wear your seatbelts, DAMMIT!!!!!!!!

I got the lap belts for my roadster installed and then at the Columbia swap, I picked up two sets of 5-point racings belts.
Guess what?
I'm taking the out the lap belts and installing the 5-point harnesses instead.
Total cost: $37.00 for both.
r

 

Headrest and shoulder belts are another thing to consider, even though they may look out of place in some rods.
When I was in college my truck was rear-ended. I was at a stop and hit at low speed, less than 20 mph. My truck had a low back bench seat, I got whiplash and an concussion from my head bouncing off the back gl***. Fast forward a few years to the wreck that totaled my truck. I was rear ended on top of a bridge and the truck skidded across the bridge and bounced off the opposite guard rail. I had swapped seats to buckets with headrests. I'm convinced I would be crippled, if not dead, had it not been for the headrest that night.

If I can find the pictures of my wrecked truck I'll post them to show what I walked away from.

 

Hey, I put 3point shoulder belts in my 55 with the bench and after reading this post it made me wonder if it was possible to add headrests to a factory bench. Has anyone done it with decent results?
-Cory

 

These have been used and appreciated more than once.

 

BUMP for a worthy cause!

I was taught in an interesting way at a very young age to wear my seatbelt. My Aunt Bonnie would clamp her foot down on the brake and discretely put the auto ****** in "Reverse" until I put my belt on. With the ****** in reverse, the key would not do anything, she'd turn it and nothing would happen and she would make a joke about, "Uh, oh! Someone doesn't have their seatbelt on!" When we were busy putting our belts on, she would bump the ****** back into park and then suddenly the key would work again.

To this day I have a ritual when I get in the car, it's seatbelt, mirror check, seat adjust (which isn't so important anymore now that I wont let anyone else drive my car) and then I can start the car, and when I am in a rush to get somewhere, instead of NOT wearing my belt like you would expect, I find myself reaching for it when I already have it on!

I have never been in a serious accident. I have been in several small ones. I got tapped and spun out when I ran a red light panicking because not only could I not see what color the light was because of the sun lighting up all three lenses, but I also knew there was a car behind me and I could not see it, blinded by the sun behind me, so I went so I wouldn't get rearended. Then there was the night I fell asleep at the wheel on my way home from an odd day consisting of work, school, work again, back to school, then to a school sponsored party which happened to be AT work, then back to work again and then off to go home and no, I did not drink at the party. It was Mom's car, Dad was pissed!

To back up what someone else said, my Mom and Dad and I got rearended at a light driving Moms Buick Regal by some idiot in a PRISM! Claims he was only doing 10 miles per hour but it tore the floor out of the trunk, bent the bumper pretty back, BROKE the back of Dad's seat and Mom has had whiplash and headaches ever since. This was almost 20 years ago.

Anyway, before I get WAY too long winded, I'm off! Wear them, it's worth it to the rest of your family even if you feel it isn't worth it to you!

 

I was saved by a belt back in 1999. One of the first things I ordered for the 60 Comet were belts, when I found out they were an option in my year car and were not installed. I put the aircraft style (very similar to the available option ones at the time ) in the front and the newer style in the back. The newer belts are harder to get loose for my little girl. Had a couple of friends that used stacked washers as an anchor. Don't do it if you can help it. One of them had an accident, pulled the washers through the floor and put a steering wheel imprint on his forehead. He's still around but has a nice battle scar. AutoLoc sells some real nice anchors, made for the job, for about 15.00 pair (two sets of belts). At least put the right anchors in the back for the kids.
Jim

 

I have to agree, wear a ****ing seatbelt. Having been a Military Paramedic for a long time we also spent time working with civil ambos to keep a wide range of skills used. I lost count of the number of accidents I have attended, a good 90% of fatality's could have been avoided by the simple little belt. Forget the lap sash, get a three point at LEAST.
Its not only the family and friends that have to live with what happens.
Remember the people who have to deal with the incident itself, it was bad enough to loose people on a battlefield, but thats to be expected.
Try sleeping after spending 40 minutes trying to revive a 3 year old girl from a very basic accident, guess what? She wasn't wearing a seat belt. **** I still see that **** at night. All for a ****ing SEAT BELT.

 

FWIW I just got in a head on collision last week and walked away due to seatbelts/airbags. Some tweaker that'd been up for days fell asleep at the wheel and plowed into me head on at 40mph while I was stopped in a left hand turn lane. Shoved me into a mini cooper behind me and buckled the rear. I was in a Corolla and the other guy had an early 90's t-bird. The car was totalled, but my p***enger and I walked away with just some bruises.