# Seatbelts and Friendship **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 28, 2002, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seatbelts-and-friendship/116326 "2002-06-28T04:34:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2002, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seatbelts-and-friendship/116326/1 "2002-06-28T04:34:50Z")
This isn’t being posted in the BBQ Pit or GD, I’m not looking for rants on manditory seatbelt laws or detailed cites on the efficacy of wearing your seatbelts. I’m looking for people’s reactions to finding out someone they know doesn’t wear their seatbelt. Does it make you think any differently of the person? Do you see them in a different light? For me, it really has an affect on me. It makes me question their sense of logic and self-preservation, and how that would affect them in other situations. If they think that little about their own lives, what do they think about other things. Granted, it’s a big jump from seatbelts to other things, but it makes me wonder. How about you all? ---
**Author:** ![Violet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/ebca7d/32.png) [@Violet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Violet)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2002, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seatbelts-and-friendship/116326/2 "2002-06-28T04:39:35Z")
I think people who don’t wear a seatbelt in the car that I’m in do not care about me. In a crash, they would become a projectile and perhaps crush me to death. This is like having a friend who’s an alcoholic, I suppose. I see such people in a “different light.” But getting back to the subject, a friend was in my car recently, and she was not buckled up. I told her to put her seatbelt on because I did not want to get a ticket. She complied. We’re still friends. ---
**Author:** ![butter\_pie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/aca169/32.png) [@butter\_pie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/butter_pie)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2002, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seatbelts-and-friendship/116326/3 "2002-06-28T04:55:44Z")
You do what you want in your own car. You get in my car, you’re wearing a seat belt. You don’t want to, then you can walk. Not wearing it is just dumb. You can’t even say it gives you helmet hair. ---
**Author:** ![dead0man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/edb3f5/32.png) [@dead0man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dead0man)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2002, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seatbelts-and-friendship/116326/4 "2002-06-28T05:27:31Z")
I normally dont wear a seat belt. I will if the driver asks. After I bitch about it. My SO yells at me all the time to put it on when she drives. I usually dont. I put it on when I go on the Air Force base I work on, they will stop you and tell you to if you dont. I put it on if I’m driving for more than 30 minutes or I’m driving like an idiot. Or if its raining or snowing. I’m what you would call a reformed seat belt wearer. I used to wear it religously. I more often than not dont now. I wonder why that is? dead0man Oh, wait…there was a question. No, I wouldnt think less of someone that doesnt wear a seat belt. dead0man again ---
**Author:** ![Ringo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/779978/32.png) [@Ringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ringo)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2002, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seatbelts-and-friendship/116326/5 "2002-06-28T05:29:12Z")
A rare moment of legislative body clear-think occured when the Texas Legislature passed our seat-belt law and fashioned it such that a seat-belted driver is not ticketed for his non-seat-belted passenger. The passenger gets the ticket. I nevertheless operate under the same general approach that **jin** describes. ---
**Author:** ![dead0man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/edb3f5/32.png) [@dead0man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dead0man)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2002, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seatbelts-and-friendship/116326/6 "2002-06-28T05:33:14Z")
I normally dont wear a seat belt. I will if the driver asks. After I bitch about it. My SO yells at me all the time to put it on when she drives. I usually dont. I put it on when I go on the Air Force base I work on, they will stop you and tell you to if you dont. I put it on if I’m driving for more than 30 minutes or I’m driving like an idiot. Or if its raining or snowing. I’m what you would call a reformed seat belt wearer. I used to wear it religously. I more often than not dont now. I wonder why that is? dead0man Oh, wait…there was a question. No, I wouldnt think less of someone that doesnt wear a seat belt. dead0man again ---
**Author:** ![dead0man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/edb3f5/32.png) [@dead0man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dead0man)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2002, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seatbelts-and-friendship/116326/7 "2002-06-28T05:35:26Z")
My first double post. I feel special. Sorry and carry on. dead0man ---
**Author:** ![Essured](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/278dde/32.png) [@Essured](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Essured)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2002, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seatbelts-and-friendship/116326/8 "2002-06-28T05:51:17Z")
This is one topic I’m not flexible on. If you’re in my car, you’re wearing a belt, or you’re out of my car. No ifs, ands or buts. Without a seatbelt, I would not be here today. Twice it has saved my life. I am extremely intolerant of other view points on this topic. IMO, if you don’t wear a seatbelt in a moving car on public roads, well… this isn’t in the Pit, so I can’t say what I think of people like that. Suffice it to say, yes I feel differently about that person. I have yet to hear one good reason to not wear one. (IMO, of course) ---
**Author:** ![Caught\_Work](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/919ad9/32.png) [@Caught\_Work](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caught_Work)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2002, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seatbelts-and-friendship/116326/9 "2002-06-28T05:51:18Z")
Well, there is no choice in Oz as it’s the law. BUT, if it wasn’t, then yes, I would think you were an idiot. ---
**Author:** ![leechbabe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7cd45c/32.png) [@leechbabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leechbabe)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2002, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seatbelts-and-friendship/116326/10 "2002-06-28T06:20:41Z")
Ditto **Goo** and **Caught@Work**. Just to add a bit of my own - I really, really don’t understand parents who don’t make their kids wear seatbelts. Don’t they care about their kids? ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2002, 7:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seatbelts-and-friendship/116326/11 "2002-06-28T07:12:45Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by leechbabe \* > Just to add a bit of my own - I really, really don’t understand parents who don’t make their kids wear seatbelts. Don’t they care about their kids? (Oy, not again… 😉 ) Isn’t that tantamount to asking “I really, really don’t understand parents who keep chairs in their homes – after all, the kids could climb on them and fall off. Don’t they care about their kids?” ---
**Author:** ![leechbabe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7cd45c/32.png) [@leechbabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leechbabe)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2002, 7:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seatbelts-and-friendship/116326/12 "2002-06-28T07:22:54Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by rjung \* > \*\* > (Oy, not again… 😉 ) > > Isn’t that tantamount to asking “I really, really don’t understand parents who keep chairs in their homes – after all, the kids could climb on them and fall off. Don’t they care about their kids?” \*\* Well no, as the chances of injury - fatal or otherwise are far higher in a car. Its just my opinion, which has been formed after seeing the results of accidents when people don’t wear seatbelts. In my mind being a parent means taking every reasonable precaution that your child is safe and out of danger ie - if in a car make sure their seatbelt is on. Why needless risk your childs health? As for parents who keep chairs in their homes weellll don’t even get me started and tables, TABLES I mean to say…that might lead to real trouble 😃 ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2002, 7:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seatbelts-and-friendship/116326/13 "2002-06-28T07:41:07Z")
There’s a great road safety television campaign on in New South Wales at the moment: A scene of a guy standing next to a couple of wrecked cars. He’s in severe shock, obviously injured and covered in blood… VOICE OVER: "This man has just been in a _low speed_ collision… …but you should see the other guy…" CUT TO: The other driver, obviously completely uninjured. VOICE OVER: “…he was wearing a seatbelt.” Here in Australia, we ae blessed with VERY strict laws and hard-hitting road safety campaigns. As a result, thankfully, these days the vast majority of motorists always buckle up. The other day, I helped a friend move her car out of a tight parking space in a shopping centre carpark. I laughed at myself when I realised I’d put my seatbelt on to drive her car twenty feet: it was an automatic reflex. Then I reflected on it, and was glad I’d been trained that way. ---
**Author:** ![Shade](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2bfe46/32.png) [@Shade](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shade)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2002, 9:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seatbelts-and-friendship/116326/14 "2002-06-28T09:36:19Z")
I’m in england - I automatically buckle up when I get in. If I’m manouvering in a carpark or whatever I’ll not bother. But I passed the test quite recently so I might get sloppy. I’ve never heard of anyone being ticketed for it, but I think it’s the driver’s responsibility. I’m sure plenty of people don’t bother wearing a seatbelt is quite normal. Please don’t debate this, but can someone quickly explain why not to wear a seatbelt? Is it just because govt says you should? Is it uncomfertable? Is not any safer/more dangerous? ---
**Author:** ![Futile\_Gesture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f05b48/32.png) [@Futile\_Gesture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Futile_Gesture)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2002, 10:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seatbelts-and-friendship/116326/15 "2002-06-28T10:02:14Z")
There’s an advert in the UK that graphically demonstrates that an un-seatbelted passenger in the back seat hits the people in the front with the weight of a baby elephant. Also one about a teenager sitting up, shattering his mother’s skull with a single headbutt, then sitting back down again. Quite apart from that, I would think that it must be quite upsetting to see someone you care about go through the windscreen because they weren’t, like you, belted in. Especially if you were driving. So I guess the message is that if you don’t belt up you don’t care much about the rest of the people in the car with you. But if they are in the car alone, as the OP suggests, and not belted. Well, I guess that’s their own lookout. People do things that are senselessly dangerous all the time. But then it’s not as if you’re getting any kind of thrill out of it, so doubley pointless. “Whooweee, Lookatme! No Seatbelt!” ---
**Author:** ![Go\_alien](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9d8465/32.png) [@Go\_alien](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Go_alien)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2002, 10:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seatbelts-and-friendship/116326/16 "2002-06-28T10:02:42Z")
Seatbelts (and airbags) are proven life savers in accidents of any sort. I have personally spent time in rolling and crashing cars on more than one occasion and walked away from every one due to wearing a seatbelt. However, as means of improving driving standards, their effect is pretty neutral. Indeed, some evidence (sorry no cite) suggests that safety devices that cocoon the driver encourage reckless driving and risk taking. My solution? A big, foot long very sharp spike sticking out of the steering wheel aimed at the driver’s heart. All passengers are fully protected, but the driver isn’t. Just think how much more carefully we would drive if we knew that any stupidity would result in instant death.😃 ---
**Author:** ![flyboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/4da419/32.png) [@flyboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flyboy)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2002, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seatbelts-and-friendship/116326/17 "2002-06-28T13:09:24Z")
I have government (DoD) life insurance, and many, many years ago I heard that if you kick the bucket in a car crash with no seatbelt, your family doesn’t collect. I have no idea if this is really true or not, but it was enough to get me faithfully wearing it. So yes, I’d think about the person differently, especially if he/she has a family to support. ---
**Author:** ![LifeOnWry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/96bed5/32.png) [@LifeOnWry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LifeOnWry)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2002, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seatbelts-and-friendship/116326/18 "2002-06-28T13:52:22Z")
My daughter was ten before she realized that a car will in fact start even if all seat belts in the car are not fastened. It’s an automatic reflex for me, as well as for the rest of my family, so it’s really not an issue. I think people who don’t wear them are idiots, and when said idiots get in my car I just sit there and look at them until they grab a clue and buckle up. My mother refuses to wear a seatbelt because she once read about a woman being trapped underwater in her car. I pointed out to my mom that there are no bodies of water big enough for her car to sink in in a 50 mile radius of her home, but she’s convinced, the second she snaps that belt she’s going under water. ---
**Author:** ![Jet\_Jaguar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jet_jaguar/32/3562_2.png) [@Jet\_Jaguar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jet_Jaguar)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2002, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seatbelts-and-friendship/116326/19 "2002-06-28T14:01:16Z")
It pains me that my wife adamantly refuses to wear a seatbelt. Why doesn’t she wear one? Because it’s the law and she doesn’t like to follow the rules. The more you tell her she has to do something, the more she fights it. She got a ticket for no belt once, and that just made her more determined to never wear a seatbelt. Not only does my dad not wear a seatbelt, he gets angry when passengers in his car buckle up. He says it implies that you don’t trust his driving. It doesn’t help that he’s been in a couple really bad accidents without a seatbelt but got away without a scratch. (I’ve seen photos of the Corvette he wrapped around a telephone pole. Literally folded in half, nose almost touching the tail. Looking at it, you would think it was certainly a fatality even with belts, but he was completely unhurt.) It makes him think you don’t really need one. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2002, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seatbelts-and-friendship/116326/20 "2002-06-28T16:29:15Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Jet Jaguar \* > \*\*It pains me that my wife adamantly refuses to wear a seatbelt. Why doesn’t she wear one? Because it’s the law and she doesn’t like to follow the rules. The more you tell her she has to do something, the more she fights it. \*\* Probably shouldn’t mention to her that strangling your husband in his sleep is against the law, too. Still, rules are rules. 🙂 What gets me the most, I think, is the contortions of logic people go through to justify not wearing their seatbelts. Statistics clearly don’t work, laws don’t, appeals to safety don’t seem to cut it. I think people sometimes feel the need to assert control over some aspects of their lives. Alas I think this is a horrible place to make that choice. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seatbelts-and-friendship/116326.md?page=2)