# When do you fasten your seat belt? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 12, 2012, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-do-you-fasten-your-seat-belt/634513 "2012-09-12T16:06:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Moonlitherial](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4bbf92/32.png) [@Moonlitherial](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moonlitherial)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2012, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-do-you-fasten-your-seat-belt/634513/21 "2012-09-12T19:45:00Z")
> [@muldoonthief](#): > > If I’m driving forwards from wherever I’m parked - after I start the car, before I put it in gear. If I have to back up out of the garage or parking space - after I’m done backing up. It’s a lot easier for me to turn all the way around to look out the back window of the minivan if I don’t have my seatbelt on, and I’m willing to risk the 3mph collision I might have during that time. This. I voted for after I start the car but before I drive away which is technically accurate because I only reverse without it on. ---
**Author:** ![Rhiannon8404](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhiannon8404/32/17929_2.png) [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2012, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-do-you-fasten-your-seat-belt/634513/22 "2012-09-12T20:00:57Z")
Get in. Start engine and thus air conditioning. Buckle seat belt. Close door. Drive. ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2012, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-do-you-fasten-your-seat-belt/634513/23 "2012-09-12T20:11:53Z")
I do the “drive for a minute or two and then put on belt thing to”. I’m not sure why I do it, since I realize its dumb, but for whatever reason my brain is bad at reminding me to put on the belt until the car starts rolling. ---
**Author:** ![Gus\_Gusterson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/85f322/32.png) [@Gus\_Gusterson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gus_Gusterson)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2012, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-do-you-fasten-your-seat-belt/634513/24 "2012-09-12T20:38:42Z")
I fasten it after starting the car. I am trying to train myself to fasten it before starting the car but it’s not sticking. Once or so a year I forget to fasten it and I drive along thinking that something feels very strange until I figure it out. ---
**Author:** ![Noone\_Special](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/noone_special/32/2863_2.png) [@Noone\_Special](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noone_Special)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2012, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-do-you-fasten-your-seat-belt/634513/25 "2012-09-12T20:47:19Z")
I voted “put on the belt before starting the car,” which is what I almost always do, although if I get into the car on a _really hot_ day after it’s been in the sun for a few hours, then I _will_ start the car, turn the A/C on full blast, and only **then** attend to the seat belt. But the car doesn’t come out of park, and the hand break doesn’t go down, until I’m buckled up. ---
**Author:** ![Sudden\_Kestrel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecd19e/32.png) [@Sudden\_Kestrel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sudden_Kestrel)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2012, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-do-you-fasten-your-seat-belt/634513/26 "2012-09-12T20:50:25Z")
I start the car first because it’s usually so damn hot outside that I want the AC on immediately or it’s so damn cold outside that I want the heat on immediately. Sometimes we stop to pick up the mail before we turn onto the road that leads to our driveway and I have to take off my seatbelt to reach the mailbox. Don’t tell anybody, but sometimes I don’t put it back on and I ride that last couple of hundred feet in the joyous freedom I remember from the sixties. ---
**Author:** ![delphica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9a140/32.png) [@delphica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/delphica)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2012, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-do-you-fasten-your-seat-belt/634513/27 "2012-09-12T20:50:41Z")
> [@Skammer](#): > > I also start the engine, put on my seatbelt, then put the car in gear and drive away. Maybe a holdover from when I lived in a very cold climate and needed to let the engine run a little bit first. I would never actually drive or ride in a moving car without a seatbelt though. Huh, I am also from the blizzard belt, and maybe that’s why I got in the habit of getting the car started first. ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2012, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-do-you-fasten-your-seat-belt/634513/28 "2012-09-12T21:50:05Z")
1. Sit down. 2. Throw purse in back seat. 3. Start ignition. 4. Buckle up. 5. Drive off. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2012, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-do-you-fasten-your-seat-belt/634513/29 "2012-09-12T22:33:23Z")
> [@Skammer](#): > > …I’m grateful that the very first car I ever owned - a 1978 Toyota Celica - has a very loud and annoying seatbelt alarm. That put me in the habit of wearing it right at the beginning of my driving career. Me too. My first car had a really annoying alarm that would sound if you weren’t buckled in, and the only way to avoid it altogether was to be buckled up before starting the engine. Been doing it ever since. ---
**Author:** ![Battle\_Pope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@Battle\_Pope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Battle_Pope)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2012, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-do-you-fasten-your-seat-belt/634513/30 "2012-09-12T23:12:33Z")
I’m probably 50/50 “before I start the engine” and “after starting but before putting in gear”. A few years ago I was at a crash that involved five of my friends, the vehicle rolled 2 or 3 times. Four were wearing seatbelts and walked away with cuts and bruises. One wasn’t wearing a seatbelt, got thrown about 15 metres and died a week later from brain injuries. Kind of fanatical about seatbelts now. ---
**Author:** ![FoundWaldo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dfb087/32.png) [@FoundWaldo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoundWaldo)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2012, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-do-you-fasten-your-seat-belt/634513/31 "2012-09-12T23:36:21Z")
I used to do it before starting the car. However, my current car brings the seatbelt forward for you to make it easier to grab, but only when you start the car. So now I wait. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2012, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-do-you-fasten-your-seat-belt/634513/32 "2012-09-12T23:46:06Z")
> [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > Belt goes on as soon as I sit down in the car. It’s such an ingrained habit that I feel really weird just moving the car between the garage and driveway (e.g. for washing or maintenance) without putting my seatbelt on. ^^^ _Cela. Este. Hazeh. Questo. Yeh bhi. **This.** _ ---
**Author:** ![Visorslash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/ee59a6/32.png) [@Visorslash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Visorslash)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2012, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-do-you-fasten-your-seat-belt/634513/33 "2012-09-12T23:51:13Z")
> [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > Belt goes on as soon as I sit down in the car. It’s such an ingrained habit that I feel really weird just moving the car between the garage and driveway (e.g. for washing or maintenance) without putting my seatbelt on. This, it’s completely ingrained, just like (for me) looking both ways before crossing the road. ---
**Author:** ![CrazyCatLady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dfb087/32.png) [@CrazyCatLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrazyCatLady)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2012, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-do-you-fasten-your-seat-belt/634513/34 "2012-09-13T00:00:21Z")
> [@Scubaqueen](#): > > After I was a front-seat passenger in a 1981 rear-end collision (our vehicle was the rear-ender) that resulted in the trashing of my left knee on the dashboard (which saved my face from the windshield. my knee didn’t do much for the dashboard), I started wearing seatbelts religiously. > > Before the collision, I put it on only if I thought about it. Change the year to 1987, swap out a severed lower lip on the windshield for the knee on the dashboard, and you have my answer. Belt generally goes on before the keys even go in the ignition, and the car typically doesn’t go in gear till all passengers are buckled up. ---
**Author:** ![ClintO](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b5ac83/32.png) [@ClintO](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ClintO)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2012, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-do-you-fasten-your-seat-belt/634513/35 "2012-09-13T00:06:09Z")
I never wear a seatbelt… The first vehicle I owned didn’t have any seat belts in it so I never got used to wearing them. Growing up in rural setting probably didn’t help much either, where every drive was 2 minutes away. I think the last time I put one on was the last time I got pulled over. ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2012, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-do-you-fasten-your-seat-belt/634513/36 "2012-09-13T00:07:18Z")
I start the car, put on the seat belt and then take it out of park. I even wear the seatbelt when I move it from the driveway to the garage or vice versa because it feels weird and wrong to be in a moving vehicle without a seatbelt. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2012, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-do-you-fasten-your-seat-belt/634513/37 "2012-09-13T00:19:26Z")
I have all these ingrained habits I do when completely unnecessary. Most of the times I turn from the (private) driveway into my personal parking space I’ll put on my turn signal. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2012, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-do-you-fasten-your-seat-belt/634513/38 "2012-09-13T00:19:40Z")
Get in the car, put the keys in the ignition, fasten belt, start car. As near as I can figure, I do it in this order to free my hands to fasten the belt. ---
**Author:** ![jabiru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bbce88/32.png) [@jabiru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jabiru)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2012, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-do-you-fasten-your-seat-belt/634513/39 "2012-09-13T00:44:05Z")
After I reverse out of the driveway. ---
**Author:** ![chizzuk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e36b37/32.png) [@chizzuk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chizzuk)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2012, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-do-you-fasten-your-seat-belt/634513/40 "2012-09-13T00:49:34Z")
After I turn on the engine and before I take the car out of park. Sometimes I close the door before turning on the engine, sometimes I don’t. I don’t know why I don’t put the seatbelt on before I turn on the car, because my car instantly starts making the “Where’s your seatbelt, idiot?” dinging alarm go off and I hate it every time, but yet I still do it the same way. Some things are just too ingrained, I guess. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-do-you-fasten-your-seat-belt/634513.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-do-you-fasten-your-seat-belt/634513.md?page=3)