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Seatbelts

Started by Ron Wenrich, June 05, 2005, 07:37:56 PM

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Cedarman

In 1969 I worked for a company where seat belt use was mandatory.
We drove lots of miles under all conditions. Had a rollover in a pickup truck. My coworker and I walked away with out a scratch.  Always believe in them.

My 17 year old son didn't wear his seatbelt on the way to school  a couple months ago. Cost him $1000.00 plus the cost of the ticket. Our insurance program has a deal that if you(new drivers) drive for 3 years without a ticket and chargeable accident, then you get a $1000 bond. I was super ticked twice at him.  Once for being without the belt, and once for losing an easy $1000.00. (My daughter is 1/2 way through the 3 years and I keep reminding them it is safety and money.)  Getting the ticket because of not wearing it once in a 100 times could be the same as having a wreck during that 1 in 100 times.

I agree with Frank that it irks me that the law says do it.  I like the idea of the insurance company with the carrot better.

Our skid steer will not let you start it without your seat belt being buckled. I will not let anyone override the switch. Too much load, do a header, flop out and it won't be pretty.
I am in the pink when sawing cedar.

Larry

Every time seatbelt user also...even on the tractor with ROPS.

The laws that require seatbelt usage irritate me to, as it seems like a blow to personal freedom...but than I think it is awful hard for the other driver to keep their vehicle under control if they have been ejected.  Guess I won't protest to much.
Larry, making useful and beautiful things out of the most environmental friendly material on the planet.

We need to insure our customers understand the importance of our craft.

musher

Quote from: Cedarman on June 06, 2005, 07:55:22 AM
I agree with Frank that it irks me that the law says do it.  I like the idea of the insurance company with the carrot better.

Except for the fact that the insurance company relies on the law (and law enforcement) in order to make their carrot possible.
Mike

OneWithWood

Seat belt goes on before the key gets turned.  I have belts in all my vehicles and equipment.  I just don't feel right without it on.
One With Wood
LT40HDG25, Woodmizer DH4000 Kiln

Patty

We always have our belts on when riding. I remember when our oldest boy was little and didn't want to buckle up. I was on a side street and when he wasn't paying attention, I slammed on the brakes. He smacked his head on the dash and got all mad at me. I just said, "now you know why I insist on seatbelts in the car"....he always buckeled up after that. I think it was a good way to drive in my point to him.
Women are Angels.
And when someone breaks our wings....
We simply continue to fly ........
on a broomstick.....
We are flexible like that.

sparks

Hardly ever. I have a hard time with government using the "it saves lives" statement. More lives are saved by better cars and airbags been on the road now. It's a revenue law. Generates money for the state. I've had 13 tickets in 2 years @ 35.00 a pop. Doesn't count as points so I'm not worried about it.
The only person I hurt, not wearing seatbelts, is ME.
If they want to save lives sit outside taverns and sports arenas and catch the DUI's. That kills more people and most of those killed are wearing seat belts.
Do I make passengers wear seatbelts? Yes. Now if I wreck I hurt others.

Where did this soapbox come from that I found myself standing on?   :)
\"America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.\" Abraham Lincoln

Buzz-sawyer

Patty...
Sure you aint got some of the Irish in ya? :D :D :D
    HEAR THAT BLADE SING!

Ernie

We always belt up before starting the vehicle. No exceptions.

Jan had an accident a couple of years ago and wrote off the car.
She was lucky, only a broken sternum from the belt not a broken head from the windscreen or a cheshed chest from the steering wheel.

We always assume that everyone on the road is a complete idiot and have avoided a lot of problems this way.
A very wise man once told me . Grand children are great, we should have had them first

etat

That youngest boy of mine, who by the way is still grounded with no end in sight at this time, has had 'three' wrecks in the last two years.   Not counting the one time that 'wasn't' his fault, two of them were, and were major.  Once he flipped a pathfinder when he got off the pavement and tried to jerk it back up in the road.  Over it went, scooting down the road flipping sideways and spinning, crossed a ditch and flipped back again, and landed back on it's feet.  Busted ALL the windows out, besides totaling it out.  He walked away without a scratch, undoubtedly due to having his seat belt fastened.

Recently he fell asleep, left the road, and centered a power pole.  About cut it in two, the only thing still holding the pole up was the wires.  Again, totaled out the car.  Walked away, with only one little scratch on his noggin.

I figure if he hadn't a had a seat belt fastened we'd probably have him buried somewhere by now.

As I said, he's STILL grounded and only allowed to drive every once in a while, supervised by ME.  
Old Age and Treachery will outperform Youth and Inexperence. The thing is, getting older is starting to be painful.

ARKANSAWYER

   I do not like the seat belt law.  I think any one under the age of 18 should have to wear a belt and all small childern should be in a car seat fastened to the seat belt.  If you are over the age of 18 you should have the right to hurt yourself if you wish.   We got rid of the motorcycle helmet law here.  I think all riders over the age of 18 should have the right to deciede if they wish to bust their gourd.  Life jackets are another law that gets me.  Small kids should have to wear one but any one over the age of 18 should have the right to choose weither or not they float.   Natural selection is a good thing.   As for me and mine we buckle, strap and float because it is the right thing to do and not because it is the law.  Laws are good to protect those who do not know better to choose but at some time we have to let people make their own choices.   You get into my truck and do not wish to wear your belt that is fine with me.  I have provided you with one and afforded you with a good example.   The choice is yours.   I do not impose my good sense on you if'n you think you know better.   Hot coffee is hot and seatbelts save lives and life jackets float when you do not.   People have to have the right to live or die as they see fit.  It is not right for me to infringe on their personal right to be dumb.  Just my view from the soapbox.
ARKANSAWYER

katie-did

Quote from: Patty on June 06, 2005, 01:50:14 PM
We always have our belts on when riding. I remember when our oldest boy was little and didn't want to buckle up. I was on a side street and when he wasn't paying attention, I slammed on the brakes. He smacked his head on the dash and got all mad at me. I just said, "now you know why I insist on seatbelts in the car"....he always buckeled up after that. I think it was a good way to drive in my point to him.
Seatbelts are an ALWAYS in my truck.
I have did this to both my kids several times. They may have the belt on but they think that it is okay to lay to the side or be leaning forward with it streched to the max.  Hit the brakes and they olny hit the back of the seat but it did not stick till dad had a bad wreck and the seatblet and airbag saved him. (He T'ed a F-250 with a little Dodge Dakota at 55. Totaled both) Now they listen.
Hate some of the laws too. Indiana past a law that anyone under the age of 8 has to be in a safely seat. My kids were both big enough at that age to fit a seat belt.  Now they are trying to make trucks wear them all because SUV's & vans can get truck plates. I think that they sure make it so that SVU' & mini van can not get truck plates not make everyone wear seltbelts
Part Timer's Boss & CFO smiley_angel01_halo

OLD_ JD

Quote from: Frank_Pender on June 05, 2005, 11:35:09 PM  I still do not like the fact of being forced by statutes, aministrative decisions and board actions.
here in Quebec whit are general medical care systeme,they clain the fact then we all paying if u get injure in road accident :-\...it make sence in a way :-\
canadien forest ranger

beenthere

I always wear mine, and 'the law' is but one incentive. The big reason was a 'training session in defensive driving that had a clip on "A place to Live", based on extensive research into wrecked cars that seemed to always have that 'place' to live, if you have a seatbelt on to keep you in that place. That did it for me.

Another idea that I think should work in lieu of a seatbelt law was learned by me several years ago when I was in the State of Maine. At that time (and I don't now what happened to this 'policy' I was told about), I learned from two state workers when we loaded up to go to lunch, that one said "I am buckling up my $100,000 seat belt". I inquired what that was about, and was told the State of Maine would pay to the family, $100,000 if one was killed wearing a seatbelt. I thought that was an ingenious idea, but I have not heard since if this is still a policy, or if it ever really was. Maybe just for State employees.   Anyone know?

This past winter, my wife and I went West and drove our SUV about 8,500 miles in 7 weeks, going through nearly every state west of the Mississippi, except Colorado, Nebraska and North Dakota. While driving some off-road 'roads' in Eastern Arizona, we hit a culvert, or log, or something in the 'trail' that pitched the SUV up when the front wheels hit, and again when the back wheels hit at about 45-50 mph. Everything in the car went to the ceiling (headliner) and slammed back down, breaking bottles and things, including my dear wife, as the seatbelt didn't hold her in the seat. The belt was still fastened when the car was stopped.
She hit the headliner hard, and broke the T-12 vertebrae (compression failure) in her back. After getting her quickly to a hospital 20 miles away, then later that night to Scottsdale, AZ for scheduled back surgery the next morning, we learned a full body back brace was possible, in lieu of surgery but had to be in it 24/7 for three months. She did very well in the brace given the circumstances, and now has a healed vertebrae, and is undergoing PT to get her back muscles back in shape. We were fortunate, but it ended a fantastic trip in a abrupt way.  Still do not know why the seatbelt didn't hold her in place. GM has the information now, and I'm interested in what they will do with it.  We are a bit leary of how the seatbelts will hold if in another accident, although they pass inspection when the GM dealer tests them.  We will continue to wear them, regardless.  :)
south central Wisconsin
It may be that my sole purpose in life is simply to serve as a warning to others

ScottAR

It's so second nature now I put the belt on to move the truck from the garage to the driveway....    :D

I wear one on the forklift at my job.  The cage will crush me unless I'm strapped down.  I'm the only one in the whole 600,000 sq ft. building though...   :-\
Scott
"There is much that I need to do, even more that I want to do, and even less that I can do."
[Magicman]

gary

I wear mine all the time . We taught our kids to wear them when they were young now they put them on as soon as they get in a car . My 19year old son  lost control of his car on a wet road . Went up an embankment ,clipped a tree with the passanger fender then flipped  his car on to the roof. This was the fifth accicent on this road in two hours.  The roof of his dar was only about a foot from the dashboard on the drivers side and smashed clear down to the dash on the passenger side . The ONLY injury he got was scraped knees when he UNBUCKLED his seatbelt and fell onto the roof of the car.
Wear your seatbelt and come home to the people that love you

Patty

Patty...
Sure you aint got some of the Irish in ya? Cheesy Cheesy Cheesy



Hey Buzz!  Yea, Irish, Scottish and Wales. How'd you guess?   :D
Women are Angels.
And when someone breaks our wings....
We simply continue to fly ........
on a broomstick.....
We are flexible like that.

Gunny

Someone mentioned that we all have right to live and die as we please and I guess I have to agree as long as that "right" doesn't have a very long string of "privilege" attached to it. 

One of the basic flaws in these arguments is that it's assumed that everyone who fails to buckle-up dies immediately at the scene of his/her "accident."  Unfortunately, that just isn't the case, is it?  And guess who gets to help pay the enormous--often leaping into the tens of millions of dollars--expenses for the long-term critical care and/or rehabilitation of the person who demanded the right to go "beltless"? 

A long-ago neighbor, a member of some far-right cult, once explained to me that the way he got out of paying for auto insurance, violating the selt belt laws, etc. was by carrying some form of disclaimer in his glove box which stated that he had the assets--a notarized statement--which equaled any insurance coverage which was mandated by the State at that time.  The note also stated that he'd accept FULL responsibility for any and all damages pursuant to his choice not to do certain things that others of us were required to do, by law.  Now, I'm not going to enter some lengthy legal discourse about these issues; rather, I'm just explaining what the fellow explained to me.  At least he wasn't looking for me to pay for his respirator forever.

I'm a big one for the protection of what very few (if any) personal rights we currently retain but when your "right" to include me in your folly impedes my "right" to remain immune to your personal choices, you then become a burden on my freedom and have violated the social contract, haven't you?  You might believe you have the right to blow the stop signs here in my quiet rural setting but when you deny the local children their right to enjoy a stroll or quiet bike-ride along the clearly marked by-ways, you become the problem, not the solution.

I was raised to believe that with every single "right" we claim comes an awesome amount of responsibilty.  Most folks I've encountered in these last 10-20 years seem to have forgotten the second part of the deal. 

Buzz-sawyer

Hey Buzz!  Yea, Irish, Scottish and Wales. How'd you guess?

Cause my dads sir name was O"Houlihan!!!!!!!!!!!
I got one look in your eye and knew it! Those boys never stood a chance ;)
    HEAR THAT BLADE SING!

Buzz-sawyer

Gunny
If you dont want to pay for an idegent persons respirator...or if the fact that they did not wear a seat belt is the reason for that .......then I suggest you look into changing the laws governing socialized health care that make that situation possible.
Rather than taking the rights of the few, so that the many dont have to pay.
Your argument only works in a collective, socialist society, our nation was not founded that way , but there are a good number that are pushing it hard...this is at the core of this debate.
    HEAR THAT BLADE SING!

DouginUtah

Buzz-sawyer,

I'm not sure I understand what you are saying.

In your NON-socialized healthcare system, when a indigent guy comes to the hospital in critical condition from an accident in which he was not wearing a seatbelt, what do you say to him?

"Go back out to the street and die."

I'm just wondering what your solution is.

-Doug




-Doug
When you hang around with good people, good things happen. -Darrell Waltrip

There is no need to say 'unleaded regular gas'. It's all unleaded. Just say 'regular gas'. It's not the 70s anymore. (At least that's what my wife tells me.)

---

Buzz-sawyer

I am not sure I have a good one.
My point was that Gunny said he did not like, or want to pay for non seat belt users on respirators.
  I replied that legislating personal decisions about safety and health was an attack on personal liberty....and that perhaps looking into his right NOT to pay for others health care (which is currently being exploited in his view) would not interfere with others rights.

As far as SOCIALIZED medicine....I think that Christian organizations and other charitable groups would/should fill the gap of government taking care of the people.
I dont believe people do recieve infinite health care for free , only immediate critical care for trauma...by law.
Socialized medicine can be viewed world wide on its own merits waiting in line, government restrictions on what treatment you may or may NOT recieve.....I am not a fan.....for all its faults a free market society, and individual choice are by far my choice

I'm just wondering what your solution is.:) ;)


    HEAR THAT BLADE SING!

MrMoo

I always use them. Back over 15 years ago when I lived in CT they passed a law saying you had to wear them. I grumbled but started wearing it.
One day in 1995 on the way home from work a woman rear ended me. I can still remember when she hit the car my face was on its way to the steering wheel. Suddenly I stopped. Yup that DanG seat belt saved my face and me from much more serious injury.
Now its no question I always wear them & insist everyone in my car does too.

dail_h

   Hate'em,but wear them all the time, unless I disremember,I tends to be a little addleheaded sometimes. Don't like the law requireing them,but that ain't the only law I don't like. Why do I wear them? Spent 10 years in the rescue squad,and the only BODY I ever cut out of a seatbelt hit a propane truck,and exploded
World Champion Wildcat Sorter,1999 2002 2004 2005
      Volume Discount At ER
Singing The Song Of Circle Again

DouginUtah

Buzz,

I re-read Gunny's post and got a different take on it.

My solution....
Draw on the successes and failures of the many efforts to provide health care and come up with an intelligent plan for universal health care insurance. I realize that is not a very Republican point of view but sometime the greater good requires sacrifices. Do you object to being required to have proof of insurance to license your car? (rhetorical question) I don't think personal health care should be subject to the whims of charitable organizations.

Here's a  :) just to show this is just a friendly discussion--that I'm not taking myself too seriously in thinking that I have the solution to the problem. Besides I'm more interested in the peak oil problems.  :D

-Doug

-Doug
When you hang around with good people, good things happen. -Darrell Waltrip

There is no need to say 'unleaded regular gas'. It's all unleaded. Just say 'regular gas'. It's not the 70s anymore. (At least that's what my wife tells me.)

---

Buzz-sawyer

Heck Doug
We are just friends chatting here.......... 8) 8) 8) 8)
    HEAR THAT BLADE SING!