cds (Anonymous) says…

Most certainly, there is WAY to many people out there that don't have a clue how to drive. You'd be amazed how many don't seem to know what a stop sign is or what it means.

jonas (Anonymous) says…

They tell me not to wear a seatbelt on my scooter.

sgtwolverine (Anonymous) says…

Most definitely. Especially when I saw what happened to the loose objects in my car during my major collision a couple years ago.

Newell_Post (Anonymous) says…

You're a huge fool if you drive without a seat belt. And we're all huge fools to allow our freedoms to be eroded by an endless stream of victimless crimes such as those created by seat belt laws.

tyger_lily (Anonymous) says…

I buckle up, use my turn signal, turn into the proper lane, and don't even have my cell phone powered on when I am in the car. Have to compensate for all the people out there that do little to none of the above mentioned.

mom_of_three (Anonymous) says…

My car has this awful ding if the front seat passengers do not buckle up. But I also lost a friend to a car accident, where seatbelts were not used. It was several years ago, but I think about it every time I buckle up.
My kids in the back seat always buckle up.

Informed (Anonymous) says…

Yes. 'Nuff said.

beawolf (Anonymous) says…

Not around town. I should , but I don't. Always on the highway or longer trips.

blue73harley (Anonymous) says…

Same as beawolf. In fact, I never wore my seat belt until I was forced to become a commuter. Driving K10 at 79.9 mph with all the other crazies - it just seemed like the sane thing to do.

Take_a_letter_Maria (Anonymous) says…

I was “forced” to when I was working on campus around the time the state law came out. Since I was driving a state vehicle on campus, we were required to wear a seat belt. First time caught without one was a warning, second time you were gone on the spot. It became an automatic thing with me that I never quit doing and the same thing goes for my kids now.

OnlyTheOne (Anonymous) says…

In Lawrence?
Not only yes but heck yes!

Confrontation (Anonymous) says…

I figure that those people who don't wear them are helping us weed the idiots out of the gene pool.

iloveyoutoo (Anonymous) says…

I most relate with blue73harley's comment. I never wore my seat belt until I started commuting to Topeka. Now it's just a habit and it's not a bad habit to have.

Calliope877 (Anonymous) says…

Yeah, I feel like I'm driving naked if I don't have a seatbelt on.

canyon_wren (Anonymous) says…

I didn't vote because they didn't have a choice like “Most of the time.” I am like beawolf—I don't wear it around town at 25-30 mph—ours is a little town with not much traffic. But, like Calliope877, I feel naked if I don't have one on when driving anywhere else—and it makes me nervous to ride on buses because they don't have seat belts!

consumer1 (Anonymous) says…

anyone wear a helmit while driving a car?? (except when on the race track)?
Yes, it is an automatic behavior for me. I started 20 years ago when my daughter was born. For both of us. For me to be around for her and to set an example for her. (it worked!!)
You would be shocked by the number of people who drive without insurance or even drivers liscence.

Pywacket (Anonymous) says…

Religiously. Anyone who doesn't, on the basis that it's “just around town,” is fooling him/herself. If you're going 30 mph and some idiot reaching across the car to grab his spilling drink is also going 30 mph and hits you head on, that's a force of 60 mph. How do you think you'll fare w/o a seatbelt? How frustrating and heartbreaking will it be for your family to know that this coulda, shoulda been a survivable accident? It's almost easier to reconcile a horrible loss when it's a situation that no one could've survived (a steel-loaded semi drops off an overpass onto your vehicle). When survivors know that the person could've taken one simple step and still been here, that's very hard to deal with. Wake up and don't put your family in that position.

I'm in favor of the laws for several reasons. Here are two.

(1) A high percentage of non-users are very young. As they get older, most will recognize their own mortality and appreciate the statistics on seatbelt use, and start using them. In the meantime, I hate to see teens and 20-somethings paying the ultimate price for youthful bad judgment before they ever have a chance to become older and wiser.

(2) Every one of us is paying, in one way or another, when easily survivable accidents become fatality or permanent-disability accidents due to someone's failure to use a seatbelt. Insurance rates rise, hospital costs go up, and there are many other “hidden” societal costs. If you die or become disabled in an accident that should've only resulted in minor (or no) injuries, you are impacting the rest of us—financially and otherwise. If you were only hurting yourself, as a lot of non-users like to claim, I wouldn't give a rat's arse.

ontheotherhand (Anonymous) says…

Those of you who selectively wear seat belts must not be familiar with the statistic which states that most accidents happen within a few blocks of your home. My dad got blinded by the early evening sun not far from our house and rear-ended a vehicle that was stopped in the road (not off to the side, but IN the road). Luckily he was only going 40 mph. He and I were in the hospital for a week. I broke my nose and my cheekbone. That was almost 30 years ago and I still vividly remember the pain . . .

There's no way I would go to the end of the street without wearing my seat belt … .

guesswho (Anonymous) says…

Well, if you don't wear your seatbelt (even around town) I hope at least you are an organ donor.

canyon_wren (Anonymous) says…

You are all right about it being foolish not to wear seat belts around town. I will try to mend my ways. And I certainly agree with Pywacket that we all ultimately pay for much of the medical costs when those without helmets and/or seatbelts have accidents.

gccs14r (Anonymous) says…

I've been wearing seatbelts since I was ejected from a vehicle (in a low-speed residential street accident in which the door popped open) in '68.

asauder (Anonymous) says…

My abnormal psych prof. claimed she cut hers out in protest to it being a law. O the ironing.

road_Runner (Anonymous) says…

It's so automatic for me to put on a seatbelt that I never give it any thought.

Newell_Post (Anonymous) says…

I wear my seatbelt all of the time. However, I find it really annoying that I can't move my car from one side of the grocery store parking lot to the other side of the grocery store parking lot without the stupid gong going off incessantly. That should be a user-programmable item.

One of my older cars had a gong that went off once and then stopped if you ignored it. It sort of seems to say “OK, numbskull. I'm reminding you. But if you choose to ignore me, then proceed at your own risk.”

Multidisciplinary (Anonymous) says…

asauder (Anonymous) says…

My abnormal psych prof. claimed she cut hers out in protest to it being a law. O the ironing.
––—
ROFL..oh the memories that conjures up!

youngitized (Anonymous) says…

Heck yeah, I fasten my seatbelt. It is a rule for me, if you ride in my car, you have to wear your seatbelt. I got after my own mother the other day when she unbuckled in my driveway when the car was still moving. There is absolutely no reason not to buckle up.

RETICENT_IRREVERENT (Anonymous) says…

You wouldn't leave home without your CCH.
Why would you get into a vehicle without belting up?

notajayhawk (Anonymous) says…

Over the years I was pretty lax about that, but my lifestyle has changed somewhat. I commute about 550 miles per week, and my car is one of the smaller ones on the highway. And unlike my earlier days, there's a little girl at home that I would like to make it back home to, and another one on the way. Now that I've gotten in the habit of buckling up for the commute, I pretty much do it all the time.

snap_pop_no_crackle (Anonymous) says…

There's a word for people who ride in automobiles without using the seatbelts: projectiles.