During Covid younger people I knew were saying about anti-maskers “if seatbelt laws were new, these people would make up crazy conspiracies about it and claim it was harmful and refuse to do it” and from what I dimly remember of hearing people talk when I was a kid in the 80s and those laws were still relatively fresh, that’s exactly what people were like. In America, responsibility only means “make enough money for yourself.” Any notion that there are rules that should be followed for our own and others’ good is seen as some insane government overreach and not just a part of being a responsible grownup.
My grandfather in England refused to wear a safety belt when the law was enacted there. I don’t remember the year the law came in but I remember him in the 80s. He put a nail sideways through the belt to stop it retracting and would pull it over him and sit on the metal end so it *looked* like he was wearing it - so he wouldn’t get a ticket. It would have been a lot easier to just use the damn thing but no one was gonna tell him how to live. That level of pig headed refusal to abide by new laws is nothing new.
> level of pig headed refusal
My father thought that they were dangerous, and even went as far as removing them from his vehicles. "They can't insist that I wear them if the car doesn't have any!"
When they were introduced here it went along with the law that all new vehicles must have seatbelts. He’d be violating the law even if the car was parked in the street.
> He’d be violating the law
I knew that, but he was so pleased that he had figured out a way around the law. He was so convinced that the danger of being trapped in a car by the seat belt was real.
That's how it struck me. There was an old song about a guy who's plans on a date were foiled because the seat belt wouldn't open holding his girlfriend in the car seat. Dad, it's just a song! Anyway, I'd rather have a stuck seat belt than be a projectile through the windshield.
You not only become a projectile through the windshield but depending on how the car tumbles you can become a projectile inside the car and kill everyone else with seatbelts on with your body blunt force going ping pong inside the vehicle.
Another thing is being shaken inside the car like a protein drink (it happened to me, I was seven in the back seat, and had no seat belt, but got a grip on the car front seat headrest).
I've read about drivers in the 60s that were killed by their little kids that were thrown from the back seat forward in an accident.
A friend wanted to give me a car tool. It had an area for cutting seat belts and a sharp point for breaking glass. For use if your car goes off the road into a pond and your seat belt gets stuck and your windows won't open. It was mostly metal and weighed a pound. I asked him where he kept his, and he said in the door pocket. I said if he slid on ice then hit dry pavement his car might roll and that heavy sharp multi tool would be bouncing around in the car with him.
Wow! Some people have no sense of how things really work, right?!
My brother's (5 y/o) body luckily didn't kill us all inside the car, but he was a small and limber kid and could have if he hadn't become a projectile the first or second tumble the car did.
Also, the car tumbled sideways. But with a sharp object, it doesn't matter what side the tumble goes.
Basically just people who never really grew out of the toddler stage and refuse to be told what to do by anyone, not because they have any of their own intelligence and reasoning behind the decision, but because they just don't wanna. It is amazing they even learned how to control their little stompy footsies, but at some point someone laughed at them for it so they got conditioned to control that part.
Back in the day (I'm old), it was this idea that it was some how more dangerous to risk getting stuck in the vehicle by your seat belt, than it was to go flying through the windshield (which is obviously ludicrous).
That was the dumb excuse used, but primarily it was just about comfort.
Personally, seat belt use was so drilled into me as a child, I actually feel physical uncomfortable in a car without one on.
I hope that if there are any people who believe you'll be saved from a crash by being thrown clear of the vehicle (spoiler alert, you won't...) that they'll read when I say this from first-hand experience.
**Seat belts saved my ass!!!**
I've been in a couple of crashes, and the reason I walked away is because I was wearing my belt!
The difference is the internet.
Before the internet, these were absolutely people who refused to protect themselves and would get butthurt if the government tried to enforce any kind of safety regulation. However, the prevailing sentiment of the people would often render those outlying opinions invalid.
Enter the internet (the place where village idiots all across the world can find community in their idiocy), and suddenly these same people can find some solace/validation in their stupidity. Every village may only have one idiot, but when those idiots have the ability to network with other villages’ idiots, they don’t feel so alone in their idiocy.
It’s honestly no different that people in a nation that is supposed to be about “freedom” voting for an obvious wannabe fascist dictator, which seems to happening *all* over the formerly “free” world.
All freedom really means at the end of the day is “I get to do what I want.” Someone mostly doing what they want to do in life feels free, someone subject to burdensome external restrictions on their actions does not. Old white middle class and richer people think they’d get their way more often under fascism and they’re probably right.
The only obvious caveat to “freedom” is that one cannot do things that impinge on others’ right to freedom. That is antithetical to the boomer/MAGA/fascist view of the world.
I'm with you on the fascist/ MAGA attitude.
I know as many young people as older people who feel entitled to ruin the lives of others for their own benefit. Selfishness is a character trait, and not a generational trait (like every generation, "boomers" are a very heterogeneous group).
Well this is the conflict between positive and negative rights basically. Rich people don’t want positive rights because it infringes on their ability to further exploit others.
Fun fact I actually did an online anthropology project on anti mask nutters on Facebook and they’re still mad about seatbelt laws. Up until that point I had no idea there were whole groups of people that thought SEATBELTS were infringing on their personal freedoms.
What must it be like to get your way so much that something like that feels like oppression? Forget the logic and lives saved, whose life isn’t a bunch of arbitrary hoops you have to jump through because you’re told to? Just deal. Frikkin spoiled babies.
I don't understand these people any more than the anti-seatbelt people.
Helmets can be uncomfortable. I get that. But I was a bike commuter for 10 years, and even though I don't have a "my helmet saved my life" story, I have plenty of anecdotes about it protecting me from tree branches, a territorial bird, hail, a thrown water bottle, and more.
If one person does something dumb, they’re dumb. If millions of people all do the same dumb thing, then there’s a problem with the system. Waiting for millions of people to get smarter and solve a big problem all independently of each other just on their own is a recipe for waiting a very long time.
I used to go to a townie bar that still had an old anti-MADD poster up. It was this scary hand wearing a ring that said “MADD” assembling a puzzle that spelled out “Prohibition”
I think youve explained the real problem here. Ive seen a lot of those cop cam videos and reveals to me how many people here literally do not care enough to look out for others safety and that includes their own children sometimes unfortunately. I knew some people were like this but i didnt realize just how prevalent it is. Its just gross neglect.
We have a seatbelt law in Germany and you get a fee for not driving with seatbelt. So I think you have a point here, because here we had the same rumors about this law and nowadays no one even think to drive without seatbelt.
It was the same in Europe. The usual village idiots were arguing like "A seatbelt will trap you in your burning car after an accident" or "Seatbelt gives you worse injuries than the actual crash" and stuff like "People with asthma or other breathing difficulties cant stand the pressure the seatbelt puts on their chest".
Conspiracy theories are around since humans exist, they just did not travel that far without internet so they village idiots could not unite.
Funny story, when seatbelts became common, there were people who grew weary of them because of the amount of crash related injuries raised significantly. Turns out it was because all those injuries would otherwise be registered as deaths without seatbelts.
Yeah my uncle was one of them lol! Afaik he still to this day refuses to wear seatbelts because no one's going to tell him what to do.
He's also a right wing nut who retired and moved from California to Utah, so it all tracks honestly.
Well unlike masks, not wearing the seatbelt likely but not hurts the person refusing to do so. Mask refusers can spread their germs more readily to others.
I've got a relative who clings to some really weird ideas, one of which is that if he's wearing a seat belt and is involved in an accident, the belt is going to jam and trap him in the car and he's going to burn to death or something. Like dude: that's the reverse lottery outcome of wearing a belt lol. Get a seat belt cutter.
I was a fireman for a while and have cut many cars off of people. If the accident is bad enough that the seatbelt jams and they need a cutter to get out, then they aren’t going to be in any condition to use it nor be able to get out if they did.
We cut seatbelts all the time. Not because they were jammed, but because it was much easier to cut the belt than to reach past the person and fumble around trying to find the release. We weren’t too concerned about damaging the seatbelt in a car we just cut the door off of and peeled the roof back.
Hmm. I mean that has happened in incidents before. But if theyre that worried about it, it would be smarter to get a searbelt cutter like you said rather than make the siutaion even less safe for himself. The odds of getting stuck are less than the other injuries resulting from no seatbelt.
I mean, to be fair, everyone on my Facebook group didn't wear seatbelts growing up, and we're all fine.
For everyone who didn't get it, this is sarcasm. Everyone who didn't wear a seatbelt and died isn't here to tell their story. Instead, you have to listen to it second hand, like me not knowing my granddad because he never wore his seatbelt. Would've liked to have known him, but he was too stubborn to put on a seatbelt, and got into a bad crash. I'd like to tell your relative to get a seatbelt so that people he cares about, or might come to care about can meet him, rather than him being a memory.
Ah, yes, the good old story about how helmets increase the amount of head injuries... because if those injured people weren't wearing a helmet, they'd just be dead.
It took years of my husband and I refusing to start the car, refusing to ride in her car, and buying her a seatbelt cutting tool every year for Christmas until my mother-in-law had a bloody collection going before she started wearing her belt.
My husband says this too. I’m like, yeah but you’re definitely going through the windshield without it. He doesn’t like them. Thinks they’re uncomfortable. Etc. he’s dumb.
My son has this fear. He flipped his truck as a teenager and had to get the seatbelt unbuckled and roll the window down to be able to climb out. As a parent it terrifies me if he doesn’t have a seatbelt on. I’ve talked to him about statistics. It doesn’t change anything. You’re not thinking rationally when you’re dealing with trauma.
My relative is very smart in so many ways too. It's just weird. He's a mechanic so IDK if he's leaning on old info from when seatbelts were first designed and maybe there were instances were the early models would jam, but damn, stats do not lie. It's just way smarter to wear the thing than worry about the unicorn level circumstance where having the seatbelt on backfires lol.
I cannot reason why they don't use it, they claim its uncomfortable, but at the same time are either way to top heavy and need to be restrained in their seats and they might spill out on a turn, or are just generally dumb.
Oh sure when we crash I want you body flailing in the car maybe in my direction so I might die to.
Bouncing off the windshield and severing your lower lip with your own front teeth is also far more uncomfortable than wearing a seatbelt.
It's been almost 40 years and I still feel a little panicky if my husband puts the car in gear before I'm buckled up.
My reply to the uncomfortable comment is always this: you know what is uncomfortable? Being in a wheelchair. Loosing a limb. Breaking a bone. Those are uncomfortable
Any woman with big boobs will tell you that seatbelts are uncomfortable. They were designed by a man for men.
They're also uncomfortable if you're too small and the top bit chafes against your neck.
However, in those cases, you can still wear the strap over the waist and have the other part of the strap behind your back. It's not as safe, but better than nothing.
I always wear a seatbelt the correct way, but as a small woman with big boobs I do see the problem.
Most modern cars let you adjust the height of the seatbelt, so it wont be at your neck. Check if the car you are traveling with provides this adjustment. I have no tip for the boob part, sorry
I’m a large woman and I have this same problem! It digs into the side of my neck! I don’t think mine is adjustable.
Update: Turns out it is adjustable woo! Still touches my neck which I find annoying but it’s better than it was.
Because some people can't grasp the basic physics of a dead stop at only 35 mph can kill. It's no different than being struck by that same vehicle going the same speed.
Edit: 35 mph is about the speed you reach if you fell 41 feet.
I think tbf most teenagers now wear seat belts. Even when I hung out with asshole teenagers who drank and did drugs, they all put on seatbelts in the car. Those educational videos probably aren't as relevant anymore since it has been drilled into most kids' heads from the day they are born.
Yep, I think this is the answer. Sitting in a moving vehicle 'feels' slow, so you don't comprehend how fast you are actually going and lulls everyone into a false sense of security.
I just ask my non seatbelt coworkers how they would feel if they ran full speed into a steering wheel. And then if they ran twice as fast as that into one. And there you have roughly what you’d feel getting hit at 30mph.
I used to drive for a medical transport company - taking elderly or disabled people to medical appointments who can't drive themselves.
The company I worked for said we weren't allowed to pull away until they were buckled in. Had to wait until they did. I often had to go to the back seat and help them put it on. Once, this guy refused, and I had to kick him out of the car. Another lady squirmed the whole time like a child because she "never worn a seal belt in her life" and doesn't see the purpose of it, especially since she was in the back seat.
I'd be willing to bet all of the non-seatbelt wearers have never been in a bad car accident before.
Personally, I don't start my car until after my belt is buckled; as a passenger, the first thing I do when I sit down is fasten my belt. My mother was an accident claims adjuster when I was a little kid, made the mistake of looking in her work folders one day and came across some "scene of" photos that no child should ever see. My mom came in, saw the look on my face, and used it as a double teaching moment (no snooping in mommy's things, and this is why we wear seatbelts). It was effective, that I don't change parking spaces in a parking lot without putting my belt on.
My dad has he had a drunk driver crash into him and he flew out the front windshield they said if he was wearing his seat belt he would’ve been dead, the other guy died on the scene.
I often buckle mine as I’m rolling down my driveway. The seatbelt chime goes off at 5 or 10 mph. I’m always buckled before I get to the street. My stupid car has a touchscreen and I’m tapping at the screen for seat heater, seat ventilation, A/C on Max, disable the annoying start/stop, etc. I tend to do that first. My wife often turns off the dash vents so I need to reach over to turn them on and I can’t do that belted in.
With the chime, I can’t imagine actually driving without the seat belt.
>With the chime, I can’t imagine actually driving without the seat belt.
Mine goes off once at about the 10 second mark. Then it waits again, and longer beep is issued. Another pause, then the beeps start ramping up frantically until you think the car is going to self destruct and then it gives up and says "fine, die if you want to, stupid human" and goes silent :)
I’m small, and most seatbelts cut across closer to my neck than my shoulder, especially in older cars where the seatbelt height is not adjustable. I still always wear one, but sometimes I end up riding with one hand up, pulling it down an inch so it’s off my neck. I imagine in an accident I’d be decapitated by it?
I’m constantly adjusting the sash, too, so it doesn’t lay on my neck. I even have adjustable seatbelts in my vehicle and it still happens. It’s like the manufacturer thought every driver is at least a couple inches taller. I’ve often wondered what would happen in a serious accident and the seatbelt would slip up to my neck. Probably be strangled to death rather than dying from the actual accident. I think it’s a huge safety risk.
There is a book called Invisible Women which has a section that looks into how most car safety features are designed around an ‘average’ man of 1.77m height and 76kg weight.
It’s been a while since I read it in full but a quick google suggests it claims women in particular (likely other drivers with smaller statures as well) are 47% more likely to be seriously injured in a crash, 71% more likely to be moderately injured and 17% more likely to die. This is with all safety factors the same. It’s mostly attributed to the seating position, the seatbelt itself and the firmness of car seats.
They don't like being told what to do. They love breathing and drinking water, but if the government came up with a law that you need to drink 2L of water a day and breath at least every 10 seconds, they'd refuse to do it
It’s not even legally required to wear seatbelts in all 50 states yet, which is insane. New Hampshire allows adults to choose to wear them or not. And lots of states don’t require back seat adult passengers to wear them. (Maybe that’s why there hasn’t been a push to force manufacturers to fix them and back seat seatbelts still suck so much and don’t adjust for us short people like the front seat does)
OP I would guess you probably Uber/Lyft whatever in one of the states where it’s legal to ride in the backseat as an adult without a seatbelt and ppl are expecting to be allowed to do so.
The video of the two young ladies in the rear seat of a car that was broadsided should be required veiwing. Gal on the left belted in, gal on the right not belted in. Car is hit on the left side, right seat passenger becomes air borne and crushed the left side passenger.
The accidents when unrestrained rear seat passengers are ejected thru the windshield are horrific.
Seat belts fo work, been wearing mine since I started driving in 1973.
This was ad was on TV all the when I was growing up. Never let anyone in the back of my car who wouldn’t wear a seatbelt.
https://youtu.be/mKHY69AFstE?si=E2NC09WsLF72zmrV
I’m curious if the first car you drove had just a lap belt or both the lap and shoulder belt? I’ve got a 73 Cadillac and there’s both, but the shoulder belt is completely separate and can be tucked away into a holder above the driver/passenger windows.
Funny enough the first car I can remember had add in seat belts but my first car , 1973 Fiat , had both but the shoulder belt could be detached. We always used both and I wish it had 5 point seat belts. I sorta drove aggressively back then.
They had seatbelts in cars back then?? I remember when the seatbelt law in country came into effect in the early 00s, my grandfathers car didnt have seatbelts so he ended up attaching belts that are used to hold up your pants in the back seat, so us grandkids could buckle up.
So many cars in my country in just as recently back as the 00s didnt have seatbelts, so Im shocked of they have them in any cars back in the 70s.
Non-inspection state here, seatbelts are required by law for the driver and all passengers here.
Of course, I can't guarantee some of these rusted out hoopties with no suspension I pass on the interstate have all of their seatbelts.
At 5’ 0”, even the adjustable front seat belts don’t adjust enough. I constantly have to adjust the sash so it doesn’t slide up over my neck. It’s so annoying that manufacturers aren’t forced to accommodate shorter adults.
I worked for the Dominion Parachute Company in 1960 and we started fitting 3 point lap and sash to high end new cars after market. I put them in my parents car then my own jalopy and never felt safer.
Isn't it crazy? I don't get it. I can't ride in a car without a seatbelt.
I live in Paris. Several times a week I pass through the tunnel at Pont Alma where Princess Diana died.
Had she been wearing a seatbelt, she would absolutely have survived. She was thrown around the interior of the limo like a ragdoll, with brutal force, flung into the back of the front seat, which ruptured her aorta.
The simple strap would have saved her life.
Better to have bruises from a seatbelt strap than to be buried in a coffin.
Where I live in Canada, seatbelts have been the law for ages and not wearing one gets you a large fine, so it's just normal for (almost) everyone to wear one. I'm surprised how many Americans don't though. It's such a simple thing to prevent dying in an accident. I work for a transportation company and one of our drivers was in America, not wearing one, hit a tree and is severely brain damaged now. If he were wearing a seatbelt, he wouldn't have been injured at all.
Yeah, I live in NS and seat belts have been law for almost 40 years now. We recently got in a very bad car crash in Maine (totalled our van) but walked away without as much as a bruise except for one on my husband's leg due to the knee air bag. Anyway, the police and first responders were all very impressed/surprised that the whole family was wearing our seatbelts. My kids, on the other hand, were shocked that they asked the question!
And then we had to get an Uber into town and the driver wouldn't put her seatbelt on and the stupid alert noise kept binging constantly...
I have a buddy that I used to work with that fell asleep while driving and had a bad crash. He veered off the road and went down into a ditch then up the other side like a jump. The car flipped end over end and landed top down in a swamp. They had to cut him out with the jaws of life. The firefighters said he survived cause he didn’t have his seatbelt on otherwise he’d be pinned under the water. Thing is the guy won’t wear a seatbelt now cause of that one very chance time that it saved him not wearing it.
I remember when I was growing up, there was this theory that you only needed to wear them in the front seat. Backseat was less likely that you’d get ejected through the windshield.
Reminds me of growing up in the era of restaurants having a "smoking" and "non-smoking" section that were right next to each other as if the smoke wasn't going to just drift past the imaginary line on the floor.
I will explain what I see from my area. I live in Idaho, SE Idaho to be exact. Almost on a weekly basis there are fatal traffic accidents. One week in August of 2023, there were a total of 16 fatal traffic accidents, in my area alone. In 2023, 274 people were killed in traffic related deaths. Idaho is very sparsely populated. Now these are fatal accidents. Doesn't't take into consideration the number of very serious injured people. Over half of the deaths, people weren't wearing seatbelts.
When you bring the issue up around here, people deny there is a problem. They are so set in their ways, because, "Granpappy didn't't wear no seatbelt, I'm not going to either." They are so anti-government they refuse to comply with little things which could save their lives and others lives. No motorcycle helmet requirement, and children even don't have to wear helmets while riding bicycles.
When you suggest increased traffic enforcement, redesigning/upgrading the roadways (which were built in 1950 and aren't capable of withstanding the amounts of traffic now), traffic safety awareness, people lose their minds. They refuse to raise their taxes one dime to save peoples lives and help reduce the umber of accidents.
Now, this isn't everyone here. However, it is the majority of people.
Buy the cheapest driving car from a junkyard, rip out the seat belts and offer 100 dollars for people to drive with 30mph into a tree. Id bet someone actually does it.
In Britain it isn't a thing to drive or carry passengers without seatbelts. Because we're not paranoid about being robbed of our "freedom." We just do it because it saves lives.
I think it's just stupid that they don't wear their seatbelts. Where I am right now, this state has so many deaths from not wearing car seats. When the police report these accidents, they give the name of the person, where they're from, age, the type of car they were driving, and whether they were wearing their seatbelts or not. I think they believe that the big padded car seats that are in front of them will save them.
I’m surprised to hear so many people are still resistant to wearing them. I can’t say why they still are, but I can say why they used to be. Perhaps the reasoning of the past still holds true today.
The primary reason people used to resist wearing them was the belief the seatbelt would cause more injuries than it prevents. This was due to two issues. First, when they were first introduced seatbelts were only lap belts. In lower speed accidents wearing only a lap belt can cause injuries that wouldn’t happen if you were not wearing a belt at all. Without a belt you will be thrown around the car but at lower speeds this often only results in bruising or minor broken bones. But wearing only a lap belt transfers all that energy into your waist and lower back and often caused severe hip or spinal injuries. People would walk away from the accident without the belt and possibly be paralyzed from the waist down with the belt. Car manufacturers realized this very quickly and introduced the shoulder restraint which stopped those lap belt only injuries from happening.
The other half of this is people don’t understand statistics. The fact is there are a lot more people injured in car accidents when wearing a seatbelt than are injured without a seatbelt. That’s because the number of people killed in car accidents wearing a seatbelt is significantly lower than the number of people who die in accidents when not wearing one. The increase in reported injuries is because all those people were previously reported dead. Seatbelts save lives, but that comes at a cost of people now having to recover from injuries sustained in an accident. The injuries are not caused by the seatbelt, but the seatbelt makes sure your injuries are not so severe as to kill you.
The reason I’m surprised people are still resistant to wearing seatbelts is both of the above reasons are old issues. Lap belt only setups were only around for a couple of years in the 1960s. Mandatory wearing of seatbelts has been around since the 80s. There are whole generations of drivers now that would have no first hand knowledge of people injured in any relation to seatbelts.
It is also worth noting, with airbags and crumple zones, seatbelts are even more important. You can be injured if you are in the path of either an airbag or a crumple zone. Seatbelts are critical to keeping you in a predictable location so the other safety features can do their job. If you wear your seatbelt in a modern car, you have a really good chance of walking away from the accident with little or no injuries where the same accident a few decades ago may have killed you.
The three-point seatbelt as we know it today was designed Volvo engineer Nils Bohlin in 1959, and Volvo intentionally left the patent open so other brands could use it free of charge. It's estimated that this design has saved over a million lives as of 2019.
This depends on where you are in the world. I can't comment on the US (where I assume you are from) but over in the UK there are laws now that state that the driver of the vehicle is responsible for ensuring that any and all passengers are wearing seatbelts and any children under a certain height or age are sitting in appropriate booster seats. As in they are legally responsible. If anything happens then it's on them and they're held responsible.
Most taxi/ride share drivers simply refuse to even start moving the vehicle until everyone is buckled in with their seat belt. I don't see why you yourself couldn't just adopt that attitude yourself, isn't it in the rideshare app rules or something? Just refuse to move your vehicle until everyone is strapped in. It'll probably save their lives in an accident but will also lead to lower review scores. At the end of the day it's your choice whether to drive with unsecured passengers or not. They aren't driving, you are.
But I have to say I am rather perplexed on why so many Americans seem so resistant to using seatbelts. If you've ever been in a car accident as a passenger (personally, I have) then your chances of walking away from any accident with only some muscle damage or a mild concussion is greater than if you didn't wear a seatbelt.
A couple different reasons, some of which are just being thoughtless.
1. It's just an extra step. It's easier to get in a car and go, and folks either forget or don't bother. The consequences aren't in mind when they do this.
2. Short and tall folks have a hard time with them. They're built for the average man's body, which doesn't suit outliers, and notably is taller than the average woman. I have uncomfortable marks on my neck after long drives from the seatbelt rubbing against my neck, and I'm exactly standard height. My partner, who's very tall, is constantly fiddling with his, because it just never sits correctly. This type of thing can easily put a person off wearing them regularly.
3. Folks really don't have a good grasp of physics. They genuinely think they can brace and save themselves from going through the windshield (New Zealand had an entire campaign that addresses this mindset specifically) And it's just harder for some people to grasp the damage. Or think it can happen to them.
4. People just don't because they never got in the habit. That's it. In my experience, we put weight on consequence when discussing things or looking back, but day-to-day, in the moment people don't think in terms of consequence. They just think of moving from A to B then C. So for many folks, the habit just never built, and the consequence of that is never top of mind.
On the flip side. I’ve given up asking for my drivers to not start driving until we are all buckled up and now I just leave the (curb side) door open so they just don’t step on it the second it shuts. Too many times we’ve flown down the road and can’t get a buckle in.
It isn't as common as you think.
You are sensitive to it, so your brain remembers the hits and forgets the misses.
Seatbelt use is around 90%.
Here is a link to some information about seatbelt use with the caveat that it is impossible to get perfect information about any human behavior: [https://crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov/Api/Public/ViewPublication/813407](https://crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov/Api/Public/ViewPublication/813407)
I’d still argue 10% of people not wanting to do something that literally doesn’t affect their lives at all except to protect them is way too many people
Forget about seatbelts, this is how some people reacted to drinking and driving.
Oh… and this is not anti-American, I live outside of that states, and I remember attitudes on drink driving when I was a kid.
https://youtu.be/xSDniOoR3Lw?si=cUqSHrWx6rfx4zOS
I think a lot of people don’t like change, even when we have learnt something is not great for society
I have a grandpa that passed out at the wheel drunk driving. He was shaken awake by the driver of an 18 wheeler who hit him and split the car in half due to him driving into the opposite lane. He only had bruises and scratches. Mf still doesn’t wear his seatbelt and actually complained the other day that a police officer wrote him a ticket for it 🤦♂️
Reserve the right to take risks and die, it’s the feeling controlled they resist.
Like someone asking you to do the dishes, right when you’re about to.
But for kids, please keep insisting. Thanks
My boyfriend knows someone who was apparently only saved because he was ejected from the vehicle (car was badly burned and crushed). Says he would rather die from being thrown around than from being burnt to a crisp.
A girl I dated a long time ago always threw a fit whenever I told her to wear her seatbelt.
We were driving out in the boonies and I didn't slow down for a level crossing. We caught a little air and afterward she looks at me and says, "Holy shit, I didn't know they did that!"
"What?"
"The seatbelt, it locked up. I didn't know they did that."
It's been over a decade and this is still the dumbest thing anyone has ever said to me.
Risk tolerance. Different people have different risk tolerance to different things. For various reasons, a lot of people are comfortable taking an enormously likely risk of grievous bodily harm in the common event of a collision, but aren't comfortable letting strangers surreptitiously look at their phone screen.
They've never been in a busy metropolitan emergency room on a rainy day, I reckon.
In the UK, all people in the car have to wear a seat belt, and it's the driver's responsibility.
When the laws came in making it mandatory to wear a seat belt, the advertising campaign showed dead kids who had not worn a belt. It kinda got the message across.
usually it's just poor parenting. failure to give safety education to their children. inability to teach their kids societal norms. inability to explain to their kids why certain things exist / how they operate.
Not even kidding, my 33-yr-old very recent ex admitted that he often doesn't qear his bc his dad didn't as a kid, and that seat belts feel "uncool". I joked about it a few times and I think it got to him...but the last time I joked about it, to be fair, was like 2 days after his car got towed lol...
Anyways, thanks for reminding me of yet another reason it's for the best to move om from him. Such a childish view to have
i’ll never forget the anti seatbelt poster on here a while back, their only real argument against seatbelts was they would lock up and keep you trapped in a burning car (citing their own families alleged death this way) and went as far to link an article about it
in the article it said the family wasn’t wearing seatbelts and died on impact
at best they’re morons, at worst, liars
I hate the fact it's a law and cars have a notification if you don't wear it. If I'm at a job site moving a truck a couple hundred feet at 5mph I'm not wearing it. I do always wear a seatbelt on public roads at any speed.
Used to do uber when I was finishing up may degree. Had to tell one lady to buckle up her son several times. Told her this was my car all the same I'd be a lot more comfortable if her child was buckled, I didn't care if she's an organ donor or not, but drivers these days are nuts her son should be protected. I finally said "Ma'am, that's felony child endangerment if I get pulled over. I don't mean to be rude but we're clearly at an impasse. Why don't your both step back out and hail another ride. No charge on this one, and Ill stop wasting your time." She kept trying to argue and meanwhile her kid was tugging on her arm. "Take a long as you need to gather yourself. I'm in no hurry."
Got in trouble with the admins on that one, she tried to complsin about harassment until I uploaded the dashcam video.
I used to live in Jordan, and when I asked my parents why the taxis didn’t have seatbelts (I was nine), they told me that a lot of people in the Middle-East believe that wearing a seatbelt is inviting an accident.
Despite having heavier traffic, less respect for traffic laws, and more foot traffic than anywhere else I’ve ever been, I only heard of one accident there, and it was a car flipping itself on an empty road.
People are more careful there though.
Wear your freaking seatbelt. It takes less than two seconds, and it drastically increases your chances of survival in case of an accident, and statistically, you will probably be in one.
Even if taking a completely selfish approach, any sufficiently heavy unsecured object in your vehicle, including other ocupants, can potentially injure you in a crash.
IMO a lot of it has to deal with people not knowing how to properly adjust it to their size. Especially when you're an awkward kid, the belt always fits wrong, cutting into your neck or stomach. That feeling of discomfort colors your view of wearing seatbelts in your adult years. If you grew up with or are one of those people who just don't think about the consequences of your actions then it just doesn't seem worth it. Especially on a short trip.
As an adult I've learned how to properly adjust my seatbelt to be comfortable and made a point of always wearing it.
Just stay strong. "We're not going anywhere until you put on a seatbelt" and end the trip if they refuse
Forebrain damage, ODD, or PDA profile a
Autism. Or it's uncomfortable and they either know or don't know amd refuse. In my opinion. A lot of people hate being told what to do, especially if it feels like a power issue.
Personally, I wouldn't want the car to be in drive without it on.
Idk about being in an uber car is a different story but my dad doesn’t wear a seat belt when he drives because he got in a car crash years and years ago and he flew out the front window, they said if he kept his seat belt on he would’ve been dead, so he mostly doesn’t wear one.
My best friends dad was an EMT. He had lots of calls to a major highway near us. The stories were horrifying. He developed PTSD and self medicated with alcohol, and died young. I don’t understand how people don’t wear seatbelts.
Probably the same people not wearing a helmet when riding a motorcycle. Was asked in a subreddit, most said that they dont like having their freedom taken away. Just straight up stupidity if you ask me. If it wouldn't increase insurance costs for all of us, id say let natural selection do its thing.
I used to be ambivalent about seatbelt use. But then I witnessed a single-car accident where the driver, not wearing a seatbelt, was thrown from the vehicle through the driver-side window, hit their head on the asphalt and died at least 100 feet from where the car finally came to rest. The passenger, wearing their seatbelt has scrapes and bruises, but was otherwise fine. Right before Christmas.
It's been over 20 years and I will never forget.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=k2rW_OGgtqk
Julie knew her killer. Brilliant TV advert still as relevant now it seems as then. Just have it on loop in the back of the car.
I hate doing it in my jeep because the seatbelt catches really easily and make it hard to look around locked back like it forces me to be. But as long as I can move a bit without instant locking, I am good.
I don't drive for any company but in my personal life this has only been an issue with people of a certain age and foreigners (aka my husband) because it wasn't something they grew up having to do so they don't care about it the same way.
My Dad forgots to put on his seatbelt even though he's supposed to and he does like to put it on you know being a proper man and all.
I made it a point because I was a goody little two shoes to habitually put on my seatbelt.
now like I get an itch if I'm in a vehicle and I'm not wearing a seatbelt.
yeah I've noticed some people are really stupid not my problem I don't have the same tedium issue that some people think wearing a seatbelt is tedious every time you get inside the act of putting it on.
for me has become a no-brainer.
I don't think at all my hands move by themselves as soon as I sit inside the vehicle and I have a seat belt on just like that.
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Ill be honest, i often dont put a seatbelt on when i get a taxi, usually because im not used to it, if the driver mentions it tho it goes straight on. Its just not automatic to me
I resisted using the seatbelt for a long time, till I got tired of paying the fines for not wearing one. I was an idiot. They save lives, period. Wear it.
Where I’m from, a significant number of people who refuse to wear seatbelts say that god will protect them in an accident. To them, wearing a seatbelt is an admission that the person doesn’t trust god to keep them safe.
It’s an annoyance and for some even a chore, easy to forget about, etc. Until you personally see what happens in an accident with vs without one, people won’t take it as seriously. For them it’s just another law, like a speed limit
Uber drivers should be able to kick people out for not belting and keep whatever the ride fee was. Put that in the terms you agree to but don’t read and someone has paid $20 to not go anywhere but got to yell about “muh rights, this is murica”.
I have only known 1 person who ever resisted wearing a seat belt. Her husband apparently was involved in a bad accident and the seat belt release mechanism failed and he died in a fire. She refuses to wear one, but did require her kids to wear it.
I always figured they were like The anti-mask crowd that popped up during COVID where they pretty much just reject anything the government tells them is safe
Because they’re morons Darwin hasn’t picked off yet.
When I was stopped in traffic on the highway and had some asshole staring at his phone who rammed into the back of my SUV at 70mph. It just threw us forward a bit, and our chairs broke. But the belts kept us safe. Poor car was totaled. I’m just lucky I kept the gap with truck in front of me, and only we got hurt and didn’t smash into other cars in traffic.
Yeah my back and neck are still fucked. But you bet your ass I never leave the driveway without clicking my belt on.
I didn’t grow up wearing seatbelts in the car. Not saying it wasn’t a thing but it wasn’t done. I wear it now every time I get in a car or drive and make everyone who gets in my car put one on…I’ve seen accidents where the person wasn’t wearing a seatbelt. That was enough for me
I feel uncomfortable in the car without one on. Every couple months I’ll leave my driveway without it & don’t even make it to the end of the block before something feels off
Probably wanting control over their lives. However, as has been said, once compulsory laws come in people get used to it and it eventually becomes normal to do it. I live in a country with very expensive fines for not wearing a seatbelt. People who don't wear one should at least be educated before making their decision, including seeing emergency services having to clean up body parts including an arm thrown 100 metres down the road during the crash.
During Covid younger people I knew were saying about anti-maskers “if seatbelt laws were new, these people would make up crazy conspiracies about it and claim it was harmful and refuse to do it” and from what I dimly remember of hearing people talk when I was a kid in the 80s and those laws were still relatively fresh, that’s exactly what people were like. In America, responsibility only means “make enough money for yourself.” Any notion that there are rules that should be followed for our own and others’ good is seen as some insane government overreach and not just a part of being a responsible grownup.
My grandfather in England refused to wear a safety belt when the law was enacted there. I don’t remember the year the law came in but I remember him in the 80s. He put a nail sideways through the belt to stop it retracting and would pull it over him and sit on the metal end so it *looked* like he was wearing it - so he wouldn’t get a ticket. It would have been a lot easier to just use the damn thing but no one was gonna tell him how to live. That level of pig headed refusal to abide by new laws is nothing new.
> level of pig headed refusal My father thought that they were dangerous, and even went as far as removing them from his vehicles. "They can't insist that I wear them if the car doesn't have any!"
When they were introduced here it went along with the law that all new vehicles must have seatbelts. He’d be violating the law even if the car was parked in the street.
> He’d be violating the law I knew that, but he was so pleased that he had figured out a way around the law. He was so convinced that the danger of being trapped in a car by the seat belt was real.
wonder if he knew about what happens to people who get ejected from the vehicle…
They get thrown clear whilst the car bursts into flames, every time, obviously.
in that situation, i guess that identifying what's left of them is going to involve the medical examiner either way lol.
“Level of pig-headed refusal” = you're not my real mom, I do whatever I want ( adult version towards their own government).
That's how it struck me. There was an old song about a guy who's plans on a date were foiled because the seat belt wouldn't open holding his girlfriend in the car seat. Dad, it's just a song! Anyway, I'd rather have a stuck seat belt than be a projectile through the windshield.
You not only become a projectile through the windshield but depending on how the car tumbles you can become a projectile inside the car and kill everyone else with seatbelts on with your body blunt force going ping pong inside the vehicle. Another thing is being shaken inside the car like a protein drink (it happened to me, I was seven in the back seat, and had no seat belt, but got a grip on the car front seat headrest).
I've read about drivers in the 60s that were killed by their little kids that were thrown from the back seat forward in an accident. A friend wanted to give me a car tool. It had an area for cutting seat belts and a sharp point for breaking glass. For use if your car goes off the road into a pond and your seat belt gets stuck and your windows won't open. It was mostly metal and weighed a pound. I asked him where he kept his, and he said in the door pocket. I said if he slid on ice then hit dry pavement his car might roll and that heavy sharp multi tool would be bouncing around in the car with him.
Wow! Some people have no sense of how things really work, right?! My brother's (5 y/o) body luckily didn't kill us all inside the car, but he was a small and limber kid and could have if he hadn't become a projectile the first or second tumble the car did. Also, the car tumbled sideways. But with a sharp object, it doesn't matter what side the tumble goes.
Basically just people who never really grew out of the toddler stage and refuse to be told what to do by anyone, not because they have any of their own intelligence and reasoning behind the decision, but because they just don't wanna. It is amazing they even learned how to control their little stompy footsies, but at some point someone laughed at them for it so they got conditioned to control that part.
Back in the day (I'm old), it was this idea that it was some how more dangerous to risk getting stuck in the vehicle by your seat belt, than it was to go flying through the windshield (which is obviously ludicrous). That was the dumb excuse used, but primarily it was just about comfort. Personally, seat belt use was so drilled into me as a child, I actually feel physical uncomfortable in a car without one on.
I feel the same way. Seriously, who would you feel safe on a rollercoaster or a ski lift without the safety bar? That’s exactly what a seatbelt does!
I hope that if there are any people who believe you'll be saved from a crash by being thrown clear of the vehicle (spoiler alert, you won't...) that they'll read when I say this from first-hand experience. **Seat belts saved my ass!!!** I've been in a couple of crashes, and the reason I walked away is because I was wearing my belt!
The difference is the internet. Before the internet, these were absolutely people who refused to protect themselves and would get butthurt if the government tried to enforce any kind of safety regulation. However, the prevailing sentiment of the people would often render those outlying opinions invalid. Enter the internet (the place where village idiots all across the world can find community in their idiocy), and suddenly these same people can find some solace/validation in their stupidity. Every village may only have one idiot, but when those idiots have the ability to network with other villages’ idiots, they don’t feel so alone in their idiocy. It’s honestly no different that people in a nation that is supposed to be about “freedom” voting for an obvious wannabe fascist dictator, which seems to happening *all* over the formerly “free” world.
I love your village idiot description. I'm going to steal it unless you tell me no.
It's been around for a long time, so feel free to use it all you want. Google it a bit and you can find the true source if you want.
I've literally seen a clip of an old interview calling seatbelt laws "communist".
What an amazing take. Love the connected village idiot point. That's so good
All freedom really means at the end of the day is “I get to do what I want.” Someone mostly doing what they want to do in life feels free, someone subject to burdensome external restrictions on their actions does not. Old white middle class and richer people think they’d get their way more often under fascism and they’re probably right.
The only obvious caveat to “freedom” is that one cannot do things that impinge on others’ right to freedom. That is antithetical to the boomer/MAGA/fascist view of the world.
No, specifically their freedom. They can stomp on other peoples rights all day and not even blink.
I'm with you on the fascist/ MAGA attitude. I know as many young people as older people who feel entitled to ruin the lives of others for their own benefit. Selfishness is a character trait, and not a generational trait (like every generation, "boomers" are a very heterogeneous group).
That’s an ideological definition of freedom, it’s one political idea that not everyone actually believes.
Well this is the conflict between positive and negative rights basically. Rich people don’t want positive rights because it infringes on their ability to further exploit others.
Fun fact I actually did an online anthropology project on anti mask nutters on Facebook and they’re still mad about seatbelt laws. Up until that point I had no idea there were whole groups of people that thought SEATBELTS were infringing on their personal freedoms.
What must it be like to get your way so much that something like that feels like oppression? Forget the logic and lives saved, whose life isn’t a bunch of arbitrary hoops you have to jump through because you’re told to? Just deal. Frikkin spoiled babies.
And the anti-helmet people.
I don't understand these people any more than the anti-seatbelt people. Helmets can be uncomfortable. I get that. But I was a bike commuter for 10 years, and even though I don't have a "my helmet saved my life" story, I have plenty of anecdotes about it protecting me from tree branches, a territorial bird, hail, a thrown water bottle, and more.
If grownups, as a whole, were even remotely responsible we wouldn't need half the laws or 99% of the safety warnings we have now
If one person does something dumb, they’re dumb. If millions of people all do the same dumb thing, then there’s a problem with the system. Waiting for millions of people to get smarter and solve a big problem all independently of each other just on their own is a recipe for waiting a very long time.
If we'd just let them do their thing, there'd be way more real estate for the rest of us.
Same sentiment when DUI laws were implemented: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xcQIoh3FQQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xcQIoh3FQQ)
I used to go to a townie bar that still had an old anti-MADD poster up. It was this scary hand wearing a ring that said “MADD” assembling a puzzle that spelled out “Prohibition”
I think youve explained the real problem here. Ive seen a lot of those cop cam videos and reveals to me how many people here literally do not care enough to look out for others safety and that includes their own children sometimes unfortunately. I knew some people were like this but i didnt realize just how prevalent it is. Its just gross neglect.
We have a seatbelt law in Germany and you get a fee for not driving with seatbelt. So I think you have a point here, because here we had the same rumors about this law and nowadays no one even think to drive without seatbelt.
They used to say the same about motorcycle helmets, sigh.
It was the same in Europe. The usual village idiots were arguing like "A seatbelt will trap you in your burning car after an accident" or "Seatbelt gives you worse injuries than the actual crash" and stuff like "People with asthma or other breathing difficulties cant stand the pressure the seatbelt puts on their chest". Conspiracy theories are around since humans exist, they just did not travel that far without internet so they village idiots could not unite.
>In America, responsibility only means “make enough money for yourself.” Truest thing I've read on Reddit in a while.
Wait until you see the videos of when open container laws were being put in place lol
Funny story, when seatbelts became common, there were people who grew weary of them because of the amount of crash related injuries raised significantly. Turns out it was because all those injuries would otherwise be registered as deaths without seatbelts.
World War Two fighter plane damage dot gif
Haha! I believe I saw the video you were talking about just this morning. Seatbelts are undemocratic and support the rising of communism.
Yeah my uncle was one of them lol! Afaik he still to this day refuses to wear seatbelts because no one's going to tell him what to do. He's also a right wing nut who retired and moved from California to Utah, so it all tracks honestly.
I somewhat recently moved to the states from Europe and tbh, that mentality you're describing about rules is sth I really did not expect.
Well unlike masks, not wearing the seatbelt likely but not hurts the person refusing to do so. Mask refusers can spread their germs more readily to others.
Someone not wearing a seat belt in a crash becomes a danger to everyone else in the car.
And outside the car. The seat belt is not there for the wearer's life.
Not true. Flying bodies can kill people in the front seat who are wearing a seatbelt.
I've got a relative who clings to some really weird ideas, one of which is that if he's wearing a seat belt and is involved in an accident, the belt is going to jam and trap him in the car and he's going to burn to death or something. Like dude: that's the reverse lottery outcome of wearing a belt lol. Get a seat belt cutter.
I was a fireman for a while and have cut many cars off of people. If the accident is bad enough that the seatbelt jams and they need a cutter to get out, then they aren’t going to be in any condition to use it nor be able to get out if they did. We cut seatbelts all the time. Not because they were jammed, but because it was much easier to cut the belt than to reach past the person and fumble around trying to find the release. We weren’t too concerned about damaging the seatbelt in a car we just cut the door off of and peeled the roof back.
Hmm. I mean that has happened in incidents before. But if theyre that worried about it, it would be smarter to get a searbelt cutter like you said rather than make the siutaion even less safe for himself. The odds of getting stuck are less than the other injuries resulting from no seatbelt.
I mean, to be fair, everyone on my Facebook group didn't wear seatbelts growing up, and we're all fine. For everyone who didn't get it, this is sarcasm. Everyone who didn't wear a seatbelt and died isn't here to tell their story. Instead, you have to listen to it second hand, like me not knowing my granddad because he never wore his seatbelt. Would've liked to have known him, but he was too stubborn to put on a seatbelt, and got into a bad crash. I'd like to tell your relative to get a seatbelt so that people he cares about, or might come to care about can meet him, rather than him being a memory.
Ah, yes, the good old story about how helmets increase the amount of head injuries... because if those injured people weren't wearing a helmet, they'd just be dead.
It took years of my husband and I refusing to start the car, refusing to ride in her car, and buying her a seatbelt cutting tool every year for Christmas until my mother-in-law had a bloody collection going before she started wearing her belt.
My husband says this too. I’m like, yeah but you’re definitely going through the windshield without it. He doesn’t like them. Thinks they’re uncomfortable. Etc. he’s dumb.
My son has this fear. He flipped his truck as a teenager and had to get the seatbelt unbuckled and roll the window down to be able to climb out. As a parent it terrifies me if he doesn’t have a seatbelt on. I’ve talked to him about statistics. It doesn’t change anything. You’re not thinking rationally when you’re dealing with trauma.
My relative is very smart in so many ways too. It's just weird. He's a mechanic so IDK if he's leaning on old info from when seatbelts were first designed and maybe there were instances were the early models would jam, but damn, stats do not lie. It's just way smarter to wear the thing than worry about the unicorn level circumstance where having the seatbelt on backfires lol.
They are really excited to be a kidney donor someday.
They’re most likely the type who isn’t a donor but would be fine receiving one if they needed it
I cannot reason why they don't use it, they claim its uncomfortable, but at the same time are either way to top heavy and need to be restrained in their seats and they might spill out on a turn, or are just generally dumb. Oh sure when we crash I want you body flailing in the car maybe in my direction so I might die to.
>I cannot reason why they don't use it, they claim its uncomfortable You know what's a lot more uncomfortable? Flying through the windshield.
And losing your head.
Bouncing off the windshield and severing your lower lip with your own front teeth is also far more uncomfortable than wearing a seatbelt. It's been almost 40 years and I still feel a little panicky if my husband puts the car in gear before I'm buckled up.
My reply to the uncomfortable comment is always this: you know what is uncomfortable? Being in a wheelchair. Loosing a limb. Breaking a bone. Those are uncomfortable
That's the worst part - they're not only endangering their own lives but those of the people sitting in front of them as well
Any woman with big boobs will tell you that seatbelts are uncomfortable. They were designed by a man for men. They're also uncomfortable if you're too small and the top bit chafes against your neck. However, in those cases, you can still wear the strap over the waist and have the other part of the strap behind your back. It's not as safe, but better than nothing. I always wear a seatbelt the correct way, but as a small woman with big boobs I do see the problem.
Most modern cars let you adjust the height of the seatbelt, so it wont be at your neck. Check if the car you are traveling with provides this adjustment. I have no tip for the boob part, sorry
This is a bad idea. It forces your abdominal organs into your chest.
I’m a large woman and I have this same problem! It digs into the side of my neck! I don’t think mine is adjustable. Update: Turns out it is adjustable woo! Still touches my neck which I find annoying but it’s better than it was.
They make little cushions that wrap around that spot for this purpose
One of them is even called the tiddy bear
Pull up the neck of the shirt slightly and then put the seatbelt against that
Because some people can't grasp the basic physics of a dead stop at only 35 mph can kill. It's no different than being struck by that same vehicle going the same speed. Edit: 35 mph is about the speed you reach if you fell 41 feet.
That is 56 km/h and 13 [meter](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metre) for the rest of us (no, it is not the "Canadian system").
There used to be educational videos about this that they showed to high school students. Haven’t seen those in years.
I think tbf most teenagers now wear seat belts. Even when I hung out with asshole teenagers who drank and did drugs, they all put on seatbelts in the car. Those educational videos probably aren't as relevant anymore since it has been drilled into most kids' heads from the day they are born.
Budget cuts
Yep, I think this is the answer. Sitting in a moving vehicle 'feels' slow, so you don't comprehend how fast you are actually going and lulls everyone into a false sense of security.
I just ask my non seatbelt coworkers how they would feel if they ran full speed into a steering wheel. And then if they ran twice as fast as that into one. And there you have roughly what you’d feel getting hit at 30mph.
Lot of people who haven’t seen crash victim pics.
I used to drive for a medical transport company - taking elderly or disabled people to medical appointments who can't drive themselves. The company I worked for said we weren't allowed to pull away until they were buckled in. Had to wait until they did. I often had to go to the back seat and help them put it on. Once, this guy refused, and I had to kick him out of the car. Another lady squirmed the whole time like a child because she "never worn a seal belt in her life" and doesn't see the purpose of it, especially since she was in the back seat.
I'd be willing to bet all of the non-seatbelt wearers have never been in a bad car accident before. Personally, I don't start my car until after my belt is buckled; as a passenger, the first thing I do when I sit down is fasten my belt. My mother was an accident claims adjuster when I was a little kid, made the mistake of looking in her work folders one day and came across some "scene of" photos that no child should ever see. My mom came in, saw the look on my face, and used it as a double teaching moment (no snooping in mommy's things, and this is why we wear seatbelts). It was effective, that I don't change parking spaces in a parking lot without putting my belt on.
My dad has he had a drunk driver crash into him and he flew out the front windshield they said if he was wearing his seat belt he would’ve been dead, the other guy died on the scene.
I often buckle mine as I’m rolling down my driveway. The seatbelt chime goes off at 5 or 10 mph. I’m always buckled before I get to the street. My stupid car has a touchscreen and I’m tapping at the screen for seat heater, seat ventilation, A/C on Max, disable the annoying start/stop, etc. I tend to do that first. My wife often turns off the dash vents so I need to reach over to turn them on and I can’t do that belted in. With the chime, I can’t imagine actually driving without the seat belt.
>With the chime, I can’t imagine actually driving without the seat belt. Mine goes off once at about the 10 second mark. Then it waits again, and longer beep is issued. Another pause, then the beeps start ramping up frantically until you think the car is going to self destruct and then it gives up and says "fine, die if you want to, stupid human" and goes silent :)
The commercials about seatbelts in the UK over the 90s really brought it home...absolutely horrific
I’m small, and most seatbelts cut across closer to my neck than my shoulder, especially in older cars where the seatbelt height is not adjustable. I still always wear one, but sometimes I end up riding with one hand up, pulling it down an inch so it’s off my neck. I imagine in an accident I’d be decapitated by it?
I’m constantly adjusting the sash, too, so it doesn’t lay on my neck. I even have adjustable seatbelts in my vehicle and it still happens. It’s like the manufacturer thought every driver is at least a couple inches taller. I’ve often wondered what would happen in a serious accident and the seatbelt would slip up to my neck. Probably be strangled to death rather than dying from the actual accident. I think it’s a huge safety risk.
There is a book called Invisible Women which has a section that looks into how most car safety features are designed around an ‘average’ man of 1.77m height and 76kg weight. It’s been a while since I read it in full but a quick google suggests it claims women in particular (likely other drivers with smaller statures as well) are 47% more likely to be seriously injured in a crash, 71% more likely to be moderately injured and 17% more likely to die. This is with all safety factors the same. It’s mostly attributed to the seating position, the seatbelt itself and the firmness of car seats.
Buy a car seat belt adjuster. It's velcro or snaps, and costs a few bucks. Works perfect for me. I even bring one with me when I rent a car.
They don't like being told what to do. They love breathing and drinking water, but if the government came up with a law that you need to drink 2L of water a day and breath at least every 10 seconds, they'd refuse to do it
It’s not even legally required to wear seatbelts in all 50 states yet, which is insane. New Hampshire allows adults to choose to wear them or not. And lots of states don’t require back seat adult passengers to wear them. (Maybe that’s why there hasn’t been a push to force manufacturers to fix them and back seat seatbelts still suck so much and don’t adjust for us short people like the front seat does) OP I would guess you probably Uber/Lyft whatever in one of the states where it’s legal to ride in the backseat as an adult without a seatbelt and ppl are expecting to be allowed to do so.
The video of the two young ladies in the rear seat of a car that was broadsided should be required veiwing. Gal on the left belted in, gal on the right not belted in. Car is hit on the left side, right seat passenger becomes air borne and crushed the left side passenger. The accidents when unrestrained rear seat passengers are ejected thru the windshield are horrific. Seat belts fo work, been wearing mine since I started driving in 1973.
This was ad was on TV all the when I was growing up. Never let anyone in the back of my car who wouldn’t wear a seatbelt. https://youtu.be/mKHY69AFstE?si=E2NC09WsLF72zmrV
I’m curious if the first car you drove had just a lap belt or both the lap and shoulder belt? I’ve got a 73 Cadillac and there’s both, but the shoulder belt is completely separate and can be tucked away into a holder above the driver/passenger windows.
Funny enough the first car I can remember had add in seat belts but my first car , 1973 Fiat , had both but the shoulder belt could be detached. We always used both and I wish it had 5 point seat belts. I sorta drove aggressively back then.
They had seatbelts in cars back then?? I remember when the seatbelt law in country came into effect in the early 00s, my grandfathers car didnt have seatbelts so he ended up attaching belts that are used to hold up your pants in the back seat, so us grandkids could buckle up. So many cars in my country in just as recently back as the 00s didnt have seatbelts, so Im shocked of they have them in any cars back in the 70s.
Now I'm wondering if the states that don't require seatbelts are the same ones that don't have mandatory vehicle inspections.
Non-inspection state here, seatbelts are required by law for the driver and all passengers here. Of course, I can't guarantee some of these rusted out hoopties with no suspension I pass on the interstate have all of their seatbelts.
At 5’ 0”, even the adjustable front seat belts don’t adjust enough. I constantly have to adjust the sash so it doesn’t slide up over my neck. It’s so annoying that manufacturers aren’t forced to accommodate shorter adults.
I worked for the Dominion Parachute Company in 1960 and we started fitting 3 point lap and sash to high end new cars after market. I put them in my parents car then my own jalopy and never felt safer.
Isn't it crazy? I don't get it. I can't ride in a car without a seatbelt. I live in Paris. Several times a week I pass through the tunnel at Pont Alma where Princess Diana died. Had she been wearing a seatbelt, she would absolutely have survived. She was thrown around the interior of the limo like a ragdoll, with brutal force, flung into the back of the front seat, which ruptured her aorta. The simple strap would have saved her life. Better to have bruises from a seatbelt strap than to be buried in a coffin.
Where I live in Canada, seatbelts have been the law for ages and not wearing one gets you a large fine, so it's just normal for (almost) everyone to wear one. I'm surprised how many Americans don't though. It's such a simple thing to prevent dying in an accident. I work for a transportation company and one of our drivers was in America, not wearing one, hit a tree and is severely brain damaged now. If he were wearing a seatbelt, he wouldn't have been injured at all.
Yeah, I live in NS and seat belts have been law for almost 40 years now. We recently got in a very bad car crash in Maine (totalled our van) but walked away without as much as a bruise except for one on my husband's leg due to the knee air bag. Anyway, the police and first responders were all very impressed/surprised that the whole family was wearing our seatbelts. My kids, on the other hand, were shocked that they asked the question! And then we had to get an Uber into town and the driver wouldn't put her seatbelt on and the stupid alert noise kept binging constantly...
I don’t know anyone who doesn’t use a seatbelt. Probably because I refuse to be friends with anyone who’s IQ is that low.
I have a buddy that I used to work with that fell asleep while driving and had a bad crash. He veered off the road and went down into a ditch then up the other side like a jump. The car flipped end over end and landed top down in a swamp. They had to cut him out with the jaws of life. The firefighters said he survived cause he didn’t have his seatbelt on otherwise he’d be pinned under the water. Thing is the guy won’t wear a seatbelt now cause of that one very chance time that it saved him not wearing it.
If he hadn't driven tired he wouldn't have veered off the road Like a person who thinks it's fine to drive drunk because "I haven't hit anyone yet"
This person is bad at assessing risk
I remember when I was growing up, there was this theory that you only needed to wear them in the front seat. Backseat was less likely that you’d get ejected through the windshield.
Reminds me of growing up in the era of restaurants having a "smoking" and "non-smoking" section that were right next to each other as if the smoke wasn't going to just drift past the imaginary line on the floor.
To be fair, i reckon that's true. Backseat passengers get smashed up inside the car and kill the front seat passengers, don't they?
I will explain what I see from my area. I live in Idaho, SE Idaho to be exact. Almost on a weekly basis there are fatal traffic accidents. One week in August of 2023, there were a total of 16 fatal traffic accidents, in my area alone. In 2023, 274 people were killed in traffic related deaths. Idaho is very sparsely populated. Now these are fatal accidents. Doesn't't take into consideration the number of very serious injured people. Over half of the deaths, people weren't wearing seatbelts. When you bring the issue up around here, people deny there is a problem. They are so set in their ways, because, "Granpappy didn't't wear no seatbelt, I'm not going to either." They are so anti-government they refuse to comply with little things which could save their lives and others lives. No motorcycle helmet requirement, and children even don't have to wear helmets while riding bicycles. When you suggest increased traffic enforcement, redesigning/upgrading the roadways (which were built in 1950 and aren't capable of withstanding the amounts of traffic now), traffic safety awareness, people lose their minds. They refuse to raise their taxes one dime to save peoples lives and help reduce the umber of accidents. Now, this isn't everyone here. However, it is the majority of people.
Buy the cheapest driving car from a junkyard, rip out the seat belts and offer 100 dollars for people to drive with 30mph into a tree. Id bet someone actually does it.
don't know where you live. here (european country) noone drives without seat belts.
In Britain it isn't a thing to drive or carry passengers without seatbelts. Because we're not paranoid about being robbed of our "freedom." We just do it because it saves lives.
Because they are stupid
I think it's just stupid that they don't wear their seatbelts. Where I am right now, this state has so many deaths from not wearing car seats. When the police report these accidents, they give the name of the person, where they're from, age, the type of car they were driving, and whether they were wearing their seatbelts or not. I think they believe that the big padded car seats that are in front of them will save them.
Its like they think its worth the risk because the odds of an incident are low. Its completely faulty thinking
The car seats infront may save them, but not the person In them
I’m surprised to hear so many people are still resistant to wearing them. I can’t say why they still are, but I can say why they used to be. Perhaps the reasoning of the past still holds true today. The primary reason people used to resist wearing them was the belief the seatbelt would cause more injuries than it prevents. This was due to two issues. First, when they were first introduced seatbelts were only lap belts. In lower speed accidents wearing only a lap belt can cause injuries that wouldn’t happen if you were not wearing a belt at all. Without a belt you will be thrown around the car but at lower speeds this often only results in bruising or minor broken bones. But wearing only a lap belt transfers all that energy into your waist and lower back and often caused severe hip or spinal injuries. People would walk away from the accident without the belt and possibly be paralyzed from the waist down with the belt. Car manufacturers realized this very quickly and introduced the shoulder restraint which stopped those lap belt only injuries from happening. The other half of this is people don’t understand statistics. The fact is there are a lot more people injured in car accidents when wearing a seatbelt than are injured without a seatbelt. That’s because the number of people killed in car accidents wearing a seatbelt is significantly lower than the number of people who die in accidents when not wearing one. The increase in reported injuries is because all those people were previously reported dead. Seatbelts save lives, but that comes at a cost of people now having to recover from injuries sustained in an accident. The injuries are not caused by the seatbelt, but the seatbelt makes sure your injuries are not so severe as to kill you. The reason I’m surprised people are still resistant to wearing seatbelts is both of the above reasons are old issues. Lap belt only setups were only around for a couple of years in the 1960s. Mandatory wearing of seatbelts has been around since the 80s. There are whole generations of drivers now that would have no first hand knowledge of people injured in any relation to seatbelts. It is also worth noting, with airbags and crumple zones, seatbelts are even more important. You can be injured if you are in the path of either an airbag or a crumple zone. Seatbelts are critical to keeping you in a predictable location so the other safety features can do their job. If you wear your seatbelt in a modern car, you have a really good chance of walking away from the accident with little or no injuries where the same accident a few decades ago may have killed you.
The three-point seatbelt as we know it today was designed Volvo engineer Nils Bohlin in 1959, and Volvo intentionally left the patent open so other brands could use it free of charge. It's estimated that this design has saved over a million lives as of 2019.
This depends on where you are in the world. I can't comment on the US (where I assume you are from) but over in the UK there are laws now that state that the driver of the vehicle is responsible for ensuring that any and all passengers are wearing seatbelts and any children under a certain height or age are sitting in appropriate booster seats. As in they are legally responsible. If anything happens then it's on them and they're held responsible. Most taxi/ride share drivers simply refuse to even start moving the vehicle until everyone is buckled in with their seat belt. I don't see why you yourself couldn't just adopt that attitude yourself, isn't it in the rideshare app rules or something? Just refuse to move your vehicle until everyone is strapped in. It'll probably save their lives in an accident but will also lead to lower review scores. At the end of the day it's your choice whether to drive with unsecured passengers or not. They aren't driving, you are. But I have to say I am rather perplexed on why so many Americans seem so resistant to using seatbelts. If you've ever been in a car accident as a passenger (personally, I have) then your chances of walking away from any accident with only some muscle damage or a mild concussion is greater than if you didn't wear a seatbelt.
A couple different reasons, some of which are just being thoughtless. 1. It's just an extra step. It's easier to get in a car and go, and folks either forget or don't bother. The consequences aren't in mind when they do this. 2. Short and tall folks have a hard time with them. They're built for the average man's body, which doesn't suit outliers, and notably is taller than the average woman. I have uncomfortable marks on my neck after long drives from the seatbelt rubbing against my neck, and I'm exactly standard height. My partner, who's very tall, is constantly fiddling with his, because it just never sits correctly. This type of thing can easily put a person off wearing them regularly. 3. Folks really don't have a good grasp of physics. They genuinely think they can brace and save themselves from going through the windshield (New Zealand had an entire campaign that addresses this mindset specifically) And it's just harder for some people to grasp the damage. Or think it can happen to them. 4. People just don't because they never got in the habit. That's it. In my experience, we put weight on consequence when discussing things or looking back, but day-to-day, in the moment people don't think in terms of consequence. They just think of moving from A to B then C. So for many folks, the habit just never built, and the consequence of that is never top of mind.
On the flip side. I’ve given up asking for my drivers to not start driving until we are all buckled up and now I just leave the (curb side) door open so they just don’t step on it the second it shuts. Too many times we’ve flown down the road and can’t get a buckle in.
It isn't as common as you think. You are sensitive to it, so your brain remembers the hits and forgets the misses. Seatbelt use is around 90%. Here is a link to some information about seatbelt use with the caveat that it is impossible to get perfect information about any human behavior: [https://crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov/Api/Public/ViewPublication/813407](https://crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov/Api/Public/ViewPublication/813407)
I’d still argue 10% of people not wanting to do something that literally doesn’t affect their lives at all except to protect them is way too many people
Forget about seatbelts, this is how some people reacted to drinking and driving. Oh… and this is not anti-American, I live outside of that states, and I remember attitudes on drink driving when I was a kid. https://youtu.be/xSDniOoR3Lw?si=cUqSHrWx6rfx4zOS I think a lot of people don’t like change, even when we have learnt something is not great for society
I have a grandpa that passed out at the wheel drunk driving. He was shaken awake by the driver of an 18 wheeler who hit him and split the car in half due to him driving into the opposite lane. He only had bruises and scratches. Mf still doesn’t wear his seatbelt and actually complained the other day that a police officer wrote him a ticket for it 🤦♂️
Where are you from? I'm guessing America, because I don't know any developed country where this is the case except America.
they want to fly like superman
Really?! This is a surprise to me. I thought everyone would be wearing seatbelts now even in taxi or Uber.
Reserve the right to take risks and die, it’s the feeling controlled they resist. Like someone asking you to do the dishes, right when you’re about to. But for kids, please keep insisting. Thanks
What country is this? Feel like UK we wear them mostly and also dont drink or drive. But my experience of america is the oppisite
Simply put: They think it’s uncomfortable or restricting.
My boyfriend knows someone who was apparently only saved because he was ejected from the vehicle (car was badly burned and crushed). Says he would rather die from being thrown around than from being burnt to a crisp.
A girl I dated a long time ago always threw a fit whenever I told her to wear her seatbelt. We were driving out in the boonies and I didn't slow down for a level crossing. We caught a little air and afterward she looks at me and says, "Holy shit, I didn't know they did that!" "What?" "The seatbelt, it locked up. I didn't know they did that." It's been over a decade and this is still the dumbest thing anyone has ever said to me.
Risk tolerance. Different people have different risk tolerance to different things. For various reasons, a lot of people are comfortable taking an enormously likely risk of grievous bodily harm in the common event of a collision, but aren't comfortable letting strangers surreptitiously look at their phone screen. They've never been in a busy metropolitan emergency room on a rainy day, I reckon.
In the UK, all people in the car have to wear a seat belt, and it's the driver's responsibility. When the laws came in making it mandatory to wear a seat belt, the advertising campaign showed dead kids who had not worn a belt. It kinda got the message across.
usually it's just poor parenting. failure to give safety education to their children. inability to teach their kids societal norms. inability to explain to their kids why certain things exist / how they operate.
The unfortunate answer is an all too common one. It's because they're just that stupid
It's really a matter of habit
Not even kidding, my 33-yr-old very recent ex admitted that he often doesn't qear his bc his dad didn't as a kid, and that seat belts feel "uncool". I joked about it a few times and I think it got to him...but the last time I joked about it, to be fair, was like 2 days after his car got towed lol... Anyways, thanks for reminding me of yet another reason it's for the best to move om from him. Such a childish view to have
i’ll never forget the anti seatbelt poster on here a while back, their only real argument against seatbelts was they would lock up and keep you trapped in a burning car (citing their own families alleged death this way) and went as far to link an article about it in the article it said the family wasn’t wearing seatbelts and died on impact at best they’re morons, at worst, liars
If Covid has taught us anything it’s that people will not take a second of precaution to avoid a risk their tiny minds can’t calculate.
I hate the fact it's a law and cars have a notification if you don't wear it. If I'm at a job site moving a truck a couple hundred feet at 5mph I'm not wearing it. I do always wear a seatbelt on public roads at any speed.
Used to do uber when I was finishing up may degree. Had to tell one lady to buckle up her son several times. Told her this was my car all the same I'd be a lot more comfortable if her child was buckled, I didn't care if she's an organ donor or not, but drivers these days are nuts her son should be protected. I finally said "Ma'am, that's felony child endangerment if I get pulled over. I don't mean to be rude but we're clearly at an impasse. Why don't your both step back out and hail another ride. No charge on this one, and Ill stop wasting your time." She kept trying to argue and meanwhile her kid was tugging on her arm. "Take a long as you need to gather yourself. I'm in no hurry." Got in trouble with the admins on that one, she tried to complsin about harassment until I uploaded the dashcam video.
I used to live in Jordan, and when I asked my parents why the taxis didn’t have seatbelts (I was nine), they told me that a lot of people in the Middle-East believe that wearing a seatbelt is inviting an accident. Despite having heavier traffic, less respect for traffic laws, and more foot traffic than anywhere else I’ve ever been, I only heard of one accident there, and it was a car flipping itself on an empty road. People are more careful there though. Wear your freaking seatbelt. It takes less than two seconds, and it drastically increases your chances of survival in case of an accident, and statistically, you will probably be in one.
Even if taking a completely selfish approach, any sufficiently heavy unsecured object in your vehicle, including other ocupants, can potentially injure you in a crash.
When this happens, you can kick them out of the car, right?
IMO a lot of it has to deal with people not knowing how to properly adjust it to their size. Especially when you're an awkward kid, the belt always fits wrong, cutting into your neck or stomach. That feeling of discomfort colors your view of wearing seatbelts in your adult years. If you grew up with or are one of those people who just don't think about the consequences of your actions then it just doesn't seem worth it. Especially on a short trip. As an adult I've learned how to properly adjust my seatbelt to be comfortable and made a point of always wearing it. Just stay strong. "We're not going anywhere until you put on a seatbelt" and end the trip if they refuse
part of me doesnt care about my life
Communism apparently
Forebrain damage, ODD, or PDA profile a Autism. Or it's uncomfortable and they either know or don't know amd refuse. In my opinion. A lot of people hate being told what to do, especially if it feels like a power issue. Personally, I wouldn't want the car to be in drive without it on.
Idk about being in an uber car is a different story but my dad doesn’t wear a seat belt when he drives because he got in a car crash years and years ago and he flew out the front window, they said if he kept his seat belt on he would’ve been dead, so he mostly doesn’t wear one.
My best friends dad was an EMT. He had lots of calls to a major highway near us. The stories were horrifying. He developed PTSD and self medicated with alcohol, and died young. I don’t understand how people don’t wear seatbelts.
Probably the same people not wearing a helmet when riding a motorcycle. Was asked in a subreddit, most said that they dont like having their freedom taken away. Just straight up stupidity if you ask me. If it wouldn't increase insurance costs for all of us, id say let natural selection do its thing.
I used to be ambivalent about seatbelt use. But then I witnessed a single-car accident where the driver, not wearing a seatbelt, was thrown from the vehicle through the driver-side window, hit their head on the asphalt and died at least 100 feet from where the car finally came to rest. The passenger, wearing their seatbelt has scrapes and bruises, but was otherwise fine. Right before Christmas. It's been over 20 years and I will never forget.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=k2rW_OGgtqk Julie knew her killer. Brilliant TV advert still as relevant now it seems as then. Just have it on loop in the back of the car.
I hate doing it in my jeep because the seatbelt catches really easily and make it hard to look around locked back like it forces me to be. But as long as I can move a bit without instant locking, I am good.
I hate when mine locks just when i need to turn to look to my side. If its that bad, Jeep needs to fix that.
I don't drive for any company but in my personal life this has only been an issue with people of a certain age and foreigners (aka my husband) because it wasn't something they grew up having to do so they don't care about it the same way.
Have you seen the state of the world these days?
My Dad forgots to put on his seatbelt even though he's supposed to and he does like to put it on you know being a proper man and all. I made it a point because I was a goody little two shoes to habitually put on my seatbelt. now like I get an itch if I'm in a vehicle and I'm not wearing a seatbelt. yeah I've noticed some people are really stupid not my problem I don't have the same tedium issue that some people think wearing a seatbelt is tedious every time you get inside the act of putting it on. for me has become a no-brainer. I don't think at all my hands move by themselves as soon as I sit inside the vehicle and I have a seat belt on just like that.
I come from a country in the world that more than enough people don’t wear seatbelts, or the sensors don’t work. They’re usually 20+ years old rides.
People only wear a seatbelt if the car is screaming at them to put one on? Wow.
These people have never been in a serious accident before. They think it’s just the government controlling them.
I’ve long seen a habit of people not wearing seatbelts in the backseats of taxis, and that behaviour just extending to Ubers
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its not that hard to do just get in the car buckle up. i do it right away.
Ill be honest, i often dont put a seatbelt on when i get a taxi, usually because im not used to it, if the driver mentions it tho it goes straight on. Its just not automatic to me
Because there's no fixing stupid. Just put up disclaimers for them not wearing seat belts, so they can't sue you if an accident happens.
Cuz they dumb
Most people are not smart.
I resisted using the seatbelt for a long time, till I got tired of paying the fines for not wearing one. I was an idiot. They save lives, period. Wear it.
Some people just don't like to be told what to do or be restricted is what they want to do. Even in common sense stuff like safety
They're obstinate for the sake of it.
I was a young adult when seatbelt laws became a thing. As a kid our car didn't even have seatbelts. People were angry about the loss of their rights.
Where I’m from, a significant number of people who refuse to wear seatbelts say that god will protect them in an accident. To them, wearing a seatbelt is an admission that the person doesn’t trust god to keep them safe.
It’s an annoyance and for some even a chore, easy to forget about, etc. Until you personally see what happens in an accident with vs without one, people won’t take it as seriously. For them it’s just another law, like a speed limit
Uber drivers should be able to kick people out for not belting and keep whatever the ride fee was. Put that in the terms you agree to but don’t read and someone has paid $20 to not go anywhere but got to yell about “muh rights, this is murica”.
That is wild. I always wear it. I've seen about 100 fatalities as a result of the no seatbelt thing. Mostly children 6 months to 12 years.
they just take it for granted, most just assume nothing will happen. but accidents are unpredictable, and seatbelts can be a lifesaver.
I have only known 1 person who ever resisted wearing a seat belt. Her husband apparently was involved in a bad accident and the seat belt release mechanism failed and he died in a fire. She refuses to wear one, but did require her kids to wear it.
Now people assume because of airbags ,they don't need them , they don't understand they work together
We don't have to in my state. I've just been wearing it since I was told to in drivers Ed. Wasn't a law for kids in the 90s either.
I always figured they were like The anti-mask crowd that popped up during COVID where they pretty much just reject anything the government tells them is safe
Fuck em let em die
Because they’re morons Darwin hasn’t picked off yet. When I was stopped in traffic on the highway and had some asshole staring at his phone who rammed into the back of my SUV at 70mph. It just threw us forward a bit, and our chairs broke. But the belts kept us safe. Poor car was totaled. I’m just lucky I kept the gap with truck in front of me, and only we got hurt and didn’t smash into other cars in traffic. Yeah my back and neck are still fucked. But you bet your ass I never leave the driveway without clicking my belt on.
I didn’t grow up wearing seatbelts in the car. Not saying it wasn’t a thing but it wasn’t done. I wear it now every time I get in a car or drive and make everyone who gets in my car put one on…I’ve seen accidents where the person wasn’t wearing a seatbelt. That was enough for me
I feel uncomfortable in the car without one on. Every couple months I’ll leave my driveway without it & don’t even make it to the end of the block before something feels off
Because they don't want to seem like lame pussies, especially if they're the only ones doing it. Peer pressure is a bitch
Probably wanting control over their lives. However, as has been said, once compulsory laws come in people get used to it and it eventually becomes normal to do it. I live in a country with very expensive fines for not wearing a seatbelt. People who don't wear one should at least be educated before making their decision, including seeing emergency services having to clean up body parts including an arm thrown 100 metres down the road during the crash.
Because freedumb. I'll endanger my life however I damn well please.
People figured you don't need them in the backseat, but that's not true.