Crazy wreck just next door (1 Viewer)

[Morgan Jolley]

I hope nobody takes offense to this comment, but if you're dumb enough to ram yourself and two of your friends into a tree and not wear a seat belt when you should have been able to avoid the situation completely by not being stupid, you deserve what you have coming to you.

I'm a teen myself, and to tell the truth, I think they shouldn't give licenses out to some of the people they do. It's not driving fast or having loud music, its not having control of the vehicle. A friend of mine drives the speed limit (takes only a second or two to get to it) and takes corners that don't have stop signs and good visibility around the corner pretty tight, but they still have GREAT control of the car. Most of the people I see get into accidents are either dumb, young, or have cars they don't know how to use. One girl I know has a Jeep and has gotten into like 5 accidents in the last year.

I ALWAYS wear my seatbelt when I'm in the front seat. Depending on the driver, time of day, who else is in the car, and other variables, I'll wear it in the back as well.

 

[Max Leung]

Morgan, you should wear a belt in the backseat at all times too! Look what happened to Lady Di...she was in the back seat, no seatbelt.

If you always make it a habit to wear a seatbelt in ALL situations, then you'll be a lot safer...what if you are drunk and delerious? If you had learned to buckle up by habit, then in your delerious state you'll have a very high chance of doing it as a reflex response!

This reminds me of a conversation my friends had:

Friend A: "Oh, I only signal lane changes when I know there is another car nearby."

Friend B: "Uh, buddy, the whole point of signalling is when you DON'T know a car is there!"

Get into the habit. It WILL save your life.

 

[Morgan Jolley]

If I'm just driving down the street to the corner store with a friend on a weekday at 3 o'clock in the afternoon, then there's really no danger foreseeable. We won't be speeding to high speeds and there will be few, if any, cars around. In a case like this, I wouldn't wear a seatbelt in the back seat.

If I was driving down a tunnel above the speed limit, trying to avoid the paparazzi, like Di, then I would have my seatbelt on.

I also don't plan on getting drunk any time soon. Beer tastes bad, and I think being the only one who remembers what all the drunk people did is better than causing damage to my liver.

 

[Max Leung]

Accidents were more than twice as likely to take place 1 mile from home compared to 20 miles from home.
Only 1 percent of reported accidents took place 50 miles or more from home.

Also, be very careful when going out at night (as a driver or passenger):
Thread title: most car accidents occur near the home
The reason for wearing a seatbelt at all times is to protect you from unforeseen events. You head out at night to pick up milk at the convenience store, not aware that a drunken teenager in an SUV is cruising down your lane at 50 MPH a few blocks from your home. Assuming you do not have powers of precognition, would you prefer to have your seatbelt on, or not? If not, what are your chances of survival when this jerk rams your car head-on when you take the corner towards the store?
The "I am invincible" complex is a huge factor in the high teenaged-male fatality rate (car crashes are the number one cause of death for males 15-20 years of age). Don't get caught in the peeing section of the gene pool!

 

[Patrick Sun]

Buckle up anytime you are riding in a car, it'll save your life (it did for me, twice). Once you get in the habit, you'll feel absolutely naked without a seatbelt on when you ride/drive.

 

[Aaron Copeland]

Buckle up anytime you are riding in a car, it'll save your life (it did for me, twice). Once you get in the habit, you'll feel absolutely naked without a seat belt on when you ride/drive.

That is so true. I ALWAYS wear my seat belt. It has now gotten to the point that if I somehow forget to put it on right away I do feel almost naked. I can "feel" its absence.

Aaron

 

[Morgan Jolley]

The thing is, nothing would suggest to me that people get in accidents around noon in residential neighborhoods on weekdays. I'm not cruisin' around the city with my friends at midnight on Saturday or anything, I'm driving down the street in the middle of the day on backroads.

I know I should always wear my seatbelt, but I don't. Just like people know they shouldn't smoke cigarettes and do anyway. The only difference is that not wearing your seatbelt (in the circumstances that I would not wear it in) is barely lethal at all while cigarettes have many harmful effects.

 

[Chet_F]

Morgan Jolley
"The only difference is that not wearing your seatbelt (in the circumstances that I would not wear it in) is barely lethal at all"

I could dispute this statement easily but it sounds like you've already made up you mind. All I can say is "I hope you have good luck cause you'll need it"

 

[Danny R]

Smoking is legal, not wearing your seatbelt is not.

 

[Wayne Bundrick]

In Georgia at least, but other states don't have seatbelt laws.

 

[Patrick Sun]

I got into a head-on collision (his fault) with some doofus around lunchtime on a weekday, not 1 mile away from my house. You can't control how stupidly people make decisions while they drive their cars.

My suggestion: Wear the seatbelt all the time while travelling in a car, it will save your life, or contribute mightily to the quality of it after an auto accident.

Just take it as a lesson that I have observed the hard way, and was glad I was taking notes when someone gave me the lesson years ago.

 

[Morgan Jolley]

In New Jersey they now have a law where cops can pull people over for not wearing seatbelts.

I would only not wear a seatbelt if I felt comfortable with the situation and was in the back seat. I always wear it in the front.

 

[Max Leung]

Oh, I forgot that you always wear it at the front. Better than not at all at least.

 

[Patrick Sun]

Do the laws of force = (mass)x(acceleration) somehow not work when you are in the back seat in a collision?

 

[Ron-P]

Pat, you see, if your in the back all you hit is the front seat instead of the windshield
Peace Out~

 

[BrianB]

Nah, Ron. Road safety tests have shown you hit the front seat, the driver/front passenger AND the windscreen.

 

[Carlo_M]

most car accidents occur near the home

Sorry, I just love this one. Where driving instructors try to shock their audience by saying "90% of accidents happen within "X" amount of miles from home..." like it's some sort of revelation.
Well DUH! Where do you think we DO 90% of our driving? Chances are we spend 90% of our time within that "X" amount of miles from home...ah forget it!
Sorry, had to rant about that. Back to your regularly scheduled programming.

 

[Max Leung]

But Carlo, you know it is true! Your rant doesn't disprove anything, and has no point.
Also, don't forget that people tend to relax and be at their least alertness when they are near home. They let down their guard, thus not pay as much attention to the road, which is disastrous at night, they are already tired. This fact has been known by sleep researchers for a couple of decades, and not just limited to trailer-truck drivers.

 

[Patrick Sun]

I've actually been in the backseat (1991, Panama City) when the car I was riding in was struck by a drunk driver who decided he just had to make a left turn in the oncoming lane, and he nailed us square as we were doing around 40 mph. Let me tell you, being in the back seat and getting hit is no way to spend spring break!

Just get into the habit of buckling up everytime, and it'll be second nature when you ride/drive.

When I refer to my occupation as Crash Test Dummy on my webpage, I'm not kidding!

 

[Max Leung]

Whoa! What the heck were you doing in Panama in 1991, Patrick? Sounds scary!