Seatbellt, helmets. Take your pick.

[BigDipper 0]

Instead of crossing threads with the speeding topic, I thought I would throw out a little argument for all the opinionative crowd. I live in Florida now..and I've been nailed with several seatbelt tickets over the years, from back home in Canada to Florida. Using Florida as an example, how the hell can you tell me I HAVE to wear a seatbelt, but I can drive a motorcycle with no helmet.

[ljbaron 0]

The likely hood of you surviving a crash on a bike going 60 mph, its slim to none.

[TBLfan 25]

It's not you they're worried about. If you're not wearing a seatbelt and you get into an accident you can fly out of your car and injure someone else/cause another accident.

As far as I know the "Click it or ticket" thing is for all states. I was in Hawaii about 5 years ago and they had the same commercial we were running but with a rather large polynesian cop.

[TheBert 0]

Thank you, Ralph Nader.

[Jason Harris 31]

Using Florida as an example, how the hell can you tell me I HAVE to wear a seatbelt, but I can drive a motorcycle with no helmet.

States have begun enacting helmet laws under the premise that some motorcyclists have become wards of the state after horrific accidents -- at taxpayers' expense. I would imagine the same line of thinking applies to seatbelt laws.

That said, I have no idea why anyone would want to drive without a seatbelt. If they are adjusted to the proper height, they are virtually unnoticeable while wearing them, and they have been so proven to help prevent serious injuries that to argue against it would be like arguing gravity doesn't affect the apple.

[wildebeest 0]

I think if you're in an accident and you're not wearing your seatbelt, you shouldn't get to file an insurance claim for your injuries.

[Tailboard Jockey 25]

I've seen people killed by drivers who have slid out from behind the wheel and lost control of their vehicle while driving, because they didn't have their seatbelt on. Why should somebody else have to die or be seriously injured because you didn't feel like wearing a seatbelt?

[Tailboard Jockey 25]

[Rustpot 1]

Put a warning on that for extreme graphic nature. That's someone's life.

I knew a kid way back whose parents were in a car accident in which they were told the seatbelts would have killed them. I don't recall the specifics, but they refused to wear them after that.

I compare your "why can you tell me to wear a seatbelt" question to this one- You should know not to grab onto a chain with blades attached to it, especially while spinning, why should my company pay an extra dollar per chainsaw just so you can keep your hand attached to your body?

Riding a cycle is like playing hockey without a cup. 99 times out of 100 you'll go back home just fine, that last time is the time you wish you hadn't gone without.

[Tailboard Jockey 25]

Put a warning on that for extreme graphic nature. That's someone's life.

That is somebody who had no regard for yours, mine, or anybody elses life.

[english15x 3]

Put a warning on that for extreme graphic nature. That's someone's life.

That is somebody who had no regard for yours, mine, or anybody elses life.

yes i believe he was also being chased by the police. I for one am not running from the cops.

[Jason Harris 31]

I knew a kid way back whose parents were in a car accident in which they were told the seatbelts would have killed them. I don't recall the specifics, but they refused to wear them after that.

I've seen statistics on that in the past, so I'm going off memory, but it's somewhere around 3% to 5% of the time a seat belt actually caused a fatality. I wouldn't be surprised, however, if that number has dropped with the advent of airbags.

Conversely, I found this tidbit from the NHTSA: In rollover crashes, seat belts are especially effective because 69 percent of all car fatalities and 78 percent of light truck deaths in these crashes involved ejection of the unbelted occupant from the vehicle.

[LkptTiger 1]

I knew a kid way back whose parents were in a car accident in which they were told the seatbelts would have killed them. I don't recall the specifics, but they refused to wear them after that.

My cousin was killed by his...or maybe by the kid sitting behind him...or maybe the kid driving the car...or maybe a bit of everything mixed with some bad luck.

He was in the front passenger seat when the car he was riding in hit a tree...the kid in the back wasn't. Apparently the kid in the back flew toward the front of the car ("backseat bullet" is the term - I believe - coined by a professor at my school) and broke the restraints under my cousin's seat. The seat gave-way and went forward, the seatbelt didn't and, I guess, ruptured some of his internal organs. He said he felt tired and sick to his stomach and laid down in the grass while they were waiting for the ambulance to get there and never got up again.

My girlfriend's father and brothers were involved in an accident in which the cops who responded all said that the father and oldest brother very likely would have died were they not wearing theirs.

Pick your poison, eh?

[english15x 3]

I knew a kid way back whose parents were in a car accident in which they were told the seatbelts would have killed them. I don't recall the specifics, but they refused to wear them after that.

My cousin was killed by his...or maybe by the kid sitting behind him...or maybe the kid driving the car...or maybe a bit of everything mixed with some bad luck.

He was in the front passenger seat when the car he was riding in hit a tree...the kid in the back wasn't. Apparently the kid in the back flew toward the front of the car ("backseat bullet" is the term - I believe - coined by a professor at my school) and broke the restraints under my cousin's seat. The seat gave-way and went forward, the seatbelt didn't and, I guess, ruptured some of his internal organs. He said he felt tired and sick to his stomach and laid down in the grass while they were waiting for the ambulance to get there and never got up again.

My girlfriend's father and brothers were involved in an accident in which the cops who responded all said that the father and oldest brother very likely would have died were they not wearing theirs.

Pick your poison, eh?

sorry about your cousin. that's sad that he died waiting in the grass.

[LkptTiger 1]

What's really sad is that he was only about two blocks from his house when it happened...and that he was a little less than a week away from leaving to run Track at Penn State. His younger brother and sister pretty much fell apart after the whole thing. His bedroom is still almost exactly the way he left it...Christ...about 12 years ago. Our grandmother (his mom died after complications delivering his sister, so the kids moved-in with the grandparents) goes up and takes care of the dust and everything every once in awhile, but hardly anything has been touched).

It hit everyone in the family really hard when it happened, but now that I'm right about the age he was when it happened, it's made me realize the magnitude of the thing. Every so often, when I'm feeling particularly invincible, I'll think about Neil and it keeps me in check.

...and as sad as it all is/was, this shit happens all the time. If you open your eyes and really take a look around, the world can be an overwhelmingly sad place. I'm sure a LOT of other people here have stories like this one.

[english15x 3]

What's really sad is that he was only about two blocks from his house when it happened...and that he was a little less than a week away from leaving to run Track at Penn State. His younger brother and sister pretty much fell apart after the whole thing. His bedroom is still almost exactly the way he left it...Christ...about 12 years ago. Our grandmother (his mom died after complications delivering his sister, so the kids moved-in with the grandparents) goes up and takes care of the dust and everything every once in awhile, but hardly anything has been touched).

It hit everyone in the family really hard when it happened, but now that I'm right about the age he was when it happened, it's made me realize the magnitude of the thing. Every so often, when I'm feeling particularly invincible, I'll think about Neil and it keeps me in check.

...and as sad as it all is/was, this shit happens all the time. If you open your eyes and really take a look around, the world can be an overwhelmingly sad place. I'm sure a LOT of other people here have stories like this one.

very true, very deep man.

[BigDipper 0]

I'm not arguing the fact that I shouldnt have to wear a seltbelt. I just think that if you are enforcing a law to prevent deaths, they should, without question, make people wear helmets too. I've owned a couple sport bikes in my day and put myself in the hospital two years ago for a bike accident. I sold the bike and never rode again. I see these guys ripping around with no helmets. It's a death wish. I jsut think the law should extend it force onto bike drivers too. Better for everyone.

[cxo 0]

I just think that if you are enforcing a law to prevent deaths, they should, without question, make people wear helmets too.

Unfortunately, that's not really why a lot of laws exist.

[Rustpot 1]

Overbearing MADD mothers don't have kids that ride crotch rockets. They do have kids that party and drink.

One of the few incidents on campus in my 3 years here at college was a drunk driver. Mustang + liquor + wet roads = one dead, one in the hospital for 3 months.

Death happens all too often in our society. Some are the fault of the dead, some aren't. I am thankful everyday that only old age has taken someone near and dear to me.