What is wrong with people?

oxeye

New member
I went out to get dinner tonight and decided to pay attention to seatbelt usage in cars crossing while I was stopped at an intersection.

I'd guess about 15% of the drivers were not wearing seatbelts!!! :eek: I honestly didn't think I'd see anyone without a seatbelt in such a short period of time. What is wrong with them???? Seriously - what possible reason is there to not wear a seatbelt while you are driving???

I wonder if my state doesn't have good seatbelt laws. I'm going to have to look it up now.
 
ADS

Laurenc0101

New member
Some people just don't wear them for various reasons:thumbsdown: What really makes me mad though is when the parents (or driver) is buckled and the children are bouncing all over the car:mad:

Lauren:)
 

Melizerd

New member
There's only one state that has NO seat belt law. I can't remember off the top of my head who it is, I want to say an east coast state. I do know that Washington state has the highest reported use at something like 95% of people and the state with no law and Wisconsin are the lowest at something like 63%. Sadly I live in Wisconsin.

Tickets are like 10 bucks or something if you get stopped for something else and they give you a ticket for the seat belt. They can't even stop you just for the seat belt here. Then they wonder why people don't put their kids in proper safety seats.
 

oxeye

New member
I just looked it up. We only have a secondary law - so a cop can't ticket someone just for not wearing their seatbelt. They have to be speeding or something else to warrant being pulled over first.

We've got a good car seat law, though. You can be ticketed for misusing a child restraint. I do wonder how many cops would be able to recognize all the misuse, though.
 

southpawboston

New member
There's only one state that has NO seat belt law. I can't remember off the top of my head who it is, I want to say an east coast state.

NH. i believe they require children under 18 to wear seatbelts, but for 18 and above, no requirement. no helmets required for motorcycles, either. :eek: the state moto is "live free or die". :rolleyes:
 

Melizerd

New member
ya WI doesn't have a motorcycle helmet law either. It's part of the reason our seat belt use is so bad. Ours is only a secondary law too.

We did finally get a better car seat law though. Not that the people that don't use their own seat belts are going to use a car seat or a booster properly either.
 

cpsaddict

New member
In Oregon, not wearing a seatbelt is a primary offense. I know at least 10 people that have gotten tickets, including my GRANDMOTHER for not wearing it correctly. She had the shoulder strap behind her back. Here they send you too seatbelt school. Basically, a trauma nurse does the class and shows horrific videos of crashes and injuries. Scared my brother into wearing one. The school is the only way to get out of the $101 ticket and you can only take it once. Oregon is right behind Washington for seatbelt use.
 

skaterbabs

Well-known member
States with primary enforcement of seatbelt laws have something like a 75% lower deathrate than states with secondary enforcement - which is a good arguement for primary enforcement!
 

wendytthomas

Admin - CPST Instructor
Staff member
In Oregon, not wearing a seatbelt is a primary offense. I know at least 10 people that have gotten tickets, including my GRANDMOTHER for not wearing it correctly. She had the shoulder strap behind her back. Here they send you too seatbelt school. Basically, a trauma nurse does the class and shows horrific videos of crashes and injuries. Scared my brother into wearing one. The school is the only way to get out of the $101 ticket and you can only take it once. Oregon is right behind Washington for seatbelt use.

NICE!!!!! Nathan is on his way to Oregon as we speak. That is so cool that they take it so seriously. :)

Wendy
 

MySillyKids

New member
AZ is a motorcycle helmet free state too.

We moved to AZ from CA (where they had the helmet law)

I was SHOCKED everytime i see it, and i STILL am.

Of course people are allowed to ride in the back of trucks here too :rolleyes: :whistle:
 

beebear23

Senior Community Member
That's why I need a good book at the gym.. The large floor to celieing(sp?) windows overlook a major intersection and the misuse is horrible. Kids in the front seat, people w/o seatbelts, kids bouncing around the car, etc.. it's horrible.. And this during a 1 hour workout..

Oh, and i'm in CA. where seatbelts are a primary offense, kids 6 or 60 have to be in the backseat and in car/booster seat, etc..
 

Loves2sing

New member
Go to Mexico, and you'll see some horrendous stuff out there! On the island of Cozomel, I saw a family of 5 on a vespa, helmets? Of course there was a helmet! The Daddy who was driving had in on. :rolleyes: Then in Acapulco, I was thrilled to see many mothers carrying around infant carriers, until I noticed that is all they were, a seat without any straps, driving around.:jaw:
But that is normal for those kinds of areas. Apparantly the laws change drastically in Mexico City, where the locals said the law enforcment is quite strict with Car seat saftey. But I have never been there, so I don't know first hand.

My DH, and BIL never wear their belts when they are in the back of their parent's Grand Carvan, cause the seatbelts suck, and I agree they do. But usually I will nag them about it if from the time we get in the car until it is strapped on properly. (I tell them that I will never forgive them if we are in an accident, because whether or not Jenna was hurt by them, she could have been. And that is unacceptable.) The last few times in the van, for some odd reason, those seat belts are put on automatically.;)
 

amy919

New member
PA doesn't require motorcycle helmets, either, but kids have to wear bike helmets:confused:. The motorcycle helmet thing drives me crazy. My family has always had at least on Harley in the garage at all times and no one in my family would ever NOT wear a helmet - to me, it's just plain stupidity.

PA does require seatbelts and I find myself looking all the time, too. Especially when I'm sitting in traffic and watching the cars in the other lane fly by me. I would say from what I've seen on average, 3 out of 5 men are not wearing seatbelts and 1 out of 5 woman are not wearing seatbelts. Go figure.

My DH is actually horrible about wearing his seatbelt. It's a constant argument with us. I mean, it's such a simple, easy, painless thing to do. And he's SO contradictory about it! He'll wear it on a highway, ALWAYS in my car or when he's driving with the kids (he wouldn't want to set a bad example:rolleyes:)

But what really gets me is that he takes the extra effort to route the seatbelt behind his seat and fasten it so it doesn't "ding" at him. It would take him less time to put the da*n thing on!

OK, done ranting about my DH...

Amy
 

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