I don't want this to turn into a seatbelt debate. There is already another thread going on about it. Keep this simple and just answer the poll please.

 

My son is alive today thanks to seat belts.

 

My neighbor's son is alive because of seatbelts. He never ever wears a seat belt but for some reason he did this day. He was out driving and got in a race on the freeway (with his vette) and he lost control going 140+, hit the cement center divide. Half of his car ended up on the otherside of the freeway. He was strapped in his seat with the airbag enaged. It was a miracle he only received a bad bruise. He told me it was God looking out for him that day and from now on he wears his belts.
He was driving a Honda Accord as a repalcement but the other day he purchased a black, beat up , 1990 Vette and plans to restore it.


[Modified by jabez, 6:38 PM 5/25/2004]

 

My wife and I are both alive today because of our seatbelts. A lady made a left turn right in front of us, we were doing 55 and I swerved right to avoid her and she hit us broadside, spun us around, up an embankment, and totalled my little 74 Celica. My wife was unhurt and I got a bruise on my hip.

 

Here Is my opinion, take it as you wish.

I have seen seatbelts save many, upon many lives, yet take a very few. In the few cases that lives were taken these have been the cases.

#1 an extreme side impact. ( When the vehicle was at a dead stop and hit by a train, semi, or equivelent moving at a high rate of speed, which actually causes rupture or tear of internal vessels or organs) (99% of these type of deadly accidents will result in death anyway, even if the seatbelt was not worn.)

#2 A side impact at a high rate of speed (vehicle moving in excess of "but not limited to" 100+ mph intersecting with concrete pole, building, vehicle moving at similar rate, or other stationary object) same principal applies as above.

Within any decient amout of speed, seatbelts do save lives and airbags assist, its a proven fact. ;)

 

I don't like seatbelts, but I have a very close freind at work who claims that seatbelts saved his life.

He got a green light to cross a highway, as a truck [straight job] ran the red light into his car.
He woke up in the hospital. He's Ok now, but his bone had gone thru his leg, concusion, he has metal pins in his leg, and has intermittant pain- for the rest of his life.

He swears that seatbelts saved him from getting killed.

But, I still don't like seatbelts and rely on my on driving skills to keep me out of accidents.

 

I believe seatbelts work, don't get me wrong, I just think you should have the CHOICE. A good friend of mine was in an accident a few years back, and burned to death in his car. This was not completely due to the seatbelts, but the officers on the scene said had he NOT been wearing it, he'd have been ejected.. Not to say he wouldn't have been killed either way, just one of those 'what ifs'

I don't, but I won't pull out of my driveway if either of my girls aren't wearing theirs.. hypocrite, yeah, I guess...

 

i was driving a Mustang GT at roughly 65mph. 1977 Oldsmobile 'all-steel land yacht' going opposite direction decides to turn right in front of me. resulted in head-on collision. totaled the mustang. i walked away. it was a miracle.....


randy

 

My tail is just the opposite, i.e. I was NOT injured whild NOT wearing a seat belt (because they were not available).

When I was a kid of 16 I skidded on snow head-on at 45mph into a large oak tree; I walked away without even a sprain nor a bruise. The car required major front work though.

Today I always (well almost always) buckle up because I want to be held securely in position for some "spirited" driving when the occasion arises.

 

Its not your skills you should be worried about, its the other drivers on the road. Im shure you are a great driver, but what about the guy that pulls out in front of you on a blind corner with a 1 ton pick-up after smoking a bag of who knows what and drinking a case of beer??

 

always wear my seat belt...i put it on without realizing it...just out of habbit...i will not let anyone ride with me without putting it on either, if they will not wear it then find another ride

 

:iagree: I guess I am fortunate to have never been in a serious accident on the road. When I was a very young driver, I wore my belts sometimes. Then starting in my late 20s I raced dirt ovals for a few years. I was in one pretty bad crash on the track and numerous lesser ones. It really made me realize what would happen in a highway crash were I not buckled in. I've worn them ever since religiously. I guess mine very well may have saved my life, on the track anyway.


[Modified by Corvette Kid NC, 12:58 AM 5/26/2004]

 

I guess what scares me the most are the people who swear up and down that seatbelts don't save lives, yet go to the track and race their cars. There isn't a single legal racetrack in this country that will let you run without a seatbelt at the minimum. These same people gladly buckle up at the track. Why?

Are you more at risk on the race track? Somehow I doubt it. If you look of the statistics of people killed at race tracks vs people driving at legal speeds on public highways I think you'll see a shocking discovery.

You don't have to be speeding to get in an accident and you don't have to do anything wrong. Using your skills to avoid an accident is a great theory except there is a key word in there "ACCIDENT." I never go out planning on wrecking my car. I've had tons of close calls and none of them were at all my fault. I got lucky that I was able to react fast enough, and yes my skills did save me. That doesn't mean I'll always be that lucky.

I guess you don't really understand until it happens to you. I was riding with my brother one day many years ago and he got us into a head on collision with a barn doing about 50 MPH. My glasses flew off of my face and broke when they hit the windshield, I stayed firmly in the seat.

Lets look at the physics of that for a second. My glases are VERY light compared to any other object in the car, thus even at speed they don't have much inertia in the whole scheme of things. The friction between them and my face is enough to keep them on my head most of the time. If they had enough inertia to clear my face and not just fall off, but rather actually fly forward and hit the windshield, think about what a heavy object such as myself would have done. I don't much fancy the idea of laying bleeding on the front of the car.

Now that being said I believe seatbelts should be a personal choice. I honestly feel like if you're too blind to see that seatbelts save lives than you deserve what is coming to you. Yes there certainly can be accidents in which the seatbelt will not help you, there are even accidents where the seat belt may hurt you. However these are a FAR less percentange than those in which the seatbelt will help you. By the time you're in the accident to find out it's a little too late. The statistics show that a very strong majority of the time it would have saved your life.

Would you actively take part in a sport that says that there is a 90% chance you'll die and only a 10% change you'll live? That's basically what you're doing by driving without your seatbelt. If you wear your seatbelt you are reversing those numbers.

 

I have been involved in two major accidents where myself and passenger have been wearing seatbelts and have walked away unscathed. Both accidents wound up totalling the cars.

 

Seatbelts= :thumbs: :thumbs: :seeya

 

17 years old, 86 Renault Allicance, Head on into a metal light post going about 70. Seatbelt saved my life and my best friends.

God I hated that car...

 

Seat belts and airbags saved me and a buddy back during my earlier and much stupid-er days. Seat belts are :cool:

 

You sure this wasn't intentional :jester

 

I am probably one of very few people that has actually gotten saved by not wearing a seatbelt. Mind you I always, and I mean always buckle up.

I was 18 and driving my 69 Chevelle, right there is two things that shouldn't be mixed. I was your typical irresponsible 18 year old behind the wheel of a car I had no business driving, not to mention that I thought I was the best driver on the planet at the time.

At the time the car was 25 years old and the seat belts certainly showed their age. For those of you who have not been in a Chevelle of that vintage, you had two different belts, a retractable lap belt, and another that you folded and placed in clips above the door. I could not get the lap belt to adjust long enough to get it on and figured that I was only going to be 2 miles from home and I would be fine.

A quarter mile from my house I rolled the car (end over end no less) and the drivers side part of the roof squished down completely flat. When the car flipped I ended up on the passengers side. Had I been securely buckled in I firmly believe that you guys wouldn't be reading my long winded post now. :p:

Although this was a freak occurence, the bottom line is seat belts save lives, and the choice should be up to you to wear it.

 

Hey, I've got one of those also, despite my post above about being alive because of seatbelts.
Back in the early 70's I fell asleep driving, woke up and realized I was all the way off the road, headed down a steep embankment. I cut the wheel to the left just before I hit a tree at about 50 mph, in a '66 VW Beetle. I got out and climbed up the embankment, and someone who had seen my headlights go out came back to see if I was ok. Then, I remembered the 'stuff' I had to go get out of the car. I climbed back down the embankment, much to the amazement of the good citizens, blood streaming all over my face, to get my stash out of the car so I wouldn't get arrested later. I never was able to get the, um, butts out of the ashtray, it would no longer open far enough.
The entire passenger side of the car was demolished, and I got 6 stitches in my eyebrow, that was all.
That car didn't have them, but I've worn seatbelts ever since.