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Do you think seat belts "work"?

3K views 61 replies 47 participants last post by  Meiri 
#1 ·
On the news today there was a story about a local teenager who died in a car crash last night- they hit a tree. He was wearing a seat belt and was killed. His passenger wasn't wearing a seat belt and was ejected from the car. He lived. This just doesn't make sense to me.
It isn't the first time I've heard of stories like this, though. A friend of mine never wears her seat belt (I don't know if she buckles her kids) because her husband was on the volunteer fire dept. (what everyone did in the small, ******* town I grew up in) and claimed that he once had to watch people burn alive because they couldn't get their seat belt undone and the actual fire truck hadn't gotten there yet (or paramedics, etc.) We've always worn our seat belts. I'm not planning on not wearing our seat belts anymore, but I was wondering what your take on it would be. (I did contemplate keeping scissors in the glove compartment though after I heard my friends story about the people who were burned alive- I meant that is scary).
 
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#52 ·
The anecdotes about people being unable to unbuckle the belts fast enough to escape -- that's another aspect of what I'm saying about how seat belts should work BETTER than they do.

You can't tell me that car manufacturers couldn't figure out how to stick a motion sensor into a vehicle that would automatically unbuckle the belt after a crash. Who knows how many people do not buckle up b/c they worry (quite reasonably) they won't be able to unbuckle them in a crisis situation? We shouldn't HAVE to futz with the buckle in a crisis situation.
 
#53 ·
Quote:

Originally Posted by ColoradoMama View Post
There will always be "freak" accidents like that - and they suck. However, seatbelts save way more lives than they don't save.
I agree. What if the kid who was ejected from the car (story post #1) was rolled over on by the car and the one in the seatbelt saved because he was not crushed? Statistically, they save lives.
 
#54 ·
As opposed to having other trauma or death from being thrown from the car, around the inside of the car in an accident? Yes, I think seatbelts work. I also think there will always be an accident where, if the person hadn't been wearing the seat belt, they would be fine. But I think those are far outnumbered by the accidents where the seatbelts were worn and everyone was okay.

Jenn
 
#55 ·
awww, that is so sad about the kids who died strapped in, but who's to say it was the seatbelts that kept them in the car? i mean i don't know the details, but if kids aren't big enough to unbuckle and get themselves out and the parents can't do it (knocked unconscious, or too injured) i don't see that them being strapped in necessarily keeping them in the car. a two year old probably can't open the door of the car even if not strapped in, y'know? i just don't think that argument works with me. i mean a lot has to depend on the condition of the adults in the vehicle and a lot has to depend on the condition of the vehicle itself -- is it on it's side? is the door so banged up it won't open? i don't think being strapped in is going to prevent someone from being rescued in most cases. if the rescuer is not injured and can get to the seat belt then they can probably unlatch it or cut it (if they're a EMT type who has the equipment). i think the chances are greater that the door won't open than that the seatbelt won't release, but that's just a big old guess on my part.

to add my true-life anecdotes to the story. we had a friend who never wore his seatbelt and he died going through the windshield. i totaled a car (spun into a telephone pole) and pretty much walked away. (i had a compression fracture of my spine, but had no problem walking later and was trying to unbuckle my seatbelt when somebody came to the car.)
 
#56 ·
I too would rather take my chances with my seatbelt buckled. One thing that I didn't see mentioned is that the different passengers are in different seating positions which I am sure makes a big difference in accidents.

I have been in several accidents (none my fault) but the worst one:

I was moving all of my stuff to storage before going on an 8 month trip around the world. I rented a van with a cage to protect in case of accident but at the time I didn't realize how important that was. On the highway, I was going 55 mph when a 16 yo in a pickup hit me head on. The airbag deployed and my furniture hit the metal cage. -Some of it was destroyed but the cage held. I walked away with a sprained wrist but I went to the ER the next day to make sure my wrist wasn't fractured. The ER doctor told me that I was very, very lucky all I had was some pain and a sprained wrist after being hit head on at freeway speeds. I tend to believe him but I also think the seatbelt and airbag helped.
 
#57 ·
Quote:

Originally Posted by WNB View Post
You can't tell me that car manufacturers couldn't figure out how to stick a motion sensor into a vehicle that would automatically unbuckle the belt after a crash.
You're right, they could. And there would be numerous lawsuits filed when the sensor malfunctioned in an accident. Technology is good, but it's not always an improvement. There's also the highly likely scenario where, because the sensor didn't release the seatbelt, the seatbelt is stuck and cannot be undone by the driver/passenger. You'd have to make the seatbelt automatic also and that could get jammed in a crash.

BTW, not trying to argue, just giving a reason why this probably hasn't been done.

Jenn
 
#58 ·
Dh has a video somewhere of a camera in the car and they are hit by another car. The passenger wasn't wearing a seatbelt and you can see him being tossed around like in a washing machine. He said also from accidents he has responded too people not wearing a seatbelt can end up half in and half out which makes it terrible if the car rolls.

Applying the same logic of not wearing a seat belt is better, how would that differ from not using a carseat? Wouldn't you want your child strapped and secured rather than being tossed out of the vehicle?
 
#59 ·
Quote:

Originally Posted by mirlee View Post
I personally, feel naked without a seatbelt when in the front seat of a car, though I rarely wear one in the back seat.
Yikes, then if I'm driving, you're walking!
Seriously though, have you considered that you could kill the person seated in front of you? (This is similar to all the advice about restraining any cargo in your vehicle). We used to have a PSA on TV up here that cited the forces involved if the unrestrained 5-year-old in the back seat of the car came flying toward his father's head in a crash at 40 or 50km/hr. It was astonishing! Beyond that, car seats are not made to withstand the forces of unrestrained passengers hitting them from behind.

Quote:

Originally Posted by yellowpansy View Post
I agree. What if the kid who was ejected from the car (story post #1) was rolled over on by the car and the one in the seatbelt saved because he was not crushed? Statistically, they save lives.
Yep. I know of at least 3 accidents in the surrounding small towns where the ejected person was killed b/c the car rolled over on him/her.
 
#61 ·
Well, we had a rollover accident a couple of years ago. I was all bruised from my seatbelt, and all of the windows were shattered... lots of stuff got ejected from the car, and thankfully we were all safely held in by our seatbelts/carseats. I'm sure that I would have been ejected without my seatbelt buckled, simply from the bruising... my body was straining against the belt while we flipped, apparently. I did end up tearing a ligament in my wrist and getting whiplash-type injuries, and a few cuts and bruises, but was fine otherwise.

The EMTs who came were happily surprised that the kids were buckled correctly in their tightly installed 5 point harness carseats. One did say "Good for you, using your carseats properly, that's the best thing you could have done for them." The kids walked away with minor scratches and slight bruising from their harness clips.

So in a word, YES, I believe seatbelts work. Not every time, and not in every accident, but for the most part, yes.
 
#62 ·
Quote:
My opinion is that basic physics isn't really a matter of opinion.
Yup, which is why I find the airplane policies so astonishingly stupid.

Quote:
The thought of my babies being burned alive is a lot harder to swallow then them being ejected from the car and possibly living.
They are not likely to live if ejected from the vehicle. An ejected person can be hit by the vehicle, hit by other vehicles, land on something impaling, crash into a tree or other such object UNprotected, etc.

I've seen what a carseat can do, last call I ever worked as an EMT. Baby in carseat rode the crumpling of the car (as in it was like a ball, and the firefighters were convinced it was a bodycall) up into an open enough space. The seatbelt had snapped while the carseat protected that baby like he was in a bubble.

Amazingly enough, the father was not crushed, though it took over an hour to get him out and most of one side of his body was broken in one way or another.
 
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