Does anyone NOT wear seat belts in cars?

[bumbershoot]

My first stepdad helped out at his dad's tow truck company on the coast of CA while growing up. He saw so much that when my mom bought a '55 Chevy, he retrofitted it with seatbelts, even though the law didn't require it.

We all wear seatbelts, all the time in a moving car.

I know of ONE story that is pretty amazing, where not being restrained was better. Former friends of mine on a cartrip in their old van, their baby was hungry but baby's dad was being a jerk and refused to stop. So baby's mom took baby out of carseat and nursed baby in the front seat. They got into a car accident.

Baby's carseat flew through the windshield and was smashed to pieces, while baby was safe in mom's arms.

Many who hear that think it's an amazing story of how you're not always safe in a carseat...I think it's a very very very lucky story of how a family found out that they weren't installing their carseat correctly, without having a baby die.



Monique, it seems to be 6 and 60 in CA right now. In WA it's 8 years old or 4'9"...I personally still can't properly wear a seatbelt without it hurting my neck, and I"m 5'3", and I know what hijinks my brother and I got up to with our seatbelts on trips (without our stepdad) even though we were old enough to know better...so my guy will be in a 5 point harness until they don't make 5 point harnesses for his size anymore! Heck, I wish I had a 5 point harness!!!!!

 

[4nana]

Definitely ....we don't know anyone who doesn't buckle up!!

It's second nature for all our grands to automatically buckle when they get in anyone's car....even our 21yo.!

 

[taylor1293]

I have known many many people who have been killed in car accident getting trapped under a car.

Under a car? Wouldn't that be a reason to wear a seatbelt?

 

[happygirl]

Under a car? Wouldn't that be a reason to wear a seatbelt?

No, If it caught on fire you want to be trapped under one.

 

[lspst8]

I ALWAYS wear my seat belt .... even if I'm just driving 100 feet. I don't even think about putting it on because it is automatic -- just like breathing!

My fiance was not a seat belt wearer when we met, but he is much better at it since meeting me. I told him that if dies in a terrible car accident, I won't be sad, I will be angry if he didn't have a seatbelt on.

 

[C.Ann]

My kids do. I don't

I have known many many people who have been killed in car accident getting trapped under a car.

That is sad.. And you know what? For all the "many, many people" you know who were killed by being trapped under their car? There are likely 20,000 other people for each one that were needlessly killed because they weren't wearing a seat belt..

The best advice for you is to make a will (along with a living will - in case you end up hooked to a ventilator living like a vegetable); fill out guardianship papers for your children; and really, really beef up your life insurance.. Your children deserve at least that much - don't you think?

 

[onelilspark]

My Dad has a nasty habbit of not wearing his. He now has a car that beeps at him if it's not on He yells at it "oh shut up" and then puts it on Glad it does!

I'm glad my car beeps when the passenger isn't buckled. My boyfriend will get in my car if we're just running out to the store and won't buckle up. I'll say to him, "my car will yell at you if you don't buckle." He rolls his eyes, but it gets him to buckle, so I'm happy.

Second thing I do when I get in a car is buckle up. Which isn't always good...I'll just jump in to grab something, first thing I do is lock the door, second thing I do is throw on my seatbelt. I'll grab what I need...not even turn the car on and then have to unbuckle and unlock my door...oh well, good habbits I suppose!!

 

[amandamims1]

I wear a seatbelt in everyones car except my father in laws and my brothers. My father in law never has his seatbelts out and are always trapped under the seats. My brother has a few classic cars that just don't have seatbelts.

This is why I drive everywhere.

ETA: I drive a fairly newer SUV. It has a function where it has weight sensors in all 7 seats, which require you to buckle up. If the sensor hits, the car won't go into drive until it senses a seatbelt buckled. I've never found out what it does if someone unbuckles themself mid-driving.

 

[okeydokey]

We always do and everyone in my car is required to. My husband was in a crash before the kids were born and the seat belt saved his life.

 

[freckles and boo]

No, If it caught on fire you want to be trapped under one.

No you wouldn't. You would want to be IN YOUR SEAT so that you stand a chance of being rescued. Modern vehicles are designed to absorb the impact of collisions and to move that force around the passengers. That is why it is so freaking expensive to repair cars these days. If the passengers aren't where they are supposed to be then none of the safety features built into automobiles matter at all. Curtain airbags can't protect your head if your head isn't where it is supposed to be. If you go through a windshield crumple zones don't matter. My dad responded to probably thousands of accident scenes when I was growing up. He didn't spare us the details when he thought we needed to know something about safety. Seatbelts are non-negotiable.

 

[mrsv98]

We all do all the time. DD is 9 and going into 4th grade but still in a booster. She is 6" short of the proper height so as long as I can keep her in one I will.

Interestingly in England, it is the driver's responsibility for front seat passengers to buckle but if a car is stopped and the rear seat passengers are unbuckled, they get the ticket, not the driver.

 

[manning]

Don't know about other states but in Indiana you have to wear seat belts both front and back seats, it's the law and they will pull you over.

 

[a paper star]

Buckling my seatbelt is practically one of the first things I do when I get in the car. And I don't remember there being a time where I never did not wear it. I know it may seem uncool or take time to some people but your talking about your life here. But I guess it's their decision not mine.

 

[NEVERENOUGHWDW]

I always wear one...did before it was law.

 

[JVL1018]

I can't imagine why anyone would not wear a seatbelt.
My children wear a seatbelt ALL the time because I care about them and love them and would never want them hurt if I can prevent it.
I wear one because, among other reasons, I don't want to leave my children motherless.
I make everyone in my car wear one, regardless of where you sit because my brother showed me this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6Qhmdk4VNs
(warning-though it's not a real accident, it is a little graphic)

 

[EthansMom]

We always wear our seatbelts and use appropriate booster seats for the kids.

The law here in CT is 6 years old AND 60 lbs. for no carseat/booster seat. DS8 is still under 60 lbs. and we still make him use a booster. It's surprising how many of his peers (who should still be using a booster) I see who aren't using booster seats. Honestly, the seatbelt just hits too low on the kids' bodies without a booster.

I tell my kids how when I was their age not only did we not wear seatbelts, but carseats for babies/kids just didn't exist and we used to routinely sit in the front passenger seat (SHOTGUN!) AND we'd even climb over the center console to move from the front of the car to back (and vice versa) while Mom or Dad was driving. But then I tell them that lots more kids got hurt in car accidents back then and isn't it better to be safer in case of an accident.

 

[Deb in IA]

No, If it caught on fire you want to be trapped under one.

I don't know about you, but the last thing I would want is a flaming hunk of glass and metal on TOP of me. There would be no way for the EMT or firefighters to get to me, if I was under that. And if the car is on top of you, wouldn't you be crushed?

But actually, without a seat beat, you would have been thrown out of the car way before it caught on fire.

 

[DisneyBamaFan]

I can honestly say that I do not know a single soul who I have either driven or been driven by in the last 20 years who hasn't worn a seatbelt. Maybe things are just different up here because of the traffic, but, up here, you will get in a car accident at some point. The question is, will you be able to walk away.

I don't know what I would do if an adult didn't want to wear one in my car, but I think that I would probably make them. Unrestrained, they become projectiles in an accident...

 

[ms.yt]

I have known many many people who have been killed in car accident getting trapped under a car.

I hear people say this as an argument against seat belts, and I have to wonder, statistically, how does a person actually know several people who have perished in this manner? The number of people killed in accidents in this manner has to be small in comparison to overall accident deaths. For one person to know multiple people who have been in such an accident seems to be hard to believe.

 

[zachnsamsmommy]

I always put on my seatbelt (now), so does DH, and my kids are in age appropriate restraints (booster for older DS, carseat for younger DS).

I was one of those that never thought a wreck 'could happen to me' when I was in HS. I wore my seat belt a lot, but not all the time. I took a friend, who lived less than 2 mi from me, home one day without my belt on. I had to cross a major highway to get her home. I *thought* it was clear, but didn't look well, and pulled right out in front of a car. I was basically t-boned.

The fact I survived was a miracle according to the EMTs, that and being hit in a monstrously sized Buick Regal station wagon. My head hit thedriver side window, busted the glass out, then the windshield, and cracked it. I had to have 'layers' of stiches down to my skull, had a broken collar bone, and multiple bruises, and glass cuts on lots of my body. My neck should have been broken according to the EMTs...I think I had a higher power watching over me. I had to go to my prom with a partially shaved head, but at least was alive to go to my prom.

My point is...I should have died from not wearing my seat belt, but I got a second chance. I never go without a seat belt now, and never will ever again!