Buckle up in your car or get a ticket, yet motorcylists don't have to wear helmets?

Originally posted by bourbon2nite
reply to post by ldyserenity

 

A quick google search showed many results for seat belt statistics. I found none that are close to your fifty fifty that you are stating as fact. Simple research people!

Statistics are BS ... know an EMT?
I suggest you ask an EMT.

My roomate was telling me a week ago, she knew a kina freind of hers, back around 2003 or so. was in backseat, he was 19. had his seatbelt on. friend driver got into an accident, a car his the side and door he was buckled in at.and his head hit the side of the window so hard, it caused cerebral hemmorging. he died later that night at hospitol.
so even with a seatbelt..its a risk and having a car is a responsablilty. the sad thing is..i cannot tell you all haow many times every year, i read in our local newspaper, under police blotter, what stupid mindless things peolpe do with cars, aeven not involving a seatbelt. Thiers always a mother leaving her infant, yes infant, in the car with it running, during extremem humid summer months ( it gets BAD around here in southwest CT deep summer) and running into a store, making the blotte section with a stiff summons or arrest for court. near where i work, backroad at night looking scene, theirs always someone local tot he area, young, being run over or hit by a car, walking on side of street at night..and police looking for anything to make the arrest of the driver. when it get really humid, people here start going nuts* where i live, the streets are not designed to handle modern day traffic. they get packed, becasue of local 24 huor gas marts, stores, people going in and out of parking lot, casuing traffic to back up severly downt he road. tthiers always someone, running through stop signs ( seen at least 5 i can remember every year for past 8 years now, someone with a BMW or something similar, running right out into traffic as if they didnt know what a brake pedal was for. not causing death, but in allc ases, a pretty good insurance fender bender.
its AMAzing how careless people are, behind the wheel. A freind fo mine, (current roomate) was telling me few years ago, near our Cove beach, one day, ( he has this beast fo a bronco, 1985 model ford) jacked up on ssupension. some guys behind him were tailgating him. thast stupid. they were honking thier horn to be obnoxious to him. so he got pissed, slammed on his brakes, adn the problem car crashed right into the read of his bronco..causing the trailerhitch too hook up into and under thier radiator, and smashed up what was left of the front end. both were doing like 60 on a street desigend for 35 mph.
at the scene, a cop comes over. the problem guys called them, even though they were the ones tailagaitng him. tried to turn it around on my roomate. cop knew the guys were bulls**t artists, so to speak. but thier was no way to determine or prove regardless who was at fault. so leaving the scene, the guys offered him a few hundred so he wouldnt call his insurance company. he took the money, gave them the finger, and peeled out off.
amazing isnt it....it was a father n san in the car. to me seems the father was so irresposnable, and had NO insurance. for whatever reason,t he cop didnt ask his insurance or investigate it.

reply to post by ldyserenity


Thanks for the reply. I somewhat agree with you. When my state passed the seat belt law, I hated using. Used to complain and moan about it. "I shouldn't have to wear this!! I drive great nothing will happen!!" Was also 16 at the time and a complete idiot who knew nothing.

I've had a seat belt ticket before, was actually the very first day of 2000...the day of Y2K. I moved 2 weeks later and forgot to pay the ticket. My license ended up getting suspended because of it. I found this out after I got pulled over for a tail light being out...boom... ticket for driving while suspended...and had to park my car. Told me if I were caught driving again, i would go to jail. It wasn't easy to get it back because I still had to drive to work...couldn't carpool...and actually got caught AGAIN and was taken to jail just to go to work. Once you lose your license it can be difficult to get back if you want to actually WORK.

I don't think anyone should actually GO TO JAIL for not wearing their seatbelt....or lose their license...unless it was for not putting seat belts on their kids. The fine itself I am "fine" with. There has to be a penalty or many people wouldn't wear them.

However, I do think people should wear seat belts.

reply to post by ziggy1706


Another Stellar example of how well the police do their jobs... I don't know seems the car should have been impounded because of not having insurance...in NJ PA AND FL you get automatically impounded for not having insurance, and it is a pain in the neck getting it out!

reply to post by ldyserenity


Had a best friend who was a police officer.

He was a good guy, gave lots of warnings and was a very nice dude to people when he pulled them over.

But he never let off for parents not buckling up their kids. He would yell at them and ALWAYS gave them a ticket. He could never understand how a parent could not care enough to do it. Used to really make him mad.

My own mother used to drive around with me unbuckled in the car, along with my 2 brothers. Looking back now I simply can't believe she used to do that.

I would NEVER not buckle up my kid. I would feel like a horrible parent if I didn't.

reply to post by LargeFries


You brought up some great points. I totally agree that seat belts are much safer to use than not. The problem with me is I grew up when cars just started to get seat belts. It was always an option and the majority of people were just used to not wearing them. When you grow up not having a habit of buckling-up, it's really hard to get in the habit every time you get into your car.

What's kind of strange is, I will buckle up if I'm go on a trip, or driving in a big city. I think the only reason I do that is because I'm not constantly getting in and out of my car like when I'm driving around in my city. Not only that, I'm familiar with the layout of streets and dangerous intersections because I've grown up here my entire life.

My kids and wife have gotten into the habit of wearing their seat belts. My daughter changed mostly because she was involved in an accident. I've been in one major accident and I wasn't wearing a seat belt. Luckily I survived and walked away with only some bruises.

I will wear a seat belt occasionally, but I don't constantly have a conscious thought about using it when I step into my car. It just doesn't seem right that they can pull someone over and just ticket them where it should be up to the driver if they want to wear one or not. Again, I'm not saying not to wear seat belts, but some of us just can't seem to get into the habit of doing so.

You mentioned about not eating healthy, the majority of us have gotten into the same bad habit of not eating healthy. So should the state ticket all over weight people because it's unhealthy? We all know it is, but bad habits are tough to break. Even if they ticketed us every time they saw us walking down the street, we would still bitch and moan about the ticket, but it would still be difficult to change our eating habits.

Originally posted by David9176
Anti seat belt people...

If you hit someone not having their kids seat buckled...which is the parents responsibility...yet you caused the accident and they died...and there was no seat buckle law...but otherwise would have been unharmed if they had been wearing them...

Would you want that on your conscience? Or would you simply think, oh well it's not my fault the kids parents didn't buckle them up?

I know I wouldn't...which is why I keep my seat belt on and make anyone who drives with me wear one.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with the seat belt law and I'm glad it's there. It's not a hindrance and it takes 2 seconds to take it on or off. BIG DEAL. We've all been doing it for years. I actually feel safer when I have mine on because I know if i'm going to be hit by something I won't fly through the windshield or eat the steering wheel.

I recently read a study that said 90 percent people think most people can't drive or drive worse than themselves. Funny eh?

The seat belt law is a good law...wish more people followed it.

edit on 29-5-2011 by David9176 because: (no reason given)

Short answer, it's not my responsibility to make your choice. The fact that I may have caused the collision is just that, we collided. If you choose not to wear a seat belt, that is your choice.
Would I feel bed that you got hurt or died, sure. Would I loose sleep over the fact you choose not to be buckled up? No.

People overestimate their driving ability.

They drive fast, something happens, oh #! panic time, crash.

Safe advanced driving is a very different attitude and style to race car driving.

For example, going fast in an emergency (police, ambulance etc), you dont take the apex, you go wide so you can get a better view and exiting the corner you are carried to the safe side anyway.

People think oh im safe im a good driver, and drive fast.

Nope, wrong.

reply to post by bert666

Sorry to burst your bubble, No, I was never pulled over for not wearing my seat belt. Please don't insinuate something you don't know. If you would read my thread, I clearly state that the law seems totally biased. You shouldn't be able to ticket a driver of a car for not wearing a seat belt, yet ignore motorcyclists not wearing helmets.

The law totally infringes on our freedom to choose and to me it's unconstitutional.

reply to post by lokdog


That's exactly what happened in our state. For years, we had a law where all motorcyclists had to wear helmets. A few years back, the biking organizations lobbied under the banner "let the rider decide" and there was enough pressure put on lawmakers that the law was repealed.

reply to post by WeRpeons


If you hit something hard on a bike your gonna be dead before that helmet does anything to save you

This one really gets me fired up, in my state it's of course illegal to not wear your seatbelt. It is not illegal to ride a motorcycle without a helmet and the one that really is irritating is that it is LEGAL to ride in the bed of a pickup turck.
So I can get pulled over and ticketed for not wearing my seat belt but it would be perfectly acceptable to have a bed full of non belted riders in the bed of my truck driving 65 down the hwy. How does this even make the slightest bit of sense?

reply to post by zookey

People think oh im safe im a good driver, and drive fast. Nope, wrong.

Everyone does that, I know I do!!

Driving on the interstate twice a day dealing with people who I feel are terrible drivers most likely feel the same about me.

I'm the guy who usually never gets passed but does all the passing and I absolutely hate when someone is driving under the speed limit in the passing lane. I've been known to give the finger a few times and have yelled as well. There could be a 2 mile line of cars behind the person and they have to be stubborn and say to hell with everyone else.....they continue to go the same speed as the car in the right lane.

I'm an aggressive driver when by myself, but when my kid is in the vehicle I'm probably driving like the guy who's backing up traffic.

The automobile is just an extension of the person driving it.

It's amazing to think about really, million and millions of terrible drivers manage to make it to work each day....despite how individualistic we all are we able to do it.

It's really the same as the internet. Billions of different opinions clashing with one another trying to make their point on why everyone should believe what they believe...yet somehow most of us remain sane... well at least we think we are sane! LOL

reply to post by WeRpeons


what ever you say m8 i haven't got a bubble to bust i was just saying you seem bitchy like the hole world owes you some thing i did not mean any think by it peace

IMO, all vehicles should have all the proper safety equipment installed and all minors required to use it. As an adult, I use my seatbelt every time I get in the car. Do I think I should be forced to use it? NOPE! Wearing your seatbelt is smart, and I don't think a lot of people would disagree with that. But this is where personal responsibility and the freedom to make "not-so-smart" decisions comes to be infringed upon.

I fully support a grown adult's choice to eat fatty foods, not wear a seatbelt or helmet, run with scissors, etc. And when these choices come back to bite them in the butt, so be it. That was their choice. Like I said, just my opinion.

reply to post by acmpnsfal


Whining, give me a break. It's a comparison of a law that favors one over the other. I'm not against you or anyone wearing a seat belt. Hell, I completely agree it's a safe habit to get into. I even made sure my kids got into the habit of wearing their seat belts.

The problem is the state is infringing on our basic right to choose. The seat belt law is totally ignoring the no helmet law for motorcyclists. Is that fair to you? The government can run as many ads that they want to promoting seat belt safety, but creating a law to enforce it?

More people started wearing seat belts before these laws were enacted due to seat belt ads and those people who were unfortunately involved in accidents that scared them into using them.

reply to post by ldyserenity


Yeah i know! i wasnt thier, he told me this story a few times. I dont get why the police officer didnt check out the fatehr n teen sons insurance, they had NO reason or business driving, acting the way they did. see my roomate wasnt messing with them..he 'taught them a lesson'. yeah the rear of his bronco had minimal damage, but the toyota corolla the problem family, lets call them, driving it, thier entire front end was scarp metal. tailgating knowingly, father promoting his son in a sense, to do so, and no insurance...let alone being knowingly reckless.
The cops here are different* when i was in my late teens, 19, cops here were cool and at least gave you a chance..as long as you dont lie too them* if you told them the truth, chances are, the cops would literally n actually..lets say getting caught with weed...throw it out in the gutter or off into the woods n let you go..but he comes across you again that night..game over your going downtown. they didnt wanna do the paperwork on stupid things. one time, the same roomate, he was 21, got some 1974 monte carlo. looked like a beater car. no insurance and no liscense on him. He and freind had been drinking a little n smoking weed. cop pulls him over one night downtown, late night...puts flashlight into car.. 'whos piece of sh*t is this. friend tells cops it s my car, im letting my freind drive it. cop puts flashlight into his frends face, asks the same question..
cops did that same thing like 5 times, back n forth..he asks again, whos piece of sh*t is this? answers again,its my car, im letting him rive it officer, were just trying to get home form the bar...asks how much did you pay for it? $400 sir.. cops shakes head in a NO answer motion,. turns hit flashlight off, goes to his car n drives off.....my roomate and friend lookeda t eachother like WTF was that all about? lol
MY sisters fincae one night..years and years ago, on parking lot of high school. he was hanging out, smoking some weed, some drinks with his frends. some cop comes up..asks whats going on. His frend got moody n wordy the cop and challenged him. the cop called his freinds over, 5 police cars show up. out of the cars, 5 BIG beefy guys got out,a nd walked all fast around the group, looking at them with determination, stamina and provoktion. so the cop gets all up the face of the challenger,....daring him to hit him n make a move, telling him you i dare you..im in a mood for doing paperworkd tongiht touc me go ahead...
he didnt ouch him. so cops asks him about the weed, and makes him throw it off ino the woods, and they left.
Another case...same sisters fiance, one time was traveling just into upstate NY. they had weed on em. it was a state trooper! state troppes asks whos weed is it. they were truthful and aswered who it was. taughnted them a bit, to see who was nervous and who would say soemthing n react. no one did. the trooper threw his weed ppe intot he woods, and told em go,..i oull you over again today, yuor goin downtown.
so at least...through the 90's cops here gave you a chance. but today, they'll tazer your ass simply for disagreeing.

reply to post by GogoVicMorrow


That's a great example. Even people who are in the habit of wearing a seat belt may occasionally not put it on. So if you happened to have a day where you were in a hurry and forgot to buckle-up, and a cop decides to pull you over because he sees you're not wearing a seat belt, bam you get a ticket. Even though you normally wear a seat belt, would the cop believe you? Hell no.

I have one more interesting case* id like to share. this happened last year.
on merritt parkway a jam packed 2 lane highway...one afternoon summer, my roomate was on it. traveling north, he witnessed..some old cadillac of a car, veering left n right lane to lane, wildly...the car slammed into the concrete barries and flippped like 4 times!!! he stopped n got out, and the drivers head wa bleeding but alive. about 40 feet or so behind the driver..was a BIG bottle of jimmy walker whiskey* heres the catch.....your gunna love this one. the driver was some kinda preacher!!!! he had been luiqering it up and got way outta control ont he highway and his 70's something cadillac was beyond totaled. its a miracle he survived, literally. the car didnt almost look like a car anymore, thats how bad the damage was.
driving back south, later on..roomate said thier was may firetrucks their, police n trooper cars, an ambulance..kinda like the works. a preacher! he was dressed in the traditional black suite, white shirt thing...
imagine that!

reply to post by WeRpeons


your right its not fair but life is not fair either
if a biker caves his head in because he haven't got a helmet on it they own falt they should have common-sense to ware a lid