Fox T-Bird/Cougar Forums

How many of you honestly wear your seatbelts when you go for a drive?

every friggin time!!! too many people not paying attention out there not to.

It's a must do with me. One of the first things I do when I get in.

Better yet, how many actually take their belt off when the park after hitting the drive thru or whatever. I usually sit with mine on and eat. Don't ask why.

I know I have lost too many friends/family in car accidents due to the fact that they werent wearing their seat belt.  it only takes a second to put it on and less than a second to die if you dont.  I know I dont want to put anyone through the pain of losing me that way.

I take mine off long enough to ge to my wallet then I put it back on.  its a thing of comfort to me if I dont have it on I feel really uncomfortable

i used to hardly wear it til my fiancee basically:slap: everytime i didn't wear it now i wear it all the time and she even got me to change how i drive.

I wear it but i'm usually strapping it on as I'm pulling down the road

i wear it all the time....thanks mom for :slap: everytime!!!

2nd nature. doesnt feel right without it...

I answered honestly guess I am the only one who checked no.

I've been in a total of 5 accidents, 3 of them everyone that I talked to including the investigating officers, the paramedics and everyone else that seen the 3 cars said that if I had been wearing my seatbelt, I would'nt be here.  So, my truthful answer is that the only time I ever wear my seatbelt is when I'm forced to by the driver.

Its a comfort thing for me. I dont always, but I would say greater the 9/10. Prolly more then that, I dont know. I have never been in a major wreck though either.

Always have, even before it was required.:D

I don't fell right without it. Before I was able to drive my brother was in an accident and wasn't wearing his seatbelt, he hit the windshield and was in a coma for 10 days. Therefore I always wear it, and I make my passengers where it also.

I wear mine 99.99%... Never had a major accident since I started(mid '80s??), but totaled a '64 Ford(hit a parked moving van at 55 mph) and flipped a '69 Dodge van back in the '70s without a scratch.

funny thing is that i rarely wear it in my other car's but a rarly as i drive the cat i alway's put it on...

same here, its on before the key's in the ignition.... sometimes forget to when im a passenger though

the only time i don't is when i move a car in my back yard. i even do it out of habbit when i pull a car out of the driveway to get mine out, or move the truck to the recieving dock at my work.

Been habit since I learned to drive.  I actually feel weird without it.....

would you get a ticket if you didnt? :flip:

I even put mine on just going down the driveway to get the mail, Although it is over a 1/4 mile long it is still a driveway.

comfort thing for me too I guess.

Well, if it happens again, make sure to get hit the same way as those last 3 times, because  sooner or later the odds will catch up with you, and all those people will be saying "If only he'd had his belt on..."

I mostly wear it, but I'll be honest and say that there have been times when I simply forgot about it. I wore it when it mattered though, otherwise when I had my accident I would've gone through the windshield.

Nah, it just feels like somethings missing......

I dont wear mine. Its just a thing of comfort to be able to move freely. Plus around here, especially with the last accident that happened I am scared to wear it. We have farmers going through town all the time and a kid tried to pass and the truck turned in front of him. He would of died with a belt on. I dont know.

i drive in detroit.. ALWAYS.. i have trouble going through a parking lot with out my belt on, just feels to weird.

Yup.

Every time. I didn't used to, until my wife (then gf) tore a strip off me whenever I forgot. It started out as a way to avoid the lecture, but now it's 100% of the time.

Here's a good question. How many of you avid seatbelt wearers have gotten into an older vehicle lately that has no seatbelts? Do you feel like your life is in the drivers hands or what? It's like driving in a death trap. You just keep watching that dash, waiting for it to cave your cheast in (you know, the old lead sleds with killer dashes).:D

I have always worn mine.  Thanks to my dad who would never move the car unless we all had our seatbelts on.  It would be easier to put mine on in the Cougar if the plastic seat belt thingy wasn't broken.

Isn't that the truth!


I usually have to dig it out of the seat/console space but I still wear it all the time.

I voted no. I don't wear my seatbelt all the time and have tickets to show it.

Now that said the law that states you have to wear a seatbelt it BS. If the guys on the motorcycles don't have to have a helmet why do I have to have a seatbelt. The law is there to protect the idiots. So are we going to walk around holding there hands all the time.

Yes I do realize I called myself an idiot. But I am not I just belive in have my freedom. I make my kids wear a seatbelt all the time. I grew up that way also.

But when you make a law such as this where does it stop. Are we going to have to drive in a different lave because are car are pre-airbag? Or I have to share a lanve with everyone between the ages of 20 to 25 becasue we are the ones that are at high tisk for accidents?

I have made myself look stupid one time...  was working on the shop teachers 57 chevy bel aire  and finished it up got in it to take it for a drive and I couldnt find the seat belts my buddle laughed at me and told me they didnt have them.  felt really weird driving something so big and heavy with no seatbelt.  then I noticed the big steel unpadded dash that it has.  made me feel really safe :D

Yup get in an accident hit the dash. They hose the thing down sell it to the next person.

massachusettes law require helmets...anybody else?

Ya it verys from state to state. IL doesn't require one. But I have to have a seat belt. Even though I drive around inside a metal cage all day long.

No.  Of course not.  Don't be ridiculous.

But not doing something that could save your life in an accident just because someone tells you that you have to is dumb.  Even if the law says I don't have to wear a helmet when I ride my motorcycle I would still have it on because it could save my life.  And my life is more important to me than sticking it to the man just to make a point.

No its not to make a point or stick it to the man. I just get in my car sometimes and not put the seat belt on. The point I am trying to make is that if the laws says I have to wear seat belt why don't they make the guys on the motorcycles wear a helmet.

I'm sure there are more deaths that result from no helmat than from no seat belt. How many injuries have you heard of from air bags going off. There are at least 2 local accidents that the driver was killed becasue the air bag went off after the accident and snaped there head back and broke their necks.

Safety is in the eye of the driver. If he or she feals safe runnig down to the corner store to get a loaf of bread not wearing a seat belt let them.

Yes, yes it does, and rightfully so in my oppinion. The only times I don't wear my seat belt, is when I sometimes forget as a passanger in a car. When I am driving putting that thing on is automatic and if you don't wear a seatbelt, you don't ride in my car.

I always wear it and make my passengers wear it. I don't feel like flying out the front winshield if I get in an accident....

Interesting topic. Lets see, when I had to borrow my freinds CRX for awhile I didnt wear my seatbelt. Reason why was because it had bucket seats that practically held me in. Being the small car it was I actually felt safe in it. My T-bird, sometimes I wore it sometimes I didnt. If it was a short trip I usually didnt wear it. The Caprice and my Ranger on the other hand I wear it all the time, because I just dont feel safe in them at all without my seatbelt on. Really for me its just a matter of wether I feel safe in the car. I'm not saying just cause you have bucket seats you dont have to wear seatbelts. Although lately I've been noticing more and more idjits out on the roads. Not trying to derail the topic or anything but lately I've been seeing people pull down a side street and BACK put onto the main road to turn around WTF!? I've also seen people do that in parking lots where they could have turned around and pulled out. Really theres just too many dumb people driving nowadays not to wear one.

If I'm driving around town (30mph max), I don't wear my seatbelt.  If I'm doing 55+, I have it on.  I've been in a few accidents (some on purpose) at speeds 35-45 going to 0 and I wasn't wearing a belt, and didn't get a scratch.  I was in a car when it rolled and if I did have my belt on, I don't think I'd be typing this right now.  I am with slammedcat, I think I can decide when I need a belt.

People really do a lot of stupid things. Even as a passenger, I still always have to wear the belt. Two girls were killed when I was in high school. They were riding in the back of a CRX without their seatbelts when the driver wrecked the car. He was wearing his seatbelt and survived. They were ejected through the rear window of the car and died instantly.

Now as for the motorcycle helmet bit. Yes helmets can help save your life but have you ever seen some of the people in motorcycle accidents. Half of them, even if they do wear a helmet, get have of their skin sed off because of the way they dress. If they have one of those army-style helmets that just protect the top of their head, their face can be severely damaged. The only way to protect your face and the rest of your head for that matter would be to wear a full face helmet. Following the law you could put a piece of tin on your head, call it a helmet, say you're safe and compliant and commit suicide. Is that really serving it's purpose? I think not.

The biker community for the most part is really not concerned with safety. I don't know how bikers ride around you all but here they are insane. They weave in and out of traffic, make their own lanes between cars, tailgate, and I've even been cut off to where I had to slow down not to hit them. Therefore, I think the laws are stupid. If someone is really concerned with their safety while riding, they would go out with no less than a full body leather suite, a full face helmet with leather gloves and supportive boots. They would also not drive like fools.

I've had direct experience with this. A guy I know  got himself a bike and he loved to ride. He had a full leather suite specially made for him because he couldn't fit into any of the ones he saw locally and he had the full helmet and all the other stuff. One day while riding, a car ran a stop sign and plowed right into him. He skidded across the ground for quite some distance and went to the hospital only to be released allmost immediately. He had no injuries whatsoever. If he would have been riding like some of the fools I see around here, he would have either been dead or needed severe reconstructive surgury. The damage to his suite and helmet proved this.

There should be no law there to force them to wear a helmet. If they are concerned for their safety they will take care of it themselves.

I guess I could say that for cars too. I don't think it's necessarily right for drivers to be forced to wear seat belts. If they want to wear them and hope that it's going to save them in the event of an accident, they should. But if they are uncomfortable with them or feel they may be safer without them, they should be allowed not to wear them. I will always wear mine whether the law states I have to or not. For that matter, even if I get one of those old monsters that don't have seatbelts, you just might find me installing them.  User preferance that's what it's all about.

That's a bit long :sorry:

What? there is a seat belt in a car?  :hick:

Oh you mean that ugly thing hanging near the door? :evilgrin:
Never... (Except maybe when i have a cop beside me....) :D

I didnt even know CRX had seatbelts in the back let alone a back seat. My buddiy's rex doesnt have a back seat and I've ridden back there, and all I can say is how the hell did two people fit back there? I mean even with a seat back there that can be safe. Oh and btw my freind wrecked his CRX doin 50-60 around a curve with no seatbelt and is fine, all he got was a little bruise and that was enough to make him wear his seatbelt.

But, what about not wearing it at a stop light and then your car gets plowed from behind by some drunk moron doing 70 MPH?  What then?

You never know what's gonna happen.  Nobody does.  And, almost everyone who goes through some horrible experience thinks that there's no way it could happen to them.......

I'm not preachin for you to wear it.  It's your decision.  Just remember there are things beyond your control.

:iagree:

I just don't understand why someone would not wear one because it was uncomfortable or because they are pretty sure nothing will happen.

If I had to guess I would say that being ejected from the car, flying through the air, and skidding across asphalt would be slightly more uncomfortable.

:disappoin

maybe 50/50 but i think its up to me and not the govt to hold my hand

on a motorcycle, alot of times the helmet will hurt you more then help. In low speeds they are good, but it can hurt your neck alot. I got plowed by a car doing 25 at a stoplight on my bike, it sucked, but I didnt even really get hurt. It is a real eye opener though. Minus a sore neck and some bruises I was fine. Also, on a motor cycle, it is alot easier to "weave" through traffice.

Maybe so, but a lot more times the helmet makes you not be dead.

This is me, for sure. I usually don't think about it until I'm turning out of our subdivision, or a mile or so down the road. I hate the one in my wife's Explorer. I've never worn one as tight as it is across my shoulder / chest. It just doesn't give much.

Dave

Unless of course a car pulls out in front of you, you T-bone him, and as you fly over the handle bars, your chinstrap catches on the handle bars, and removes your head from your shoulders. I've seen pictures, not a pretty site.:yuck:    A fluke, I'm sure, but still not pretty.

In PA they recently passed a no helmet law, but you need at least 2 yrs experience. They cited testing that showed motorcycle helmets don't really do much good over 35 mph. Thats what I heard anyway.

I personally don't have any experience riding aside from my bros quad around the yard a few times, but I think if I did start riding cycles I would wear a helmet. If nothing else, to keep the bugs outta my teeth, and to make sure that if I died riding, I would still make a good lookin corpse! :evilgrin: :tg:

That happened to my mother actually and after having a disc in her neck fused, sporatic pain in her arms, and constant back problems she still refuses to wear a seatbelt. When that car landed (as in the drunk sent in airborne) she was under the dashboard. I think she has a deathwish though, because she smokes constantly.

She actually keeps taking my car and complains that she doesn't have one, to which I say quit smoking, then you can afford a car, $5a day or everyother day adds up. That never works...

Anyways, I have taken this off topic, sorry.

The comfort argument holds no water on this board. You're driving an 80's Ford. They have the seatbelts with the latch that lets you keep it loose from your body. Modern cars, sure. Constant tension belts are annoying and uncomfortable, but in these T-birds and Cougars, you can't even tell you're wearing a belt.

While following a link to the "Christmas Lights" video...

http://media.mypartypost.com/shawn/videos/fastenseat.wmv

I hate that video, but that video is one of the reasons why I wear a seat belt now.

Any story to go with that?

no it just freaked me out.

wow! that makes you wear it now. but no matter what i still wear mine for that reason.