What convinces you the most to wear your seat belts?

[Deja Q]

:shrug:

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. 10 years of EMS

and seeing the results of not wearing them, first hand. Scraping many off the road

[Deja Q]

4. Aw shucks! I was trying to keep reality out of it!

(the $1000 choice being pure tokenism...)

It is a sorry sight to see, I agree...

But with Star Trek, they travel at warp 8 and something *stops* them. Everybody tumbles over yet nobody gets turned into jello... :shrug:

[hunter]

60. The Inertial dampers on starships...

...are designed to shake the crew around a bit when the ship is taking damaging blows. Otherwise the crew gets complacent, and next thing you know, they are all plasma mush.

It is better that one or two redshirts get maimed when the deck starts shaking than to have an entire ship suddenly destroyed. A guy who has had his head stuffed through a viewscreen will remember next time not to play so rough with starfleet property.

Is that the kind of reality you were looking for?

[eileen from OH]

17. Mine's similar. . .

Had an acquaintance - a real stunner with a singing voice like an angel. ALWAYS wore her seat belt, as I understand - except while on a road trip with her husband she unhooked to reach back and get a map. You can figure the rest. She is now paralyzed from the chest down. I always, always, always buckle up and never so much as backed the car out of the driveway without my kids secured. (A pet peeve of mine is seeing that, even now, parents still let their kids ride unrestrained.)

eileen from OH

[1monster]

24. My pet peeve is the parents who allow their children to ride in the open

bacls of pick-up trucks. It's illegal and serious child endangerment, but I'v seen FHP, County Sheriff's and City Police pass these law breakers and never so much as flash their lights at them.

[havocmom]

42. Brother was a paramedic in Southern California for years

and I had to watch him try and come back after bad calls. He used to call my daughter (a tot then) over to him and sort of encircle her with his arms and tuck her under his chin like he wanted to make sure she was safe. She seemed to know 'Uncie' just needed her to be near and she hugged him back until he could speak again.

Never want to make somebody have to feel like he did on those bad days.

[trogdor]

45. How about lots of wrecked cars...

...with head-shaped indentures in the windshields. Imagine how much that must have hurt.

[radwriter0555]

51. Yep, dead people. EMS rarely pull dead people OUT of seat belts, but

the ones on the road ARE dead.

[freetobegay]

2. Other

Knowing a police officer will give me a ticket, if he see's me without one!

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

3. I do not and I will not

Simply out of spite. The government has no compelling interest in forcing me to take preventative measures in protecting my life.

[lazarus]

7. That makes sense

Put yourself at great risk for injury and death because you don't like being told to do something?

It's against the law to shoot yourself, too, but I doubt you'd find that an onerous regulation calling for civil disobedience.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

11. As a matter of fact, I do

One has a right to do whatever one wants to him or herself. You are granted the right to life by the Constitution, but as with all rights, you have the right not to invoke it if you so wish. The government has no business in telling me that I MUST live against my wishes.

[lazarus]

16. but

it's not onerous enough to risk your life, as opposed to seatbelts, right?

Again, wear it or don't, as you wish. But being forced by the government to wear them doesn't seem like a good reason to avoid wearing them to me.

[Lars39]

10. With today's insurance climate,

that decision could be financial suicide for your family. Long-term care, rehabilitation is very costly.

[gristy]

29. Will you refuse all medical care or disability payments paid

for in whole or in part by the gov't, in the event you have intimate relations with your windshield?

[Sticky]

5. I still don't wear one....

must be the rebel in me.

(I live in the country and hardly ever see a cop)

[Bonhomme Richard]

6. I would't drive without a seatbelt any more than I would...........

go hiking without a compass. It's just the smart thing to do.

[dweller]

8. i remember when they weren't in cars

and my dad installing them in a 56 chevy belair.

but it's a habit i guess, that and watching the increasing number of crappy drivers thru the years...

hell, i remember when people were embarrassed to run a redlight!
now it's seems like a challenge to many to go for it....or else they just don't care.

:shrug:

dp

[lazarus]

9. The graphic films I was shown

In the USAF. I've lost a cousin who didn't wear a seatbelt, and that got to me some, but it was the bloody, gory films we were shown in the military that really got me.

Oh, and basic self-preservation. I'm a good driver, but I don't trust anybody else on the road.

[WilliamPitt]

12. The smashed nose, smashed cheekbone, and orbit breaks in three places

I sustained when I flew over the back seat and into the radio when I was a passenger in a speeding car that hit a tree my sophomore year of high school. Now, I wear seat belts in parked cars.

[VelmaD]

25. Gee...that must take all the fun...

out of "parking". ;)

[YellowRubberDuckie]

13. I would have been killed in a car wreck...

If I hadn't had mine on. As it were, I only got a cut on the knee and some soreness. And friends who were killed in car wrecks where they weren't used.
Duckie

[parasim]

14. Safety

I know both people have died in car crashes who were not wearing them, and people who have lived likely because they were wearing them.

I prefer to drive smart and going by statistics and common sense, it's seems that it is smart to wear them.

Same reason I don't drive a car after drinking alcohol.

[NMDemDist2]

15. other

I read Lee Iaccoca' book a million years ago-- been wearing them ever since

[candy]

21. Plain,old,common sense.

Statistics helped!

[1monster]

18. The utterly terrifying experience of driving on the main roads of Florida

including the Interstates.

I am always amazed at how little care many drivers in this state of transplants and tourists give to the safty of themselves, their passengers, and to other users of the automobile transportation system.

I have been going seventy miles an hour and had the car behind me less than a car length away from my bumper. I've seen cars weaving in and out of traffic at 80 mph with literaly only inches to spare.

Just last weekend, I noticed a pickup truck towing a U-Haul on Interstate 95, the U-Haul swaying back and forth across the lane, at seventy-five miles an hour. Clearly stated on the back of the U-Haul was a large sign that said the top speed for that particular unit was forty miles per hour.

I avoid the Interstates whenever possible, but even the non-Interstate main roads are getting just as scary.

I always buckle up. And I always keep a glass-breaking punch within easy reach in my car. You never know when a quick exit may save your life and there might not be another way out other than the windshield...

[unblock]

19. batman and robin!!!

they ALWAYS took the time -- an ENORMOUS amount of time -- to buckle up before a high speed chase!

[Jim__]

20. A "My Turn" column in Newsweek

It was probably 15 years ago that soemone wrote a "My Turn" column for Newsweek. He was a quadraplegic. He had had a car accident and he wasn't wearing a seatbelt. He said he didn't know if he were wearing one if he'd be in that wheelchair. He'd never know; but he'd always wonder.

I just never want to be in that position.

[Devils Advocate NZ]

22. Ah, but did you know that a lot of people are alive today...

because they DIDN'T wear their seat belts?

It turns out that with modern medical techniques, a lot of injuries that would have been fatal in the 50's (for example) are now treatable - as long as the person gets to the hospital within the so-called "golden hour" (this has shown up in combat injuries as well).

Problem is, in a lot of wrecks in the 50's people would be tossed free from the car and die. In the same kinds of accidents today, many people would survive - if they hadn't been wearing a seat belt and thus been trapped in the wrecked car for too long...

Of course the number who would be saved by wearing a seat belt is far higher than the number saved by NOT wearing one. Still it is interesting to note that sometimes the safety device can be the cause of death.

[gristy]

31. Life is a set of risk trade-offs.

As you note, "the number who would be saved by wearing a seat belt is far higher than the number saved by NOT wearing one". IMO, it is irrelevant that some are "saved" by being thrown clear of the wreckage.

Your chances of surviving a wreck are vastly higher if you are wearing a seatbelt. End of story.

[SW FL Dem]

23. The pain and humiliation

when I had to walk around with two black eyes, broken nose and fat lip after a fender bender. I was wearing a lap belp. Things would have been much worse if I hadn't. I also have to set an example for my son. It's hard to make a kid sit in a car seat when you don't buckle up.

[eleonora]

26. gruesome pics

of human roadkills online. People flown out of cars. Hmmm no, not me please! I'll pass and buckle up!

Plus it just doesn't feel safe to not wear one. I don't see what the big deal is about NOT buckling up!

[pscot]

27. My 5-year old grandaughter

who keeps hollering "Click-it or ticket, grandpa!"

[GoddessOfGuinness]

50. Haha!

Good for her! :hi:

[rbnyc]

28. total awareness that cars are evil killing machines. (nt)

[gristy]

30. I clicked other

It is very easy for me to visualize myself flying into my windshield. I always wear my seatbelt.

[NoPasaran]

32. Years ago there was a PSA with Jackie Stewart

And I decided that if a race car driver wore a seat belt maybe I should too.

[DS1]

33. Simple really, besides common sense and all the gruesome pics,

the desire to keep myself alive for those who love me guarantees that I'll buckle up and not drive like an idiot (anymore)

[Bertha Venation]

34. Common sense. eom

[Mr. Blonde]

35. That annoying pinging

that my truck makes when I don't have my seatbelt on. Although now it is habit whenever I am driving, I still don't when I am riding. I agree with the above that it is not right for the government to force you to protect yourself. Meddling bastards.

[bratcatinok]

36. Years ago about 6 weeks before

it became the official law in Texas, my son and I happened to be channel surfing when we came upon some race going on. While we were watching, one of the cars wrecked. It went end over end and pieces of the car were flying everywhere. Once the car came to rest, the only thing left was the cage the drive was sitting in. After looking at the wreck happening and the aftermath, I thought there was no way the driver could have survived. It turned out all he did was break his leg. The announcers made a big deal of the fact that the reason the driver wasn't more seriously injured was because of the seatbelt.

My son (who was about 8 years old then) and I discussed the wreck and decided we would start using our seatbelts from then on. We both got into the habit and he continued to wear his even as a teenaged driver.
I feel naked without my seatbelt.

[Kat45]

37. I'm short and afraid of getting killed by my airbag if it deploys

There were stories about that on the news a couple of years ago. The belt could help me stay far enough back to not get creamed by the airbag.

[Whitacre D_WI]

38. Habit.

My folks made me wear a belt as a kid, now I feel naked in the car without it. It's as much a part of driving for me as putting the key in the ignition.

[Nihil]

67. Same here

I hated the clunky old seat belts in some of the older cars (no inertia
reel, absolute bugger for a small child to adjust without assistance)
but it became ingrained that drivers & front-seat passengers always
buckle up long before I learned to drive.

I'll admit I still feel uncomfortable wearing a seat-belt in the back
of a two-door car (that was always the allowed exception as a kid) but
that's when my memories of witnessing past car crashes serve to remind
me of the smart thing to do ...

If you don't want to wear a seat-belt, fine as long as you understand
two things: you don't travel in my car and your relatives don't submit
an insurance claim/law suit for your injuries/death (i.e., no money for
self-inflicted wounds).

Nihil

[voter x]

39. Having your nose broken

in a collision is about all one needs. Happened to me two weeks ago, and I didn't need any help with my already "Roman" nose. Now its more of a mogul then a hump. Buckle up!

[argyl]

40. A non car accident.A number of years a had a badly broken leg;tib/fib

fracture.Seven months before I took a step without a cast or brace.Figured if a seat belt could prevent or lessen injuries in a bad car crash it was well worth wearing one.

[baldguy]

41. Accidents.

1. Friend killed

2. Mom injured

3. confirmed by my own

[solinvictus]

43. I don't wear one.

I paid for airbags, thank you very much! Seriously, I just don't. It's not the government's job to be a nanny.

[m-jean03]

44. I'm afraid of running into a YAK

and being utterly destroyed!

[RogueTrooper]

46. The Long Arm of The Law

You get busted in the UK for not wearing your seat belt and in the back seat too.

[Undemcided]

47. Should be up to the person to decide

n/t

[ScreamingMeemie]

48. My children. Although I think the law is insane. It's a person's right

to make their own choices. After 18 it should be choice. :hi:

[Loonman]

49. "passenger/driver was ejected from vehicle"

"other passengers, who were wearing seatbelts, survived with minor injuries"

It's on the news, every night.

[Padraig18]

52. Other: The fact that Tony won't even start the car until I put it on. n/t

[Cuban_Liberal]

62. LOL!

Stubborn so-and-so, aren't I? :evilgrin:

[Triple H]

53. What are "seatbelts?"

Seriously, I only wear one when I'm driving for long hours at a time.

[hunter]

54. The car was wrecked, but I wasn't.

Good thing I was wearing my seatbelt.

The woman I most wanted to impress with my seatbelt bruises said "EEEUUUUUUUU that's gross!"

[Mrs. Venation]

55. Remembering My Brother's Accident

He skidded on ice, hit a utility pole and broke his neck. He'd have walked away uninjured if he'd been wearing his seat belt.

I always wear it; it's an ingrained habit. If it wasn't seeing med-evac helicopters leaving crash scenes would probably make me put it on.

Edited to correct typo. Damn fat fingers.

[geniph]

56. I've already been through a windshield once, thanks

I was lucky not to be decapitated. I've been in a number of car wrecks (in none of which I was driving, I should point out), and was basically uninjured in the ones where I was wearing a seatbelt.

I figure anyone who wants to go without should be allowed to do so, but shouldn't be treated for subsequent injuries in the emergency room. Ditto for bicyclists and motorcyclists who don't want to wear helmets. Fine, don't wear them - but ERs should be able to then refuse to treat your head injuries. Getting medical treatment for preventable injuries costs all of us money. It's not a victimless violation.

[gpandas]

57. chance of death n/t

[CO Liberal]

58. I've Been In Three Accidents In The Past Four Years

One minor, two major. All did damage to my back that would have been worse had I NOT been wearing my seat belt.

My father bought seat bealts from Sears in 1962 and installed them in our '59 Plymouth. So I've been wearing them for 42 years now.

[livetohike]

59. 30 Years Ago

two cars full of teens (twelve in all) collided head on in my neighborhood. My 13 year old brother was the first one on the scene. Two kids were decapitated and the rest had serious injuries. No one was wearing a seat belt. These kids were all from our neighborhood.

I always wear my seat belt. My brother has been a police officer for twenty years now. That night definitely changed his life.

[JVS]

61. THE BIG FUCKING STEERING WHEEL THAT MY CHEST WOULD SLAM INTO IN A CRASH

[marigold20]

63. A friend who suffered brain damage three blocks from home

He was hit in a residential neighborhood - and has never been the same. I just feel weird without my seatbelt.

[Mr.Green93]

64. the movie Bullitt

[ulysses]

65. other

Father of Ms Uly was t-boned 4+ years ago by a guy doing in excess of 80 mph. The impact threw him bodily through the driver's-side door, knocked his dentures out of his head and very nearly killed him. It fucked him up in large ways. He never quite recovered fully and he died 2 1/2 years ago.

[LynzM]

66. 2 dead classmates

They died my junior year of h.s. EMTs said they both would have lived if they'd been wearing their seatbelts. I have a little heart that hangs from my rearview that says 'You are loved, wear your seatbelt' - In Memory of Sarah and Maddy....

Pisses me off to no end when parents let their kids climb around in the backseat with no seatbelts. GRRRRR. You're an adult, it's your decision to make, but at least make sure your kids wear theirs. Then again, kids do learn by example :(

[markus]

68. A helmet saved my life; so why not wear a seabelt

I used to ride a little Honda Passport, and wore a helmet. I once dumped it right in front of an 18-wheeler, banged my head pretty hard on the bridge deck, yet had to roll out from under the truck.

If I had hit my head without a helmut, I likely would have been crushed.

I figured, why not wear a seatbelt?

[tsakshaug]

69. Watching Adam-12

they always clicked their seat belts

[noonwitch]

70. The threat of a ticket. I never wore seatbelts until it was mandatory

I guess I'm safer now, but I think if I have airbags, I should't have to wear a seat belt.

[SCDem]

71. I'm kind of torn on the subject

I was wearing my seat belt when I was 8 years old in the middle seat window seat of a station wagon where as my brothers were not as they were in the back of the station wagon laying down. When the car hit the door in which I was sleeping resting my head on and I was the only one in the car (out of 6 people 4 wearing seat belts 2 not) to get hit, knocked unconcious, and in a coma for 2 months and still have scars on my face and neck after all these years.

I get sick of people when I tell them I was in a car accident they ask "Were you wearing a seat belt?" as if they already assumed I wasn't and that if I was I wouldn't have scars today. I was slumped over but tight in my seat belt while my head was split in two when my mother jumped over the front seat to the middle seat and held my head together with a pillow until the helicopter came. I am alive today not because of a seat belt but because of my mother.

Just my experience and 2 cents

[achtung_circus]

72. My sister was killed in an accident

along with the driver, her geography teacher. No seat belt. My father, a policeman, was in the front passenger seat as well. He was wearing a seat belt, no injuries at all. They have saved my life twice.
It's a little different in Canada. We all have an interest in minimizing the number of injured people delivered to emergency rooms funded by tax dollars. Side not: air bags in the US are set to explode faster than those in Canada. Canadians are more likely to be wearing their seat belt and less dependent solely on the air bag.

[pagerbear]

73. Those ER/trauma center reality TV shows

[SarahB]

74. They saved me more than once as a kid

As an infant in the early 70's, we were in an accident and the the car did a 180 on ice into a ditch and was totaled. Carseats were new, but I was in one. It probably saved my life then. When I was 6, a car nit at about 40 MPH, right where I was. I walked away without a scratch (later found out, it likely caused a bit of internal pelvic injury though, but at least I wasn't dead or morbidly injured). Another accident with someone else driving with a totaled car when I was 17, and was fine. I would never drive a block without buckling my seatbeat.

[SiouxJ]

75. Statistics

Many years ago - back when I first started driving I heard that you have something like a 50% better chance of surviving an accident if you wear your seatbelt. I don't know what the updated statistics suggest but that was good enough for me. I feel naked without my seatbelt now. Wouldn't think of not wearing it.