Why ARE people bothered about other people not wearing a seatbelt?

Leah

I'm only bothered if I see kids not in car seats properly. Adults can make their own decisions.

Information Police

It only bothers me if they don't wear a seatbelt AND they have not signed their organ donor cards.

sallyally

I don't care if someone get's in my car and they don't want to wear a seatbelt, then they can get straight back out. Not only are they putting their lives at risk but they are putting other people lives at risk who are in the car with them e.g(they could injure or kill someone by the impact of them hitting another person in the car.)

Seatbelt's are there for a dam good reason!

Shonsay

Because their stupidity could cause the death of another passenger who is wearing a seatbelt. Especially if in the back seat - the impact of the collision could cause them to fly forward into the back of the front seat and kill the person in the front seat. Have you not seen that ad on TV for it? And they are not just shock tactics - the government doesn't gain anything out of it - why lie about it!?! Anyone who knows anything about forces should be only too well aware of the damage a high speed crash can do.

I say "No seatbelt, no trip to hospital" after an accident. Let natural selection sort things out for us...

kNOTaLIAwyR

You are obviously young. I guess those crash dummies are smarter than you?

Seatbelts save lives. If it weren't true, then race car drivers wouldn't wear them.

So many tragic stories on the news about teenage deaths which could have been avoided by simply wearing an uncomfortable seatbelt.

From an economical standpoint, it costs money to send an ambulance, transport, and hospitalize a victim, as well as sending police to notify the victims family, and the unexpected early funeral expenses for someone who could have otherwise walked away unscathed by simply wearing a seatbelt.

It is pure safety, nothing more. It is so obvious that it is inconcievable someone could be so stupid as to not know that. That is why people are 'bothered' about people not wearing a seatbelt.

A person who does not wear a seatbelt 'says' alot about themselves. They are irresponsible, and ignorant. I wouldn't want a family member or friend riding with someone like that.

When you are in your first accident, you will either be thankful you were wearing your seatbelt, or not be able to do so. You will also be amazed at how a simple 7 mile per hour crash can lift your body upward in a sommersault fashion. You will lose all personal control of not only yourself, but the vehicle as well.

But, truthfully, I hope you don't experience that and live a long healthy life. If not, please don't endanger others riding with you. Choose the belt.

Martin K

Someone not wearing a seatbelt in a car with you can kill you in a accident.. I wish People would realise that we are as vunerable as an unhatched chick in an egg in a field full of wandering Elephants as we are in a car, the car being the egg..

Le BigMac

Why ARE people in denial about the physics of an automobile crash?

CGIV76

During a collision there are two impacts - the impact of vehicle to vehicle, and the secondary impact of the contents of the vehicle upon each other. Seat belts stop that secondary impact.
I investigated an accident where a vehicle was hit on the side (known as a t-bone). The passenger on that side was a 300lb man who was not belted. The impact knocked him across the seat, through the center console and into the female driver who was killed by the impact of the passenger's body. The passenger lived. The woman he killed was his wife.
I also investigated a rear end collision where an unbelted man in the back set of a vehicle, pushed the front seat so far forward when he was propelled into it, that it killed the driver instantly, and the passenger died later of internal injuries.
That is why I ticketed anyone in a vehicle not wearing a seat belt.

lapdcentral

If your in my line of work (PD) you bother about it because being at crash scenes where people have worn their belt is horrible, let alone when people havnt worn their belt!

P.A.M.

Everytime one of these so called "I want to be free moron" does anything that ends up costing the rest of us money, it bothers me.

You want to be free, so be it, but if bad comes to worse, you are on your own. The same thing applies to bike helmets, you wear it, fine; you don't, don't expect me to cough up more money for you.

On the other hand, if there is a law, it is common knowledge that people will break the law for whatever reason, so the authorities use these laws as fund raisers by collecting heavy fines.

and it goes round and round, money, money, money

thinpinblue

The cost to the NHS alone must be astronomical. Plus the other emergency services. RTA`s through not wearing seatbelts must run into millions. Thats what bothers me.

Bear

Seatbelts are there to prevent serious injury and save lives.... FACT.

Some people may say well its their life leave them to it.

If a vehicle were involved in a collision and the driver or passengers were not wearing their seatbelts they would more than likely be thrown around in the car, with the possibility of heads colliding and therefore with that the risk of serious injury and/ or death. Likewise front seat passengers may well be thrown through the windscreen.

I personally would not want a relative of mine to die through not wearing something as simple as a seat belt. I would therefore advocate the police enforcing the law and making any relative of mine wear a seat belt.

What are the benefits of not wearing a seat belt? There are far more benefits to wearing it. I hear many excuses like "I didn't have time"........ Like it takes a long time to put it on!!!!!! or "Its not comfy"...... I don't even notice it when on!!!!

Likewise insurance companies are now wising up on claims and the option of paying out smaller amounts due to the driver / passengers not wearing a seat belt.

So all in all the benefits of wearing it far outwiegh the benefits of not.

inthedark

When I read some of the questions I wonder if the nanny state is not such a bad idea, this is one of those occasions

reinformer

One people are bothered when they see kids not buckled uo. Adults should make up their own mind.

Insurance companys have trained their custumers to believe that rates decrease if all wear seatbelts. Overturned cars in ditches and rivers kills its occupants. my brother in law became para poligic when he couldnt get out of his car as it rolled off a steel cliff.

Bottom line : Protect children and leave adults to make up their own mind. "Government does not know best." And Insurance companies will use any excuse to raise your rates.

Dr. Trevor

No one argues the physics of seat-belts.

F=MA is a Newtonian expression of irrefutable physical law and unlike the capricious laws of men, cannot be broken. However, many people sense that many (if not most) man-made laws are made primarily for the benefit of those who have money. Insurance companies are definitely one of the main culprits.

The objection to mandatory safety or health laws isn't because people believe those things are wrong. The objection is to the interference in private lives by government and the lobbying money it represents.

The modus operandi of government is to always claim that there is a danger and that by mandating through law one solution to that danger they serve a good purpose. On the surface, this seems reasonable. However, it is always used as an excuse to create more laws. Inevitably, those laws will cross over from reasonable protection to absolute domination.

There is another valid argument for decreasing government interference in human affairs: Natural Selection.

In nature, the strong, smart and fast survive, while the weak, stupid and slow expire.

Though it may seem cruel to socially-indoctrinated humans, nature insures the ultimate survival of the species by weeding out the stupid ones. Any mandate that interferes with that inviolable law of natural selection will inevitably harm the species as a whole even if it temporarily benefits certain individuals within the species.

Many of us wore seat-belts before it was law, just as many of us quit smoking or refused drugs before it became fashionable or mandated. Why? Because we understand the long term detrimental effects of those activities. However, many of us realize that laws regarding any of those activities are counter to the great wisdom of nature and we know that governmental power must be limited in order to protect individual rights.

Whether from the irrefutable facts of nature or the terrifying prospects of unchecked government, all informed intelligent people resist mandated behavior of any kind.

Smart people will always choose the best actions for their own survival and happiness. Only the uniformed or mentally deficient amongst us expect that any outside agency can protect us through law or any other outside intervention.

whatotherway@btinternet.com

It affects everyone who has to pay car insurance, by raising the amount of money they have to pay, in order to get it.

When people don't wear the belts, they get injured more, have greater injuries and insurance companies have to pay more money out. They then charge their customers more.

Wear the seatbelt, so I can pay less for car insurance.

outlaw95205

It affects us all financially when we have to support some idiot with a traumatic brain injury, spinal column severed, quadriplegic, in a vegetative state on life support with our tax dollars and insurance money because they refused to simply wear a seat belt. As a law enforcement officer and a medic I have seen the horrifying outcomes of not wearing a safety belt. When you have scraped a 16 year old boys brains off of the asphalt you come to understand quite quickly why these laws exist. They were usually written because someone with some power and authority had to live through the same situation in his/her personal life.

Scouse

I do not care whether or not they wear a seat belt just as long as they wear one in my car. I'm not sure but I as the driver can be prosecuted in any event I do not want to have to clean your brain or other bits and pieces of your body my bonnet (front hood) if we have an accident

the boss

Kids, fair enough. The rest - NANNY STATE KNOWS BEST, PLUS ITS FINE, FINE, FINE, FINE, FINE if you don't wear it. Bring back freedom.

LadyMoonlight!!

Safety fanatics with no lives.

Adults should be informed and sensible enough to make deicisions about their own safety.

Kids should always be strapped in though.

Ernie F

Because so many people have such sad empty lives that they feel like they have to live yours for you and if you arnt doing their idea of what is right they are going to make damn sure you are going to pay very similar to our government actually

â€ Absintheâ€

Me, if it's someone in my car, it pisses me off because I could get fined for it if I were pulled over because my passenger wasn't wearing one. Other than that, I see somebody driving around in another car with one, I just find it funny they could get a ticket for something so simple as not putting on their seatbelt.

brit_plod

It's the law!

Ben G

It could be argued, of course, that failing to wear a seatbelt is a victimless crime. Perhaps then, the taking of class A drugs is also victimless. Note I say the TAKING (or possessing) is victimless - not the methods by which the user funds their habit. The solution - give them free drugs and save us hard working tax payers billions in the costs of dealing with crime. Sorry, a little off track.

emzy

If some passengers arent wearing seatbelts and the car crashes the are thrown around the inside of the car! There is a great chance that they could harm or even kill the other passengers! Have you not seen the tv ads?

Jack

NANNY STATE!!!

If you cant Tax it, Ban it!

hemihead_38

So people wear seat belts but my Insurance still goes up every year hmmmm ??? Why do kids on School Buses not have to wear seat belts? Oh that's right, it would cost too much to have them put in the buses and they couldn't put 3 kids to a seat.
What about Motorcycle Helmet laws? Here in PA. a few years ago they removed the Helmet law. Aren't I now paying for idiots that don't have to wear helmets? Nice.
It's all just a way for city, state governments to make money off fines and get more Federal money. And Insurance companies have one more excuse to raise rates. If it is your time to die there is no Seat Belt in the world going to stop it.
People need to learn to mind their own business and quit trying to be the do gooders of the world.

LEO53

Higher insurance rates for everyone.

BOB

Because they are ***holes... anyway...

There MAIN reason states were forced to include mandatory minimum insurance policies was 2 fold. First it allowed vehicle prices to nearly double in the 90's. Secondly it of course was good for insurance because now everyone with a POS car had to pay the value of their automobile every year. (it is forced b/c states cannot receive funding for roads w/o it)

Once the entire population is paying for insurance it creates a socialistic ideal that everyone is financially affected by the lose of life due to collision. That in part allows the law makers to breeze through the mandatory seat belt law because the idiot citizens are told that it will save them money.

It does not affect them because insurance costs have only continued to rise over the past 20 years, typical sheople.

As CGIV76 has stated... The government has made more money from citizens not wearing seat belts than the entire nation combined has saved from the faux insurance rate decrease. What cgiv76 FAILS to mention is that if you are driving and are in a driver's side collision (t-bone) you are 86% more likely to die if you are wearing a seat belt, a little fact you never hear about.

In my state an officer was given a pat on the back for ticketing 1,000+ people for seat belts in ONE year which equals to $20,000 of increased taxation by ONE quasi tax collector.

John S

you die= my insurance rate rises

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