyways, so I guess it really doesn't make a difference to me in the end.
Exactly this. I have two firefighters in my family, a paramedic and a nurse. One of my good friends' mom is also a nurse. I've both heard about as well as personally been there and seen some really gruesome car accidents where people were not wearing a seatbelt. As much as I'm tempted to detail some of these stories so you guys know what awaits should you be involved in an accident while not wearing a seatbelt, they are far, far too graphic for this site. Suffice it to say that it is no joke, please wear a seatbelt at all times. *There is one I can tell you about that is tame enough for this site. Last year one of my best friends (the one whos mom is a nurse) and his girlfriend got into an accident last year. A woman in an SUV pulled out in front of him while he was going about 50mph and he couldn't stop the car before hitting her broadside. Luckily they both survived relatively unscathed, although they were both pretty banged up. However, he was wearing seatbelt and she wasn't, so she got thrown underneath the dash and ended up a good amount more beat up than him. Had he hit that woman harder and the front end of the car had crumpled more, there is a very good possibility his girlfriend would have been crushed. That same kids father not three years before was involved in a head on collision with another vehicle whos driver was drunk. His dad was wearing his seatbelt and survived, although he was in critical condition for a few days. The other driver was not wearing his seatbelt. He died on impact. I have many, many more stories to tell but like I said, most of them are nowhere close to being appropriate for this site. I'm not saying that a seatbelt garantees that you'll survive a car accident, a seatbelt can only do so much. I've personally seen two crashes where the people were wearing their seatbelts and died anyway. But for all the times where a seatbelt can make the difference between life and death, it's worth wearing. I personally used to never wear one, but after having friends and family involved in accidents, and after having seen all the **** I've seen, I wear one all the time now. It takes two seconds to put on and you get used to it after awhile - and when the difference between wearing one and not wearing one is the difference between you and your buddies joking about it later or being crippled or dead, it's worth the two second annoyance. I don't care what the law is, I wear a seatbelt every single time I get into a car. This is exactly the type of thinking that lead to it being made into a law. To save people from themselves. Like I said, I used to never wear a seatbelt either. I used to think that it was my own life to gamble with, **** da police, all of that. But that was before it became REAL to me, before I saw what can happen to a human body subjected to massive amounts of blunt force trauma. Before people I knew were involved in serious accidents, before It really hit home that this could happen to ME. Most people have not seen those things first hand, they haven't experienced it. So they are emotionally and mentally disconnected from the consequences. It's the difference between having someone explain to you what skydiving or childbirth is like and actually having experienced it for yourself. You can't possibly wrap your head around the concept, you cannot feel the full range of emotions, memories and images that you carry with you years later...until you've been there. And until you do, it will always seem 'unreal' to you, and you will continue to be disconnected from the horrible reality of it. So they made it into law, so you don't have to find out the hard way. Be thankful for it.
I just put on my seat belt, regardless. Its a habit and a good one. Heh. I have one rule in my car and it goes for family and friends. If your gonna get in my car, you best have a seat belt on or I put the car in park till you do. I don't feel like paying a ticket and getting points over ignorance.
If the seatbelt is so important, how come buses don't use them. I assume its a fire safety thing. A bus seems like a equally bad place to be without a seatbelt. All those bodies that could go flying around or whatever. If a seatbelt is so good it needs a law to enforce its law then why do greater dangers exist on the road. Like speeding, cars are built with the ability to travel over 100 MPH usually. Does a car need to go that fast? I drive the speed limit and I've notice that 75% of the people I drive on the road with speed. That is an active choice, people know they are speeding and it seems to me to be a bigger risk then a person obeying the speed limit but not wearing a seatbelt. Talking on a cell phone is illegal in Maryland, but its a secondary offense. So you have to do something else wrong to get pulled over and get a ticket for it. It's proven that talking and driving is dangerous. So why is it not a primary offense. I know there is no way to remove the cell phone to drive but that would make things safer. Once again though, that person is more dangerous then a person with no seatbelt. Or smoking, that's allowed as people drive. Maybe part of it falls on your leg while drive and you swerve. That sounds more dangerous as well. Drinking and driving, the only stop for that is friends or getting pulled over. Why aren't breathalyzers in cars, it would only take a few seconds to blow into. Since I've been driving for the last 5 years I've seen people on the highway reading and doing make up. That is more dangerous then a seatbelt. So lets take all the above. You have one person that obeys all other traffic laws but doesn't wear a seatbelt and one of all the others (drunk driver, cell phone and so on). In that scenario which person would you rather be near on the highway? I assume the seatbelt person because they are a risk to anyone but themselves. Sure something could happen by chance that would cause the seatbelt person to wreck but the others are a bigger threat. As far as a seatbelt helping during a wreck, yeah it probably does help. It's the persons choice to take that risk. Accidents can happen at any point at any time. That's at least how I see it and why I see the seatbelt law as unnecessary
It's one of those "costs exceeds benefits" kinda things. Seatbelts add anywhere from $8,000 to $15,000 to the cost of a new schoolbus. Fewer children would need to be accommodated to each row which can cause issues for large schools. Some other reasons too but those are the most significant. Schoolbus fatalities are rare, and it's debatable whether a seatbelt would protect the child inside a bus. Only time I could see serious injury occur is if the bus were to violently overturn or something of that nature. This is a good point, I would say it's significantly more dangerous to drive with a cellphone in hand. This should be illegal in every state IMO. As for why cars are built to go high speeds and not limited to say 70-80 MPH is because that brand would sell like s*** if they did that. Nobody wants to buy an overglorified golf cart. Or one of those tin-can smart cars. I wouldn't mind making smoking and driving illegal either. Smoking sucks, and that is a risk, especially if you're wearing shorts. Not sure what the drink driving laws are in Maryland but in NY it's a hefty fine + license revocation or suspension (this is generally speaking, depending on if DWI or DWAI and if you had a previous one, lots of variations with fines and whatnot). Also I went back and read the things I said in this thread before, wow do I sound like an ass...I didn't realize how generalizing of people I was being.
