Think! Always wear a seatbelt!

[Blighter]

I do anyway, but even if I didn't, I think I would after seeing this!

*hopes BD has a YouTube plugin....*

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Me rambling on about it (http://blog.blighter.net/life/think-always-wear-a-seatbelt)

[Dymetrie]

I contest this.

Even if wearing a seatbelt then the same forces will be in effect against your body and internal organs, the only difference being that they will mush themselves against the line of the seatbelt rather than against the shape of the steering wheel or airbag.

Sheer bollocks if you ask me and meant to scare and awe people who don't think about what is said properly (no offence :)).

I may just be sceptical due to being invincible though :D

[Blighter]

I contest this.

Even if wearing a seatbelt then the same forces will be in effect against your body and internal organs, the only difference being that they will mush themselves against the line of the seatbelt rather than against the shape of the steering wheel or airbag.

Sheer bollocks if you ask me and meant to scare and awe people who don't think about what is said properly (no offence :)).

I may just be sceptical due to being invincible though :D

I did think that when I saw it today but forgot about that point :p

[Dymetrie]

I did think that when I saw it today but forgot about that point :p

Well inertia isn't negated by a thin strip of reinforced material ;)

[Blighter]

I reckon it's Sod's Law.

If you don't wear a seatbelt then Sod decides to make your organs carry on. Whereas if you wore a seatbelt, then Sod will let you off and make your organs stay with you.


;)

[Fayshun]

I contest this.


At least you won't go through the windscreen and faceplant on the road if you're wearing a seatbelt.

[Dymetrie]

Darn Sod, Darn him to Heck and back!

:p

[Dymetrie]

At least you won't go through the windscreen and faceplant on the road if you're wearing a seatbelt.

I agree with this, but it's not the premise of the advert, which therefore negates that argument in relation to the argument in question :D

[Fayshun]

I agree with this, but it's not the premise of the advert, which therefore negates that argument in relation to the argument in question :D
Road adverts are all crap. Apart from "Asshole" by Dennis Leary.

[Darrin]

All the reinforcement I need for wearing a seatbelt is seen in racing. Granted they were an advanced version of one, but they are doing advanced forms of driving.

If the pros use them, I certainly am not one to argue...

[Lomster]

All the reinforcement I need for wearing a seatbelt is seen in racing. Granted they were an advanced version of one, but they are doing advanced forms of driving.

If the pros use them, I certainly am not one to argue...

I read an article in New Scientist, years ago, about the stresses and strains drivers get subject to. Nelson Piquet (Sr), just after he left F1 and went into Indy Car stacked a car at full tils into the track side wall. Consider this track wall is a 1m high and 1m thick strip of reinforced concrete buried over 1m into the ground. tt was calculated he spiked momentarily at over 100G. And then walked away with no discernable injuries.

Just think if he'd *not* been wearing a seatbelt, he might be landing just about ........... now! Although I reckon his eye-balls might have picked up the dirt off the inside of his visor and his ball-balls might have knocked against the steering column.

(BTW This is Faysh not Lom, she doesn't read NS ;))

[Mark]

I contest this.
I would assume a seatbelt would give a slightly less concussive/abrupt deceleration than a steering wheel, which would also give the organs more time to slow down, and therefore less risk of damage.

As for airbags, they are designed to be used with a seatbelt, and the timing is critical - hit them too early and they'll still be in the inflation phase, which due to proximity would be worse than the steering wheel (this is adequately demonstrated by an airbag's tendency to turn incorrectly fitted child seats into projectiles).

[TinkerBell]

I agree with Mark, also if you are wearing a seatbelt, your body isn't going to have as much movement if it is wearing a seatbelt to not wearing one, so therefore the organs aren't shook about as much. Plus a seatbelt pulls you tight to the chair so everything will be squashed together with it less likely to break your ribs and what not.

[Pheebs]

I was wondering whether it was a good marketing ploy to get people debating about it?

Don't know!

Still, people who don't where seat belts are numptys!

[Desmo]

A seatbelt will slow you down much slower than a steering wheel ;)

[lostkat]

Exactly! Plus, the worse affected part by the seatbelt when you're in an accident is usually your shoulder, not further down. Seatbelts have a little give in them before they pull tight and that's just enough to cushion the impact.

Given the choice I'd much rather have a sore shoulder than hit the steering wheel/ windscreen in an accident.

I do believe that airbags going off at low speeds are more trouble than they're worth though. Mine burnt my face and didn't really do anything else (apart from being the factor which wrote off the car) because I was barely moving at the time.

[Will]

Your body or more accurately your internal organs will not have the time to build up the momentum to cause as much damage to themselves whilst wearing a seatbelt. Though people do suffer ruptured spleens whilst even wearing seatbelts from even low speed shunts and often collapse a couple of days later even though they were "ok". Our internal organs are incredible resilient but also can be incredibly fragile. I'm guilty of not always wearing my seatbelt, but I've become a lot better at doing it - pre-tensioners and airbags can help, and categorically DO help, however they are not to be relied on. Back in the early days of motoring etc... it was thought that being thrown from the car was safer!

[Streeteh]

It's more to do with the fact that a seatbelt does stretch slightly under huge amounts of pressure, this in effect cushions the blow and instead of internal injuries you just get a huge nasty bruise.

[Psymonkee]

How bloody crap do you have to be at driving (in a residential area no less) to hit something at what I assume was 30mph absolutely bang on?

Nothing to do with seatbelts 'killing Richard', stupidity and lack of attention did :p

[Lopez]

Nelson Piquet (Sr), just after he left F1 and went into Indy Car stacked a car at full tils into the track side wall. Consider this track wall is a 1m high and 1m thick strip of reinforced concrete buried over 1m into the ground. tt was calculated he spiked momentarily at over 100G. And then walked away with no discernable injuries.

(BTW This is Faysh not Lom, she doesn't read NS ;))

That accident?

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From what I remember that resulted in serious leg injuries and concussion, he didn't exactly walk away :p

[Mondo]

Well, in the Diana crash, the only person who survived was the bodyguard and happens to be the only 1 out of the 4 who wore a seatbelt.

I always wear one, even on a bus, i think if the bus had stopped suddenly, I will go flying and my head is going to hit that verticle handle bar. I coming across lots of cases of car accidents at work, seen pictures of bodies after the accident and reading the medical reports doesn't give you much doubt that you know they had a better chance surviving it if they only wore a seatbelt.

[Greenlizard0]

I always wear a seatbelt where I can, even in taxi's which a lot of people forget for some strange reason. :confused:

[Mark]

Same, though I tend not to bother quite so much in buses/coaches because nine out of ten times they don't have them, and in those that do they're all too often broken.

[Tak]

even on a bus

Seatbelt on a bus? :confused:

[Mark]

Usually coaches, but the distinction between coach and bus is rather blurred - all too often a 'rail replacement bus' turns out to be a coach.

[Piggymon]

I always wear my seatbelt as a driver/front seat passenger.

I don't know why though but I don't wear one as a back seat passenger :/

[Fayshun]

From what I remember that resulted in serious leg injuries and concussion, he didn't exactly walk away :p
Possibly, it was years ago I read the article. Many brain cells have been pickled in the meanwhile... ;)

[karbon]

I always wear my seatbelt as a driver/front seat passenger.

I don't know why though but I don't wear one as a back seat passenger :/

you're more likely to do serious injury to the people in the front seats than you are to yourself in the second circumstance.

[Piggymon]

I know all of this but it just doesn't click with me ( no pun intended ! ) to wear one in the back seart :(

[Garp]

Exactly! Plus, the worse affected part by the seatbelt when you're in an accident is usually your shoulder, not further down. Seatbelts have a little give in them before they pull tight and that's just enough to cushion the impact.

Agreed. The other thing that hasn't been mentioned so far is the Airbag. An airbag inflates with gas propelling into it at speeds of up to 200mph. They're not designed to have a human body being shoved into them at speed, but to work in conjunction with the body movements permitted by a seat belt. Combine 200mph -> with your inertia <- and you're talking a serious pounding, far more than you'd get from the pull of your seatelt. Your rib cage has a bit of give in it, but that will work against you if it's being hit by an airbag with that much force behind it.

Something that often gets overlooked in the process of a driver setting up the car seat and getting comfortable is their distance away from the steering wheel. All drivers should be more than 10" away from the centre of the steering wheel. I hate to think how many times I see people driving cars that are peering over the wheel, barely a few inches away from it!

[Mark]

As for airbags, they are designed to be used with a seatbelt, and the timing is critical ...
Agreed. The other thing that hasn't been mentioned so far is the Airbag...
;D :p

All true though, and US airbags have in the past been even worse for that than UK ones.

[Blighter]

I know all of this but it just doesn't click with me ( no pun intended ! ) to wear one in the back seart :(

Selfish moo tbh!!!! :angry:




:p

[Mark]

I can see someone is going to have very sore ankles in a few weeks. :p