Seatbelts

[elwood_p]

I Don’t like to wear seatbelts. They make me feel uncomfortable and I don’t think that they are as safe as every body lets on. Now Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying seatbelts haven’t saved lives and I’m not saying that you shouldn’t wear a seatbelt. It is the law and we all are good law abiding citizens right? But do you think that it should

Comments

[ariaben]

1) From a legal point of view, car manufacturers were under increasing pressure to make cars safer. This would have imposed a huge financial burden on the car makers, as well as car buyers, and so they lobbied with legislators to have the seat belt rule imposed as a way of reducing fatalities without adding to the cost

LAP BELT = DEAD ANDREW

[ediblemonster]

spring 1993. i'm one of 4 passengers in a chevy corsica driven by my friend jeff. i'm in the backseat, in between two other people. i am not wearing my seat belt, which is one of those lap belt deals.

jeff is going too fast, nearly hits a telephone pole. he over-correects and we cross the center line, smashing head-on into a car coming the opposite direction.

i fly from the backseat into the front windshield.

the paramedics cannot believe i did not break one single bone. i'm cut up, bruised but otherwise fine. at the hospital, after x-rays, the doctor tells me if i'd been wearing that lap belt, i would have received massive internal injuries. he said that he has seen fatalities on more that one occasion that resulted from lap belts in high-speed collisions.

Re: LAP BELT = DEAD ANDREW

[_jeremiad]

I understand what you're saying, but personal anecdotes do not apply to entire populations, unfortunately.

Everyone has their one story that is the exception to the rule. But the rule is still there.

Seat belts save lives.

very true

[ediblemonster]

that's why i always wear my seat belt :-)

i just thought it was interesting, the worst accident i was ever in, and i survived because i didn't wear the lap belt. but i think they finally decided lap belts are dangerous anyway.

Re: very true

[the_colombian]

And that's just what the doctor told ya. A doctor told my mom once that I had Leukemia. Turns out I just looked like regular white people. Shows what they know.