As a teenager in the Seventies, I always wore a seatbelt in an automobile. Doing this as a passanger caught some heat. You need to know that until a short time ago, most people did not wear seatbelts. There were no infant car seats. In a wreck, babies became missiles. I am not kidding. Back to the passenger thing - on more than one occassion while catching a lift, drivers would often respond with, " 'you don't trust my driving?" Some took outright offence and ordered me out of the vehicle. I would reassure those (often unsuccessfully) that it wasn't them but the other reckless drivers out there. Not good enough. With a red face, they would say, "Get out!" Take a look at James Garner in his Firebird in the Rockford Files. He does not wear the belt. It was years before I actually saw someone utilize the shoulder belt in conjunction with the lap belt. No one knew how. When I was driving, finally, my putting on the belt would frighten my passengers, as if I was about to deliberately cave into a tree. Ah, the good old days. - JKHolman
You are ahead of your times Ya I have friends who don't bother with seat belts. Scares the hell out of me, can't understand why someone wouldn't want to take such an effortless precaution that yields such great benefit of safety.
It's such a habit that I have put on my seatbelt to back out of the garage on more than one occasion. The first car my family had with seatbelts was a '64 Chevy my father bought in 65-66... I've been wearing them since then.
I never wore seatbelts when I was a kid. It wasn't the law. I was the crazy kid hanging out the window in the front seat. How did I ever survive? I always wear my seatbelt now. Even when going just a few blocks because my damn car dings at me if I don't but I would anyway. Safety first!
When I was a kid they did not have seat belts in cars. The seat belts came along when I was in my teens. I won't drive until my passengers have a seat belt on now. I am a good driver but don't trust all those nuts out on the road. Yesterday we had poor road conditions (snow and ice). The nut behind me, in his big pick up truck, was thinking I was taking a turn too slowly but when he made the turn he swerved all over the place. What a jerk.
In the U.S. manufactures were not required to install seat belts until 1968. I had a 1963 Dodge Dart GT that came from the factory with front 2 point lap belts, but it was a exception. Nash offered them as an option in '49 and Ford in '55. Volvo made the now used 3 point system standard in 1959. 4 and 5 point belts are illegal for street use.
I was in a bad car crash in 1969. In those days, seat belts were fixed - the inertia reel hadn't yet been rolled out. You had to adjust it the right legnth, and then you were strapped in, unable to lean forward. If I'd been wearing the seat belt fitted to the car, it's quite likely I would have been injured much more seriously or even killed, as it was a side on collision and I was in the front passenger seat. My side of the car was completely crushed, but I was thrown out of my seat towards the drivers side, which very likely saved my life. I don't recall that, as I was knocked unconscious by the impact, but that's what they told me later. With inertia reel belts I probably would have been ok, as they only lock in a head on crash.
Probably because they are associated with racing/street racing. It's also very easy to install them incorrectly which can cause more serious injury. I'm sure some local/state laws also have a "Factory Installed" restraint law.
I've had that happen. I've often wondered how bad they'd freak if you pulled a helmet from the back seat... Yeah, window nets and a roll bar too.
Lol, a pair of cut-offs and a polka-dot top tied in the front...you could totally pull off the Daisy Duke thing. :2thumbsup:
If my passenger tries to argue with me when I tell them to put on their seatbelt, I just tell them that I'm not driving til they do. I don't want to be crushed when they can't stay in their seat during an accident.
I can still visualize my sister and I as teenagers, wearing sexy outfits like the Daisy Duke classic, no shoes, walking down the road on a hot, dusty summer day to buy milkshakes, muscle cars whizzing by, young guys yelling things out the window at us. Poster caption: "Here Comes Trouble". Soundtrack: ZZ Top - "Legs". The only way to improve the scene: Make it a Salvador Dali painting, with everything melting except us. I remember her first car, a brand new black Trans Am just like the one in Smokey and the Bandit, with the gold bird on the hood, and a T-top. It came with 3-point seatbelts. A year later, I got a bright blue Camero. More conservative look, but just as fast. It's the only American car I've ever owned. Remember the movie scene in the bar where Daisy (Jessica Simpson) kicks over the chair? My big sis wouldn't have hesitated to put that stiletto heel through a nonvital part of that guy's anatomy. I was always the "nice" sister, whatever the fuck that means.
When I turned my car over into a ditch, I was left hanging upside down from my seat belt, unable to release it because it was under tension. One of my teenage friends died when he turned his car over into a fenland ditch, and drowned. No doubt he, too, was held in place by his seat belt. When driving in the fens, I get really anxious about those drainage ditches alongside all those roads. I reckon I'm more likely to die wearing a seat belt than not wearing one. There's no one-size-fits-all solution, and it is intellectually dishonest to pretend there is. The law that says we MUST wear a seatbelt, even in situations where it is more likely to kill us than not wearing one, is sheer idiocy. We are intelligent, mature grown-ups and ought to be allowed to make our own risk assessments and trust to our own judgements.
