Thanks for the reminder cause i tend to get lax on wearing mine lately. I lost some friends years ago from not wearing seat belts. God bless to your family for thier loss.
My wife told me two weeks ago that she will never ride in the car with me again unless i wear my belt. She also told me she will never ride in the belair without them and will not allow me to drive or insure it until it does. It's only been two weeks but it is already habit i guess its never too late to start
Not much to add that hasnt already been said. Just a couple of things that havent been talked about. Read you owners manual . Every cars safety system is different .You need to understand what system you have . Since the mid 80's there are over 200 different variations on the theme. Make sure your seat is set correctly . You should have the length of your forearm between your chest and the steering wheel. Most 2000 and later cars have pretensioning seatbelts that deploy even in low speed collisions. Side air bags and curtains also need to be understood . Dont let anyone fall asleep in the p***enger seat. Many side systems have the air bag module in the frt seat upright. The bottom line is these things work!!!!!!!! Using them correctly gives you the best chance. Many new models are "Smart Systems". They have sensors in the frt seats that actually weigh the occupant and reprogram the deployment threshold based on the size and location of the p***engers. It drove me nuts when my wife took delivery of her new car a year ago. The dealer made an appointment to deliver the auto and told her they would need about 1 1/2 hrs to show her how to operate all the systems . After 1 hr I finally told the sales rep to stop because he never took the time to explain the seat belts and safety systems. This should have been the first item of priority not how to work the radio. Safe driving and best regards Larry
lost my father to an accident when i was 7, he wasnt wearing his seatbelt and he was drunk, double whammy. wear you seatbelts! my prayers go out to the family and friends of the the departed.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-9210740458531367211&q=seat+belt This video is a damn good case for wearing your seatbelt. The guy is a taxi driver who fell asleep behind the wheel and rolled his cab. I'm downright **** about wearing my belt in my daily driver, but have yet to put belts in the Comet. This thread reminded me aI need to get the belts out from under the workbench and get them in the damn car.
I saw it happen in my time. I remember as a kid getting scolded by adults for asking after seat belts they would say "do you think I'm an unsafe driver". Dad was strict about safety in the car, I always thought the guy was a little nuts he carried a tap and die for wheel lugs in case he cross threaded one in case he got a flat etc., but he always got us there and back. He rearrainged the seating with seat belts on his 64 carryall, he was concerned the 4 on the floor would impale someone in an accident, I recently found out he was way ahead of the curve on that one. It's my opinion that anyone much older than I and built cars probably built them as safe or safer than Detroit. Cars were covered with chrome strips that behaved like swords, dashboard controls stuck out, doors flew open even when locked in collision etc.
I totally agree that seat belts are good, but I'm curious what everyones thoughts are about seatbelts in roadsters. I was talking to a friend about it over the weekend. In a rollover accident it seems like you wouldn't want to be strapped into a roadster that doesn't have a rollbar??? Any thoughts or experience??? Thanks, John Joyo...
A Seat belt saved my life. Drunk came around a curve and slid right into my lane. We were headlight to headlight. I locked the brakes and managed to get off to one side. I almost made it. He hit my left side smashing the rim to the hub spinning me and ripping the rear end out of my car. He kept going off my car and went into a light pole and knocked that out. I spun off out of control into the gr***. Him and his drunk friend got a ride to the hospitol both went head first into the windshield. I was in a 78 Olds and it was totaled. I mean wasted front to back. I walked away and so did my p***enger we both wore seatbelts. No matter how good of a driver you are it happens so fast. All I saw was headlights in my face and smoke off his tires from drifting. WEAR THEM!
In high school a buddy and I flipped his car up in the hills ****in around in the mud and going to fast. We were both wearing our seatbelts, which is why Im still here.
I second that. If you want to ask someone about how important seatbelts are just ask someone that has worked as a firefighter, paremedic, or EMT. Always have stories of wrecks where seatbelts could have saved lives. And the kids need to be in a properly restrained child seat!!! Its not enough to just belt the seat in the car. Be sure it is done correctly PER THE INSTRUCTIONS. The worst I ever saw a child hurt that was in a properly installed seat he had stabbed himself in the gums with his lollipop stick in the impact. Minor bleeding is all. I wont describe the incorrectly installed or missing child seat incidents.
Seatbelts are traditional. This ad is from a '52 HRM. If anyone questions belts in your car, just tell them you need them for racing. Mutt
Sorry to hear of your loss. My family lost a grandchild earlier this year. She was 16 and hit a tree while driving. Driving is THE most dangerous everyday thing you can do in your lifetime. Period. It is the number one killer of people in the US outside of natural causes or disease. Here are some morbid statistics: http://www.unitedjustice.com/death-statistics.html Wear your seatbelts.
Sorry about your loss. It really moved me since I came very close to losing my daughter last year. She was 23 and took her brother out on his 21st Bday. She didn't drink and so she drove his Jeep TJ, long story short, she wasn't wearing her belt, some bikers cut her off, she lost control and rolled the Jeep. No one was seriously injured but her, she was thrown from the Jeep and pinned under it, her eye's popped out and she stopped breathing. Luckily their friends were right behind them and were able to roll the Jeep off of her. I have always told her to wear a seatbelt, but she insisted that they were dangerous (?) some people just won't listen till its too late, they think it can't happen to them. She smokes too, and can't see how stupid that is either, some young people think they're indestructible. Again, sorry for your loss, and thanks for posting, maybe it will help someone to see the light.
I have something to add that applies directly to alot of us on the HAMB Think about this for a minute. Some will argue (please don't in this thread) that being thrown from a car is better than being held in one. Now with that being said, how many of you have chopped Model A's and such? You are NOT going to get thrown thru ANY of those windows. In fact you are going to get rolled and smashed around inside of that car! Put seat belts in your cars. I would be super sad if a friend of mine died becuase of overlooking seatbelts. **** does happen! Don't live in denile... With all that said, maybe someone can start a tech thread or something on how to properly put in seat belts and what's available. I've been thinking about puting 4-point harnesses in my Model A. Would like to see what you have done. If you're building your car from the ground up, there are a lot of wayse to make your car a little safer while you're at it without even seeing what you've done. Reinforce the doors, cowl, dash, roof and pillars. If you're going the whole 9-yards and building a scratch frame these things will be peanuts. If you're worried they don't look cool, maybe you should re-evaluate your life and the decisions you make...
After reading this post when it was first posted months back, it inspired me to add 3 point belts for my 55 bel air sedan. I had my local shop install them as I don't currently own a welder, and he only charged me an hour labor. I am very satisfied with the ones I purchased, and if you are considering adding belts in your car, check out www.julianos.com . I purchased http://www.julianos.com/3_point_belt_bench.html and I believe it was around 200.00 with shipping. It was actually cheaper than buying new seatbelts from any late model GM car when I called around the local dealers. I hope this helps -Cory
I got "the call" two saturdays ago about my father. He was taking a left hand turn in his '01 Trans Am and got broad sided by an Altima. he wasnt wearing his seatbelt and he got all messed up because of it. When he got hit his head hit the windsheild and cracked it pretty good and his head ripped the rear view mirror out of the windshild. the mirror tore a section of the gl*** off. the result of his head trauma was a sub-hemotoma(sp?) on the right side of his brain. And as he was bouncing around the car his leg got twisted and broke one of the bones in his calf. And I'm 100% certain that he would have been fine if he was wearing his seat belt. because he wouldn't have moved half as much. And untill this accident he didn't believe me when i told him he should wear the seat belts but now he buckles up every time he gets in the car. His reasoning for not wearing his seat belt is because he got in a bunch of bad accidents when he was my age(20ish) and he walked away without a scratch so he didn't think anything would change if he got in a new accident. I insisted the whole time that he was lucky. Growing up my mom always made us buckle up. and I'm glad she did.
I have been a Paramedic for about 20 years now, and have seen this happen waaaayyy to many times. bottom line........seat belts are cheap insurance. true, they will not prevent injuries, but they will lessen the severity of those injuries. 24-48 hrs in the Hospital VS a lifetime in a wheel chair, or worse. you do the math. one more thing, use your friggin jack stands!!! if you wanna risk your life on an O-ring, go right ahead, but don't expect me, or anybody else with a nickels worth of sense to crawl under the sum***** with you until you dig the out from under the bench, and put them under the car where they belong. I had the unpleasent chore of digging a young man out from under a 59 Impala last week. he was gonna change the u-joints. jacked the car up, dropped the driveshaft, forgot to block the wheels and properly support the cars weight. damn thing drug him about 200 feet before coming to rest against the neighbors fence. wasn't a pretty sight. please make an EMT/Paramedic happy......wear your seatbelts Vance
Mine started just days after turning 16, and getting my liscense. I had made the comment to my dad, "I'm gonna wear my seatbelt". He pulled out a hundred dollar bill on the spot, handed it to me. Said if he ever caught me not wearing it, I owed him the hundred back. I always wore it just to never prove him right or owe the hundred bucks. I was always broke, fixing up my ride. January 2nd, 1990 I hydroplaned in my truck, hit a really big tree, head on. I had still always wore my belt, but put the shoulder harness under my arm, insisting that it irritated my neck. In actuality, I thought belts were ****y, but never wanted to owe the hundred. My lower half stayed where it should have, and was belted safely. Upper half, not so good. Face to the steering wheel, wheel to dash, dash to windshield. All with the force of my face. Shattered my nose, no cartilidge now, broke both of my cheek portions that form your eye orbits. Cracked my hips, broke pelvis, from being the only thing to hold me in place. Right foot was broken from being buried in the brakes, hoping not to hit the tree. The worst part of it all was almost dying from the internal injuries not detected for a day, while in the I.C.U. I had busted my intestine open from the abrupt stop my body had gone through, as if shaking a raw egg quickly and busting it's yoke within the still intact shell. I had hit the tree so hard one windshield wiper and one side view mirror were thrown forward, off my truck. Guess I was lucky no p***enger was with me too. My bucket of tools I carried from jobsite to jobsite, and was always safely clipped to the inside rear of my bed had blown through the rear window, half in and half out. Pushed the upper portion of the cab two inches forward, some tools in, some tools out. You figure what would've happened. WEAR YOUR BELTS, PLEASE.
I may have posted this before but here goes. When I was working as a Washington State Patrolman here in Washington some time ago, we did a study for some traffic safety org back east. We were given cameras and asked to investigate every accident involving back seat p***engers with extra attention. We were trying to find out what happened to rear seat p***engers without seatbelts in a frontal collision. In nearly every instance, we proved that the rear p***engers left the rear seat to strike the front windshield, dash or front seat occupants and never realized they had left the reat seat. TRUE We proved this by finding as an example, red hair in the windshield and only rear p***enger with said color, etc. I have hauled a lot of dead people out of cars that had not used seatbelts and can't remember a time with seat belts other than a top crushing incident. Sorry for the morbidity but this is serious business. Wear the belts, insist on others using them and ---- be safe. Fourdy
Forgot to see that after their trip forward the bounced back to the back seat without knowing they took the little flight. Fourdy
I have lap belts in my '37 and I am building a '31 coupe now. I am a long way from being finished but I have already installed the three point belts. They may not hold up as well as factory belts in a bad accident but I figure if they hold us just a little it will be better than nothing. Seat belts saved us in a '86 SVO.
Sorry to hear about your son-in-law's misfortune. I'll put it back to the top with another no seat belt story. Good friend of mine was driving home from the bar drunk, hit a pole, and went through the windshield of his Delta 88. The gl*** peeled the left side of his face and neck off. This was ten years ago, and after several surgeries he still looks like half his face got peeled off. Not so many ladies approaching him in the bar these days.
I put Sholder Straps from a Ford Contour in the Dodge and I don't even have the floor done yet. My vehicles never move until everybody is buckled in. Including friends that say "I don't wear seatbelts" YOU DO IN MY RIG.
well, folks, i resurected this in hopes that someone would either install or wear existing belts in his/her hot rod. it sounds like a couple of folks have vowed to do just that. if they do it will have been worth it for this post to displace all the good tech posts on page one for a couple of days. courtney can't come back, but you don't have to go join her just yet...
Im alive because I was NOT wearing my seatbelt, but Ive lost countless friends and family beacause they werent wearing theirs. Buckle your ***es up.
Try hitting a tree head on about 50 and see if you dont rave about how good seatbelts are, they WILL BE IN MY ROD!!!!!!!!
most of you have prolly already seen/read this; either a year ago when i first posted it or 6 months ago when i brought it back up. so this is for those of you who haven't seen it. this is the last time i'll revive this. my son in law, his brother, his parents, and my daughter are reliving their nightmare of a year ago right now and probably will every march for the rest of their lives. courtney is gone and will never come back. please install and wear seat belts and insist that everyone that rides with you does the same. then maybe you won't have to deal with the sorrow and pain that this family has endured for the last year and which will always haunt them.
The Jalopy Journal
