The club house is where discussions about informational non-Xterra related topics go. Not until the conversation becomes heated or when the topic is so controversial that inevitebly the conversation will become heated does a topic belong in the ALR.

And who is going to take care of her if you're killed for not wearing your seatbelt? Is she going to be put in a position where she has to help take care of you if you're crippled? What happens when your insurance runs out? This is not something impose upon a child if it can be avoided.

(Yeah, I know you're divorced and her mother would take care of her etc. but you're not the only example)

Brent

Fact Sheet

Of the 31,910 vehicle occupants killed in crashes in 2001, 60 percent were not wearing a safety belt. [The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Annual Assessment of Motor Vehicle Crashes, 2001]

Safety belts saved 13,274 lives in 2001, and if all vehicle occupants over age 4 had been wearing safety belts, 7,334 more lives could have been saved, NHTSA estimates. [NHTSA, Traffic Safety Facts Overview, 2001]

In 2000, the deaths and serious injuries prevented by safety belts resulted in savings of $50 billion in medical care, lost productivity and other injury-related costs. [NHTSA, Economic Impact of Crashes, 2002]

Motor vehicle crashes in 2000 cost a total of $230.6 billion, an amount equal to 2.3 percent of the gross domestic product, or $820 for every person living in the United States. [NHTSA, Economic Impact of Crashes, 2002]

I really don't know why anyone would want to drive without a seatbelt on. I've been in three serious car accidents in my life, in each one, everyone in my family was wearing a seatbelt. No one has been seriously hurt. I'd hate to think of how screwed up I'd be if I had been launched through a windshield or two. (I'm screwed up enough already )

As far as the law goes, I don't have too much problem with it, although I'd rather see the police pulling over weaving 18-wheelers, people who run red lights and drunk drivers. Lets get some priorities here.

I really don't know why anyone would want to drive without a seatbelt on.
I know why. Because people like lincolnnellie don't have anything better to do then be a rebel, See... they think rules are unjust, blah, blah, blah. KIda wierd for a military person.
Seatbelt laws were made so stupid people don't kill themselves. (not a bad idea now that I think about it)
Make your choice man. But let me tell you this:
You say you are an adult. Well act like one and wear your seatbelt. CHUMP!

Let me say that once I got busted for not wearing my seatbelt (I got stopped for going 45 in a 30).

I had just left Taco Bell. When the cop stopped me, he asked, "Is there any reason you aren't wearing your seat belt?" My reply? I owned up to it. I simply said, "cause I'm an idiot."

Needless to say, I don't think I've forgotten since, and it doesn't inconvenience me, and it doesn't infringe on my rights.

Or as my dad, who has seen more than his share of accident results as an orthopaedic surgeon, likes to call them, "Potential Kidney Donors."

(Yeah, I know...lots of people use that phrase)

I think, for the most part, truckers get a bad rap. I drive from DC to Indy fairly regularly, and the truckers are the safest ones out there.

I was living in a different country when the seat belt law was passed there. Of course, a week later a cop caught me without it just pulling out of a fast food joint, and I paid the $50 fine. Since then, I never fail to wear it. And I've been in a couple of accidents where it did save my ass.

Yes, I agree there's a lot of stupid laws (specially here in PA), but this one is not one of them.

People are stupid, why the hell don't there where seatbelts, heres something to think about...

80% of traffic fatalities occur within 25 miles of home and under 40 miles an hour, less then 20% of the people that died where actually wearing seatbelts, NHTSA estimates that half of the fatalities that where not wearing seatbelts could have been saved if seat belt had been in use.

I also think that more states should push laws like NY preventing people from talking on there cellphones while driving. I know some people can actually talk on there phone and drive at the same time but some people are just complete ASSHOLES

Heres an excerpt from some website...

Seat belts are the most effective safety devices in vehicles today, estimated to save 9,500 lives each year. Yet only 68 percent of the motor vehicle occupants are buckled. In 1996, more than 60 percent of the occupants killed in fatal crashes were unrestrained.

If 90 percent of Americans buckle up, we will prevent more than 5,500 deaths and 132,000 injuries annually.

The cost of unbuckled drivers and passengers goes beyond those killed and the loss to their families. We all pay for those who don't buckle up ­ in higher taxes, higher health care and higher insurance costs.

On average, inpatient hospital care costs for an unbelted crash victim are 50 percent higher than those for a belted crash victim. Society bears 85 percent of those costs, not the individuals involved. Every American pays about $580 a year toward the cost of crashes. If everyone buckled up, this figure would drop significantly.

By reaching the goal of 90 percent seat belt use, and 25 percent reduction in child fatalities by the year 2005, we will save $8.8 billion annually.

Silly, silly people..... it has nothing to do with ones safety. Nothing. It is all about one thing and one thing only: R-E-V-E-N-U-E!
Police issue these useless tickets to gain revenue for small, podunk towns. Doing 57mph in a 50 does not "save" anyones lives. The police are a bunch of hypocrites when it comes to seatbelt and speeding tickets. They fly around speeding every damm day(because they can as I am told), but bust your balls for 5 miles over the limit. Or having roadside traffic stops at rush hour to check for seatbelts. I see it everyday in NJ.

This is very sore subject with me as you can see.

Stone

If you read my posts...I say how I always wear my seatbelt!! I think everyone should wear one, but I don't think it should be the law! I don't think rules are unjust...just disagree with certain things. That is how this country has become so great, because of people questioning things they disagree with. Ohhh, and what do you know about the military robb? If you have something to say about the military, you better be prepared to stand a post!

Have most states changed it to a primary offense?

I believe Mr. Krenn to be Zen-like.
If you flew in an F-16 and they 'suggested' you where a 'chute, would you?
Afterall, it is stastically proven safer to fly than it is to drive.
Darwinism at its' best.

Nope - not even close.

Especially for something that is easily preventable (just put the damn seatbelt on!)

If you want to be a dumb ass and not wear one, then fine - just like the idiots who want to ride a motorcycle with no helmet - sign away all rights to any medical treatment, government assistance when you become a vegtable, agree to pay for your uneccesary and otherwise preventable medical costs and sign away your families right to file rediculous lawsuites for absurd amounts of money.

Do all that, and I have no problem with you doing whatever the hell you want.

TANSTAAFL - there aint no such thing as a free lunch. You don't live in a vacumm, you are a member of a society and as such you have rights, but you also have responsibilites. If you aren't wearing your seatbelt, get in an accident, and labotomize yourself, I and all your neighbors pay for it - and that sucks

So, you will get no sympathy from me if you get pulled over and fined $50 or even $100 for not wearing your seatbelt. Hell, why stop there - make it $250. I can't believe people still have a problem with seatbelts after all this time.

Maybe we are dooming our species to extinction by preventing the stupid people from killing themselves off with policing and advanced medical treatment :rolleyes:

Yeah we get so much from the tickets plus commission on every one :rolleyes: not. We see maybe 10 dollars out of a 75 dollar citation. The rest goes to the courts and state. Not a great revenue builder. You sound like one who complains that we spped around but would complain if we took to long to get to your house. You can't have it both ways. I would wager 99% of the time they go speeding around they are responding to a call for service. Being able to drive fast whenever I want is not that big of thrill to me, I am however trying to get somewhere to assist someone or to try and keep them from complaining for an hour of how long it took me to get there.

ok... finaly read this thread... i have no problem with seatbelt laws... i would wear it anyway... and it is obvious that it saves lives and injuries... hell, your surrounded by a steal box anything to keep you from slammin into that steel is a good thing...

but i must point out here some misconceptions aboutt helmets and their relevance...

do helmets save lives?
yeah probably some.
what about the excuse that they cause accidents because of impared visibility/hearing?
bullshit
do i support helmet laws?
HELL NO!!!

why?

i would say the vast majority of injuries without seatbelts in automobile accidents are caused by impact with the interior of vehicle(what else could it be... maybe some whiplash) a seatbelt obviously drasticly reduces your chance of impacting the interior of the vehicle(save for maybe the side window)

but the vast majority of motocycle injuries WITH OR WITHOUT HELMETS is blunt force trama... TO THE BODY, primarily broken ribs and internal injuries in fact the vast majority of fatalities in motorcycle accidents where the rider was not wearing a helmet is still BLUNT FORCE TRAMA TO THE BODY, generaly punctured internal organs from broken ribs

legislation requiring Body armour for motorcyclists makes much more sense...

Do i wear a helmet... yes. do i think i should be forced to by law because non-motorcytclist voters were misinformed and believe that head injuries are the primary injury in motorcycle wrecks... no.

will i wear one when i move to AZ in a couple days(no law in AZ) sometimes... certainly not during the summer, too damn hot.

I have never been in the military, I did not grow up in a military family, but I do have the upmost respect for our nations military. Lets make that clear. I realize you said you DO wear your seatbelt and thats good. I see your point about freedom, and making adult choices but I guess seatbelts seemed like a bad example to me. I had 5 aunts and uncles die in a car accident when they were young (never new them) so it has been instilled in me to wear my belt at all times. That is my choice.
No flames on the military, just stating that I found it odd that a military person would be so opposed to a law like seatbelts, I thought military life was all bout conformity. I was wrong I guess.
Oh, and by the way I didnt intend on replying , but felt I had to, to smoothe things over.

This is one of the dumbest posts I've read in a while. I don't care WHERE you are getting your data on motorcyle injuries, but what I'd really like to see is how you could prove that IF you were in a motorcycle accident and you were NOT wearing a helmet, you wouldn't substain a head injury. I totally agree with what was posted earlier about not wearing helmets or seat belts, and substaining injuries because of it's non-use; the insurance companies should be able to say "Sorry you're not covered, go pound sand".

:rolleyes:

You guys have missed an obvious point here.

Seat belts save lives. I know from experience (flipped a car three times, would've been dead if I wasn't wearing mine)

but...

It the law in PA to where your seatbelt, and your fined for not doing it in your own personal vehicle.

but...

Public transportation and school buses do not have seat belts.. WHY? Can somebody please explain this to me???

Don't want to wear a seatbelt, that's your choice. Just means that your parts will end up in front of me at some point.

Chris
Transplant Coordinator

You have every right not to wear your seatbelt, just be prepared to pay the consequences.
The officer that pulls you over also has the right to give you a ticket.

I also flipped a vehicle (3 times end over end), and I know I would have been dead if I hadn't been wearing my seatbelt.

Go ahead and not wear it, but don't post on here that you are pissed off because you got a ticket.

Well, I had the motorcycle wreck with the blunt force body trauma. It didn't kill me, but it broke a lot of bones and it tore my internal organs. That was a long time ago, when I was a very young man. I healed. I ended up with screws and wire in my bones, and a limp. But today I bicycle 150 miles per week, and I have two great sons, and I coach a lot of youth sports, and I have a good job, and a good girlfriend. My life is very full. I think I am very fortunate.

But it's not all luck. During that crash, I was wearing a helmet with a visor. That visor is completely covered with the paint of the car that hit me. The visor is impregnated with the paint. My head hit hard. It is my belief, that if it wasn't for the helmet and visor, I would probably be dead. I wouldn't be here. Maybe I wouldn't be dead. Maybe just brain damaged. At the very least I think, my face would have been torn and heavily scarred. And I'm so good-looking you know, that would be a tragedy (kidding).

I think I am one whose life was saved by a helmet. Todrick, wear the helmet, even if it is hot. If you can't stand the heat, drive your X with the AC on... and buckle up.

I wonder how the recipients of transplanted parts view the value of life and the value of things that help us stay alive? I wonder how many of them don't wear their seatbelts?

Good question. I suppose the fact that they are rarely involved in accidents in the first place. I'd still like to see them on school buses regardless.

Brent