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First, no offense taken at all. I appreciate someone who can type the words, "I mean no offense" before going into either and explanation or rant as it sets the mood of the conversation and get the point across politely. Thanks for being kind. With that, I mean no offense in my reply. lol....seriously, I don't.

Originally Posted by Diabel1969

I mean no offense by this, but that's my choice. I don't really care if it's a law or not, it's my car, I paid for it, i'm driving it, it's my choice. I was once pulled over in my truck in florida, while towing my Harley on a trailer heading home from bike week. The officer told me he pulled me over because of my not wearing my seatbelt. I told him yes, your right officer, i'm not wearing it. I have a back injury from a previous car accident, between that, and my claustrophobia (it's wierd, but only things going across my neck and or chest freak me out), I can actually produce a medical excuse for my not wearing it, but i haven't had to as of yet.

I actually had someone pull out a "doctors note" for me once. Just one time. I sat there looking at this thing like, "you have to be kidding me, right?" Actually, law says there are loopholes and for medical reasons, this is one of them. If you have a note, I'm not going to argue...waste of both of our time.

Anyway, I also added on, a question for that officer in florida. I asked him, as an officer of the law in the state of florida, I'd like to believe you have some common sense. He smiled and said yes, he does. I then asked him, With all due respect, how can you pull over a person, driving a very large truck for not wearing a seatbelt, enforcing a seatbelt law, BUT you sit back and watch people on a daily basis riding motorcycles without helmets as there is no helmet law in Florida.

I think people who ride bikes w/out helmets are putting themselves in a position that only multiplies the chances of death ten fold. I have several friends who "owned" bikes and no longer do so because of their accidents. One of my good friends had his face "reconstructed" and had the entire left side of his face FLAT from where he hit the pavement. He looks pretty normal compared to HS, but now has that huge scar across his face. He also had to relearn just about everything in the hospital. It was incredible to see football player (big and built) get these chicken legs because he didn't know how to walk for months (his mind finally came back to him).

Oh...and when even wearing helmets, they don't do squat under the right conditions. We handled an accident that I'll never forget. Dude fell in front of a moving car. Well, the body can get crushed and go under the car, but the helmet can not....at least, not as easy as the body. I'll spare the gory details, but we found the helmet and contents a 1/4mile up the road under the car.

I would never ride a bike again. Crazy. And the law allows them to. What can I say. I enforce the law.

He laughed out loud and agreed with me and let me go. Now i'm not saying helmet laws should be in effect either, BUT what I am saying is the govt. has put there hands into way too many things, and in my opinion, when the govt pays my car payment, and pays my insurance bills, then they can tell me what i can and cannot do in my car.


Actually, when you get into an accident and have injury due to not wearing your seatbelt, the insurance company has to pay for those high premiums, bills, whatever. SO, when you choose not to wear it, statistics show that folks like you receive more injuries which in turn, cause more medical bills which in turn raises MY insurance rates. Yes, the fact that you don't wear your seatbelt does have an impact on others.

Now, as a responsible person, any MINOR that is in my car, or truck MUST wear that belt, but any adult that chooses not to, I will not make them. Yes, i've been in SEVERAL accidents as a PASSENGER, and only one as a driver, and in that accident, I was stopped in traffic while the guy driving the truck behind me was too busy talking on his cell phone to bother applying his brakes AT ALL. In one accident as a passenger, I was reclined in my passenger seat, actually sleeping, when the driver (my fiance) cut in front of a Mack truck, and the front bumper of that truck went through the passenger door window into the car, and then flung us into oncomming traffic where we were then hit head on. the door folded in over the top of me, and thankfully, I was not only NOT wearing my seat belt, I was RECLINED, for if I had been upright and wearing that belt, I would not be here right now as that bumper would have taken my head clean off at my shoulders.

so, needless to say, you can show me all the videos you want to, I ONLY wear seat belts at the track depending on what car i'm driving, that only lasts 9 to 13 seconds and change THANK GOD!

Furthermore, seatbelts keep you in place during an accident. When your involved in an accident, that inertia keeps you moving and makes the car stop (or slow...depending). The following results after the crash can go several ways. If you have a seatbelt on, you are kept IN the seat. This means that should you NEED to put your hands back on the wheel and turn to avoid hitting something or someone else, you can. You can also put your feet back on the brake (or even the accellerator depending) so that you can continue to stop the vehicle. If you don't have your belt on, you might end up in the other seat, hitting the steering wheel crushing your chest cavity, hitting your head against the windshield crushing your skull, getting thrown out of the window and having the car roll on you or throwing you on the street only to be run over by another car, or...dude...the possibilities are pretty much endless, but regardless, you are unable to control the still moving vehicle after the crash.

Basically, if you have your belt on and you crash, but the car is till moving, you have the opportunity to stay in control of the moving vehicle. If you don't have your belt on, you could get knocked out of your seat or hurt to the point that you can no longer control the moving vehicle resulting in.......


.........you, your unbelted body, and your out of control vehicle striking my wife's vehicle that is sitting in traffic with my wife in it and my 5 year old and 2 year old sons who then end up getting injured all because........

.....you don't like wearing your seatbelt.


Therefore, you not wanting to wear your seatbelt DOES affect the lives of others both financially, physically, and mentally (God forbid your out of control vehicle strikes and kills the boyfriend girlfriend sitting at the bus stop waiting for the bus, the car sitting at the intersection waiting for their turn in traffic....or my family who is just trying to go from point A to point B - because that is going to mess us up for life.......).

And this is exactly why I write every single person a citation I stop for not wearing a seat belt. I can honestly say after writing the ticket, "maybe THIS guy will get it and will buckle up. Maybe I just saved his/her life one day and hey...maybe I just saved someone else's life as well.


Now, I mean no disrespect in writing this to you, honestly. But, I hope that you read it and actually think about a couple of these points I made. It is real. Your decisions DO affect us.