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wbjones
wbjones UltraDork
6/4/12 3:36 p.m.
Duke wrote:
pinchvalve wrote: How do people still not wear their seatbelt?
People still litter. And smoke. You can - maybe - argue that there is value to be had in smoking, despite the dangers. There is NO value in littering, yet it still happens all the time, despite years of education against it. That's why I am interested to hear the value he perceives in not wearing his seat belt.

yeah, and some bikers won't wear a helmet .... go figure ....

iceracer
iceracer UltraDork
6/4/12 5:36 p.m.
SVreX wrote:
iceracer wrote:
Zomby Woof wrote: That's not a close call. That's an accident.
There are no motor vehicle accidents. They are crashes cause by inept drivers.
How about when a tree falls on your car?

Act of God ?

Zomby Woof
Zomby Woof UltraDork
6/4/12 6:02 p.m.

Maybe I was right

Meriam-Webster said: Definition of ACCIDENT 1 a : an unforeseen and unplanned event or circumstance
mtn
mtn PowerDork
6/4/12 8:02 p.m.
Duke wrote: Out of curiousity, why don't you? I'm always interested to hear people's reasons for not belting up.

I always wear one. Always have. Of course, the clickit or ticket laws have been in place in Illinois since I started driving.

My dad, on the other hand, often forgets until he is about 1/2 mile into his trip. He isn't against them, it just isn't second nature to him. I figure that if you look at his first cars, it is pretty understandable--1963 Chevy Bel Air, 68 MGB, 69 Opel GT, 67 Firebird convertible---all of them either didn't have them or were safer without them. That took up about his first ten years of driving.

Giant Purple Snorklewacker
Giant Purple Snorklewacker UltimaDork
6/4/12 8:07 p.m.
iceracer wrote:
Zomby Woof wrote: That's not a close call. That's an accident.
There are no motor vehicle accidents. They are crashes cause by inept drivers.

They are on-purposes?

BBsGarage
BBsGarage HalfDork
6/4/12 8:24 p.m.
Giant Purple Snorklewacker wrote:
iceracer wrote:
Zomby Woof wrote: That's not a close call. That's an accident.
There are no motor vehicle accidents. They are crashes cause by inept drivers.
They are on-purposes?

More like "oops-I-didnt-mean-to-do-thats"

vwcorvette
vwcorvette GRM+ Memberand HalfDork
6/4/12 8:26 p.m.
Giant Purple Snorklewacker wrote:
iceracer wrote:
Zomby Woof wrote: That's not a close call. That's an accident.
There are no motor vehicle accidents. They are crashes cause by inept drivers.
They are on-purposes?

No they are not on-purposes. Someone somewhere screwed up. Either the person slamming on the brakes in front of him inappropriately for conditions, the driver too confident for the situation in his abilities, the owner of the car trying to stretch the life of possibly poor tires, etc.

Accidents are meteors falling on your house.

Regardless no seatbelt? Can't fathom the reason.

Glad you are okay. Now make better decisions.

EastCoastMojo
EastCoastMojo GRM+ Memberand UberDork
6/4/12 8:56 p.m.

"Accident implies no one is at fault" -Hot Fuzz

Collision is the word you are looking for.

hotrodlarry
hotrodlarry HalfDork
6/4/12 9:35 p.m.
vwcorvette wrote:
Giant Purple Snorklewacker wrote:
iceracer wrote:
Zomby Woof wrote: That's not a close call. That's an accident.
There are no motor vehicle accidents. They are crashes cause by inept drivers.
They are on-purposes?
No they are not on-purposes. Someone somewhere screwed up. Either the person slamming on the brakes in front of him inappropriately for conditions, the driver too confident for the situation in his abilities, the owner of the car trying to stretch the life of possibly poor tires, etc. Accidents are meteors falling on your house. Regardless no seatbelt? Can't fathom the reason. Glad you are okay. Now make better decisions.

lesson learned from this situation - yes.

neon4891
neon4891 UltimaDork
6/4/12 11:48 p.m.

I can understand older generations, seat belts not being the norm. It wasn't in my family till Dad almost killed Mom when he fell asleep behind the wheel moving to TN. After that the car stayed in park till every one was buckled up. All that happened before I was born.

Back on topic, glad you are ok.

curtis73
curtis73 GRM+ Memberand SuperDork
6/5/12 12:20 a.m.
pinchvalve wrote: How do people still not wear their seatbelt?

Seriously? People ride motorcycles and you're worried about seatbelts?

I find it comical that I can legally ride a motorcycle without a helmet and nobody cares, but if I get in my 6000-lb van to drive 1/2 mile to buy cigarettes without my seatbelt, I'm breaking the law.

Getting cancer from cigarettes: legal
Riding my motorcycle without a helmet: legal
Driving a 6000-lb vehicle 1/2 mile at 25 mph without a plastic belt on: illegal.

We legislate the dumbest stuff.

curtis73
curtis73 GRM+ Memberand SuperDork
6/5/12 12:35 a.m.
mtn wrote:
Duke wrote: Out of curiousity, why don't you? I'm always interested to hear people's reasons for not belting up.
I always wear one. Always have. Of course, the clickit or ticket laws have been in place in Illinois since I started driving.

Exactly. I'm allowed to buzz down the highway without a helmet on my motorcycle, but I have to wear a seatbelt in a car? The laws are dumb. I can't get behind any law that tries to protect me from myself. If it protects me from hurting someone else by negligence, I'll consider supporting it.

Which brings me to my next point. Not wearing a seatbelt only hurts myself. It doesn't affect my driving, nor will it affect how likely I am to cause injury to someone else. Compulsory seatbelt wearing does not save other lives, only mine. On the other hand, not wearing a helmet on a motorcycle could cause others harm. I've experienced that several times and its why I do wear a helmet unless I'm taking a 1/2 mile ride to buy smokes. The first time I took a Junebug to my knuckle at 70 mph, I started wearing riding gloves. The first time I took a bug to the cheek, I bought a full-face helmet. Imagine taking a wasp to the eye at 65 mph. You might kill yourself, but worst of all you could veer into a starbucks and take 3 java-lovers with you, or swerve into traffic causing an accident.

If you want to endanger only yourself by not wearing a seatbelt, go for it. If you want to endanger yourself while potentially killing others, not cool.

Seat belts? berkeley 'em.

.... although, having said that, I wear mine 99% of the time.

gamby
gamby PowerDork
6/5/12 1:02 a.m.

Seatbelt use definitely puts less of a strain on the healthcare system.

oldtin
oldtin SuperDork
6/5/12 1:15 a.m.

No idea what the OP has for driver training, but I recommend the Motorcycle Safety Foundation training classes - yes it's for bikes, but a big chunk of the course deals with situation awareness. Gets you in the habit of looking way down the road to spot potential hazards before you run up on them and for the minimal donation they ask - some of the cheapest and well-instructed training you can get.

EastCoastMojo
EastCoastMojo GRM+ Memberand UberDork
6/5/12 8:09 a.m.

Seat belt laws are to keep you alive to you can be sued if you were at fault for the collision.

foxtrapper
foxtrapper PowerDork
6/5/12 8:50 a.m.
vwcorvette wrote: No they are not on-purposes. Someone somewhere screwed up. Either the person slamming on the brakes in front of him inappropriately for conditions, the driver too confident for the situation in his abilities, the owner of the car trying to stretch the life of possibly poor tires, etc.

Never has a tire blown without detectable warning. Never has an animal run out into the roadway from behind a tree. Never have winds suddenly toppled something unexpectedly.

While I do agree that many things are blames that simply shift responsibility away from the responsible party, by no means is it a personal screw up in every case.

And yes, learn from the experience.

iceracer
iceracer UltraDork
6/5/12 10:25 a.m.

Had a friend tell me, "thank fully he was wearing a full face helmet" Seems he was turning a corner on his crotch rocket, hit a manhole cover and dumped it and him. Lower part of the helmet was very scratched up.

Motorcycle helmets are required in NYS and others.

rotard
rotard Dork
6/5/12 10:51 a.m.

A lot of fat people are uncomfortable wearing seat belts. They also get upset if you insist that they put one on while riding with you.

JoeyM
JoeyM SuperDork
6/5/12 10:58 a.m.
rotard wrote: A lot of fat people are uncomfortable wearing seat belts. They also get upset if you insist that they put one on while riding with you.

Keep a seat belt extender (free from your car make's dealer) in the glove box for the occasional need.

CGLockRacer
CGLockRacer GRM+ Memberand HalfDork
6/5/12 11:46 a.m.
curtis73 wrote: Not wearing a seatbelt only hurts myself. It doesn't affect my driving, nor will it affect how likely I am to cause injury to someone else.

I will respectfully disagree with you there. If you make a sudden emergency turn and slide out of your seat, how in control of the vehicle are you?

I do agree with how stupid it is that you an ride a motorcycle without a helmet yet seat belts are mandatory, but mainly from the contradiction of logic.

Duke
Duke PowerDork
6/5/12 11:58 a.m.

I don't think either seatbelts or helmets should be mandatory. But I think you'd have to be a moron to drive or ride without wearing them.

SVreX
SVreX UltimaDork
6/5/12 5:29 p.m.
iceracer wrote:
SVreX wrote:
iceracer wrote:
Zomby Woof wrote: That's not a close call. That's an accident.
There are no motor vehicle accidents. They are crashes cause by inept drivers.
How about when a tree falls on your car?
Act of God ?

Perhaps, but still not caused by an inept driver.

iceracer
iceracer UltraDork
6/5/12 5:39 p.m.
SVreX wrote:
iceracer wrote:
SVreX wrote:
iceracer wrote:
Zomby Woof wrote: That's not a close call. That's an accident.
There are no motor vehicle accidents. They are crashes cause by inept drivers.
How about when a tree falls on your car?
Act of God ?
Perhaps, but still not caused by an inept driver.

You are speaking of the tree ?

iceracer
iceracer UltraDork
6/5/12 5:40 p.m.
SVreX wrote:
iceracer wrote:
SVreX wrote:
iceracer wrote:
Zomby Woof wrote: That's not a close call. That's an accident.
There are no motor vehicle accidents. They are crashes cause by inept drivers.
How about when a tree falls on your car?
Act of God ?
Perhaps, but still not caused by an inept driver.
iceracer
iceracer UltraDork
6/5/12 5:41 p.m.

Unless the tree is felled by an inept driver.

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