Proof that sometimes seat belts are useless...

[SavageEagle]

I just found these pictures and scanned them. I just wanted to show living proof that seat belts don't always save lives. I was told by the paramedic AND the investigative officer that I almost certainly would have been strangled or worse by my belt if all the witness statements were true.

I was LUCKY I DIDN'T WEAR MY SEAT BELT.

This was my very first vehicle ever. 89 Ranger, 4cyl, 5spd. Was T-Boned by an 83y/o woman who ran a red light. My friend and I spun around 3 times sending the black box and that home stereo speaker flying 70yrds. Was not wearing seat belts and we both walked away pretty well unharmed.

That day we'd just gotten out of school. I had my license for about... 10 months maybe? We dropped my stuff off at my house and was getting ready to pull out on US40. Light turned green, I didn't see it and my friend told me to go. I was fumbling with a CD and didn't see her coming. My friend said "OH " and I looked over in time enough to say "Son of a..." and she hit us.

Blacked out for about a few seconds. When I came to, my friend was holding my arm and his other hand was bloody from road rash. Apparently the door swung open and he put his hand down while grabbing the shifter to hold on. After his head went through the back window. It's ok, he's got a hard head.

During the spin, the black truck box, which was bolted through to the FRAME, flew open on one side and OUT the bed! It rested 40yrds away, the house speaker box landed about 70yrds away, and my school bag in the bed flew out and landed on the hood of a stopped car in the eastbound lane of 40. I was shocked.

My jacket was caught between the door and the seat and I was afraid it was my leg or something. took off the jacket and got out and the old lady was about 1/4mile down the road having a heart attack. Literally. Luckily she lived.

First picture with me in it kneeling also shows on the bottom right the back of the car she was driving. The front end was like something cut 1/3 of the car off. You can see how lucky I was.

 

[Zombie]

I will never wear seat belts.
I was rear-ended by a van, car exploded and flipped up breaking the windshield in the process. According to witnesses I climbed out the windshied-I remember nothing except seeing a grill in my rearview-next thing I remember I was in a ambulance looking down at my burning car which they had pushed off the road.
I have no idea how I got out-let alone if I had been strapped in.
I also know in other circumstances that seat belts do help-I just don't believe I would be here had I worn mine that day.

 

[shibumiseeker]

While I am a firm believer that the insurance companies shouldn't be legislating safety (because it really was the insurance companies that pushed seatbelt and helmet laws...), I've personally witnessed too many instances where seatbelts made the difference. Literally hundreds of instances.

 

[Cpt Caveman]

Seat belts keep you in the vehicle. Nine times out of ten if you are thrown from the vehicle you are gonna die, probably crushed by your own vehicle. I'll wear mine thanks. Hope I'm not behind you non wearing folks when you roll your car.Bet while yer friend in the ranger was scooting his hand across the pavement to stay in the car, he was thinking "man I wish I had worn my seat belt!"
Seen a few accidents that should have been non injuring require a trip to the hospital because the guy wasn't wearing his seat belt.
My opinion:you're dumb not to.

 

[Principal Skinr]

I'll quit wearing them when I see Indy car drivers give them up. Until then, I'll assume that when a car hits a wall at over 200mph and disintegrates, that the seat belts had something to do with the driver walking away.

 

[Denny347]

I've seen hundreds of crashes over the years that wearing a seatbelt saved a life or prevented serious injury...mine even. I did see a truck that flipped. The driver was not seatbelted and was thrown out a side window. You get thrown the direction of the truck flipping. He was crushed by his own truck. I also remember a crash that the guy was driving a Ranger. He hit another car without wearing his seatbelt. It wasn't a high speed crash or anything. He ate windshield. Every inch of his face was cut from the glass. His glasses were imbeded into the windshield. Or like the motorcyclist that was hit and witnesses saw him fly in the air for 30 ft. He hit head first on the street. He was wearing a helmet and suffered nothing significant. Safety equipment (if used properly) will save your life WAY more times than it could possibly hurt. Heck, I hit a car broadside doing about 50-60 mph. Threw the other vehicle 50ft. We both were wearing our seatbelts and both walked away unhurt. Glad NOT wearing your seatbelt worked out well but I would not bet your life that you will get that lucky again.

 

[kedie]

Should you wear a seatbelt? Yup. 99.999% of the time they are going to keep you from getting serious injuries.

Should the govt force you to wear a seat belt? No. If you want to find out what a windshield and asphalt taste like that's on you.

 

[shibumiseeker]

It should also be noted that automotive restraint systems have gotten a LOT more sophisticated since SE's Ranger days. The systems in place in cars in the 70s and 80s were ok, but pretty crude compared to what is available today.

 

[Denny347]

Should you wear a seatbelt? Yup. 99.999% of the time they are going to keep you from getting serious injuries.

Should the govt force you to wear a seat belt? No. If you want to find out what a windshield and asphalt taste like that's on you.

Ha, unless they claim disability and start drawing SSI. Then we all pay for it...just saying.

 

[cornfused]

Should you wear a seatbelt? Yup. 99.999% of the time they are going to keep you from getting serious injuries.

Should the govt force you to wear a seat belt? No. If you want to find out what a windshield and asphalt taste like that's on you.

This except, thinking about when I was young and my own kids driving some day. I would still accept a seatbelt law for persons under the age of say 18 or 21.

 

[Arm America]

I don't agree with the law mandating seat belt use...

I have always used mine

 

[longbow]

years back I had a chance to be behind the cars involved in a head on crash. Only on a road with 45 mph speed limit. 2 of the 3 people in the car were not wearing seatbelts. The two without seatbelts died at the scene. The lady with seatbelts was hurt very bad, but lived

One of the drivers was ejected and was dead on the road. He was a mess from going through the windsheild

The passagen in the other car was a folded, broken mess under the dash on the passager side of the front seat. There was nothing to do to try to save him

 

[Eddie]

Should you wear a seatbelt? Yup. 99.999% of the time they are going to keep you from getting serious injuries.

Should the govt force you to wear a seat belt? No. If you want to find out what a windshield and asphalt taste like that's on you.

This is exactly how I feel. I always wear seatbelts because it is the smart thing to do. Letting the government tell me what is smart to do makes me give up my free will to some politician. Same for the comments on injured people going on SSD. Take that away, let me keep my money and let morons kill them selves. In a generation or so our society will greatly improve in quality if we stop protecting idiots from their own bad choices.

 

[HamsterStyle]

This is exactly how I feel. I always wear seatbelts because it is the smart thing to do. Letting the government tell me what is smart to do makes me give up my free will to some politician. Same for the comments on injured people going on SSD. Take that away, let me keep my money and let morons kill them selves. In a generation or so our society will greatly improve in quality if we stop protecting idiots from their own bad choices.

^^^. This. And if it eliminates enough of the gene pool, we wont even need those vaccines.

 

[E5RANGER375]

i agree that seat belts are better. but I just dont want a cop trying to be my mommy and making me wear it. the seat belt law is constitutionaly illegal. i always try and wear my seat bely, just for my own safety. not because im scurrrred of the popo

 

[Suprtek]

Oh please don't get me started about how much I just LOVE nanny-state legislation.

 

[renegade]

My dad was a fire fighter, then a paramedic and then a police officer. He said that with all the accidents he had seen he would never wear his seat belt. He seemed to prefer his odds without it. But he always wore a helmet when he rode his motorcycle.

 

[Old Reliable]

Not to mention... My explorer will literally ding, ding, ding you to death until you put it on. I always wear my seatbelt anyway, but if I'm sitting parked with the motor running, that dinging sound makes me want to find its source and shoot it.

 

[mconley]

I have seen many accidents in my job setting, and I believe that its close to 50-50 chance that the seat belt will save you or KILL you.

Examples: a passanger car on the interstate going 55mph, rear ended a semi. He was alive when we cut him out, he told us that he tried to lay across the seats to avoid his head comming in contact with the semis bumper at 55mph, but the seat belt had locked as he hit his breaks, he latter died from a bleed in the head.

 

[Suprtek]

Not to mention... My explorer will literally ding, ding, ding you to death until you put it on. I always wear my seatbelt anyway, but if I'm sitting parked with the motor running, that dinging sound makes me want to find its source and shoot it.

FYI, many vehicles have a way to turn that off. Read your owners manual. It usually involves a sequence of turning the key a certain number of times and latching and unlatching the seat belt or something like that.