Britbike forum Forums General discussion The Rod and Tappet How do you even DO this .... ?

News item today in the local paper ...

At 2:12 p.m. Saturday (March 27), Virginia State Police responded to a two-vehicle crash on Route 617 (Gravel Hill Road) close to a mile east of Route 15.

A 2007 Lincoln MKZ was traveling on Gravel Hill Road when it crossed the center of the roadway and struck a 2010 Chrysler Town and Country.

The driver of the Lincoln, Hunter T. Absher, 26, of Dillwyn, died at the scene. A passenger in the Lincoln, Nicole D. Clarke, 25, of Scottsville, also died at the scene. Neither were wearing a seatbelt.

The driver of the Chrysler, Melinda J. Moore, 30, of Jetersville, was transported for treatment of non-life-threatening injuries. She was not wearing a seatbelt.

The crash remains under investigation.

There's an article like this every day in one of the local papers. 90% of the time in these crashes, NO ONE in the car is wearing a seatbelt.
How do you even DO this in a modern car? My 1990 car beeps at me once, then leaves a little dash light on if I've forgotten to buckle up. Our 2002 was a bit more strident - it NEVER stopped beeping if you didn't buckle up. Our 2012 is a right nagging b***** .... it beeps, flashes lights, won't let you use the cruise control, all kinds of things. And it's very uncomfortable if you buckle the harness behind you and then try to sit on it.

I've always used a seatbelt; not because it's a law (THAT particular social code has been broken for good), but because it holds me in the seat on hard turns, and I've realized that all this protective steel around me (that I don't have on a bike) is just a weapon against me, NOT a barrier to keep me from getting hurt, if I'm not belted in.

So (A) What do people have against seatbelts? It's not like you can run around inside the car without one. and (B) How do they defeat them? Most of the cars in the crash news are late-model ones with all the latest nanny-protections - it looks like it would be more trouble to defeat them, or sit on them, than to just use them. I know lots of people who don't do certain things that the state tries to force them to do, just out of principle, and I understand THAT, but I've never ridden in a car (theirs or mine) where the driver and passengers didn't buckle up. I don't even know how to look for them.

But apparently there's a lot of them out there somewhere, and all crashing and dying, it seems ... ?

Just one of those things that makes you say "Hmmmmm ......"

Lannis

I quit worrying about it and just chock it up to:

Stupid should hurt.



Sometimes, it should be a life lesson......

Darwinism.........classic example......why care?

Ditto Rich and Gordon

Problem is, one or both might have left kids behind which makes it worse.

Stupid seems to be even more contagious than COVID these days.

For the same reason people don't wear helmets.

Twice too many times I have seen what happens when an unbelted driver kisses the windshield.
Just like fresh butchers meat.
Neither were high speed.

I installed auto glass for 15 years
Seen 'em hit from the inside.
Seen 'em hit from the outside.
Seen 'em hit by a pedestrian, more than once.

A seat belt unquestionable saved my life many years ago.

I hit black ice, the car left the road, was launched by a berm, and hit a tree about 4’ off the ground! My hands went through the windscreen, but the rest of me stayed strapped in and safe! It was a violent crash, the engine came out of the car and was about 100 feet down the road on fire! I had the cuts on my hands, a small cut on my knee, but other than that I was uninjured in an accident that I’m convinced I would have died in had in not been for the seat belt.

I never go anywhere without a belt, or a helmet now!

Ian
SoCal

Well, the only place that analogy breaks down is that it's harder to NOT WEAR a seatbelt in a modern car than it is to WEAR one. I mean, you have to go out of your way, and defeat interlocks, and have it getting in your way, to NOT wear one. AND there's nothing you can do in a car without a seatbelt on that you can't do with a seatbelt on.

It's sort of the opposite for helmets. It can be a pain in the butt to keep up with one, carry it around or lock it up, and the Cruisr Boyz'll tell you that you can't be "In The Wind" with a helmet blocking you from Mother Nature.

Plus, as I mentioned, and as I found when young and stupid and learning to drive in my Mom's old Mercury Comet 404 two-door sedan with a slick vinyl bench front seat, even THAT car would corner harder than you could hold your place on the seat if you weren't belted in .... So I wore the belt out of self-preservation, not because some overseer said that I had to ...

Lannis

I still sometimes put my right arm (USA) in front my passenger if I hit the brakes a bit hard. Anyone else?

Or we got lucky and they haven't reproduced and removed those genes from the gene pool.

My 2004 Chevy pickup will let me drive without the belt on and not complain, but if my dog is in the cab with me it lets me know. Go figure. I learned my lesson in 1988. I rolled a Mack DM600 concrete truck with 9 yards on board completely over after missing s downshift on a downhill. A lot of the old timers didn't like wearing seatbelts but I had it on because the Bostrom spring loaded seat was almost as bad as sitting on a pogo stick. At least with the belt on I could stay in the seat. Most of the stuff in the cab ended up outside but I stayed right put and walked away with nothing more than a bump on the head.

Thats a left over from having kids. For me anyway.

Learned my lesson about belts in about 1972 when I was riding with my brother, dozing in the front seat, and a guy ran a stop sign. Brother banged on the brakes and I went flying. No collision, save for me hitting the dash. Pretty low speed, so I didn't get hurt, but was a teaching moment.

Later on, I wore belts for same reason Lannis did. Let the car hang on to me, so I could concentrate on foolish driving. Now, its just automatic.

Buckles are available at the salvage yard fo $10, you pick it.
Shuts up the belt bells and whistles.

That being said, I find myself sub consciencely impulse buckling on my road bikes.
ADD or something, but I know there are cagers out there that will try to kill me.

I've got a few Army buddies that don't think it's a big deal and will drive around with the warning bell chiming away. They wear their seatbelts when I am with them, because one, I can't stand listening to the chime and two, because it's the right thing to do and three, because it is the law here in Vermont. However, in "Live Free or Die" New Hampshire, it isn't mandatory for drivers and passengers 18 and older.

Up here, when I hear about a crash on the radio or read about one in the news that resulted in a fatality or multiple fatalities, it's almost always due to the occupants of the vehicle being ejected from the vehicle because they were not wearing a seat belt.

It really is unfathomable.

2 things:
If you learned to drive before OEM belts, you likely still put the thing on AFTER moving. I guess that’s OK but not ideal.
As for being hearing “impaired”, damn near deaf according to someone close, I didn’t even know there was a chime ringing in the ‘09 Tacoma until my 40+ yr old son said Please Stop That Noise !! Huh,... what,... Huh?? Duh....
OK, 3 things:
Got an old ‘56 Chevy, thinking it will bring me back to 16. I can’t even drive it without feeling Loosy-Goosy uncomfortable in the seat with no belt! Talk about not 16 again, Geez... Sad, but I plan on aftermarket belts, they make some nice ones, and what the heck, it might even save my life if I forget which is gas and which is brake.

So lets get this right.
The man who proclaimed that covid was no worse than the flue and the government had no rights to restrict his personal freedom to go where ever he pleased then further protested about the infringement of personal freedom by legislating for compulsory face masks.
Is he now critising people exercising the same freedom of choice for not wearing a set belt ?
Oh and I rather think 550,000 deaths is a touch higher than the abnormally high flue deaths of 60,000 you used to dismiss Covid concerns a few months back .

Don't mention the war, Trev.

Take care everybody; if you're in a motor vehicle then it's important to wear a seatbelt as well as your usual protective inflatable rubber suit.

Many people frown on sterilizing stupid people.

Lannis lad, to stop all them bells and whistles going off, simply plug the seat beat in BEFORE you get in the car, then sit on the belt and drive off. Seen loads of idiots doing that...

They need to drive around Paris like I've been doing since Christmas, it's so bloody manic I'm even thinking of not only wearing me seat belt, but also wearing me crash helmet, and that's in a 40t Truck....

Even I've tried that, for when I get out of my car at the end of the driveway to get the mail, then hop back in to ride the mile up the driveway to my house at 10 MPH, when I don't need a seatbelt. But still, it gets in the way, hangs up on the stuff on my belt, etc ... it would be a pain to ride down the road like that, at least in the cars and trucks I drive. Just one of those mysteries, I guess ....

Lannis

Myself and our very own Allan G had a crash in 2016 in the white van. The guy in the red Jaguar just crossed the lines and hit us virtually head on!! We were both wearing seat belts and escaped with broken ribs and bruising but we're still here..

Except retrieve the burning cigarette that you just dropped on the carpet under your legs.

I've had an odd mixture of different warnings from different cars. My Toyota beeps at first then shuts up, with only the light on the dash. My Econoline beeps harshly, then does it again at 30 second intervals until I buckle up (assuming that the seat switch actually works.)
But, I'm alive because my '73 Beetle had a really obnoxious buzzer which did not go silent until you buckled up.
Do we really need to go back to those goofy self-deploying seat belts from the late 80s?

I have a 02 Honda CRV and an 09 Ford Ranger...When the seatbets are not fastened they retract totally out of the way....Driving with the belts not latched gets a few warnings and then nothing it seems..Both are manual transmissions, perhaps the manufacturer feels drivers who can work a clutch need less nagging ..?
One of our adult daughters with adult kids has gotten a handful of seatbelt tickets over the years and another handful of cell phone tickets...