Ever have seatbelts save your life?

[Silveredwings]

Originally Posted by onegammyleg

In my opinion Lap belts , and lap sash belts realy should be outlawed and replaced with propper aero type harnesses.

Yeah, I agree. After the plane crash, I had 3" wide purple bruises where the belts held me. I had only a minor scrape on one knee as the only other injury. Amazing.

I lost my girlfriend's sun glasses though. I had to buy her a new pair. BTW, she was in worse shape emotionally since she saw the whole flight right up to the point it disappeared behind trees, and then ended with a loud crunching sound.

[kps]

Originally Posted by onegammyleg

Wearing the belt just a little bit loose increases injury chances dramaticaly , and I read that a 1 inch of looseness reneders the belt useless.

That's what pretensioners are for.

[diamondlarry]

I'll start out by saying that I wear my belts all the time. That being said, here's my story from when I was 16. My dad had a '78 Civic CVCC hatchback. I was racing a friend in her dad's '65 Impala station wagon. I was even with her in the passing lane of a country road when I slipped off the edge of the road. There was a 3-4" drop-off and we were doing 85-90 mph. I pulled it back onto the road but was pulled back off the road. The next thing I knew, the car shot accross the road sideways at around 75 mph. The police said that it appeared that the car flipped end-over-end at least once and side to side 2-3 times. I had no seatbelt on and the drivers window was down. I walked away with no injuries; not even a scratch or a bruise. The next day as we were cleaning out the car at the salvage yard, I tried sitting in the driver's seat. The only way I could do that was to sink down and slide my butt to the edge of the seat because of the caved in roof. That Honda had shoulder harnesses and, had I been wering it, I would have been trapped underneath the roof when it caved in. The policeman on duty actually said that I probably would have been killed or permanently paralyzed if I had been wearing the shoulder harness. As I said above, I still wear my belts. The thing that irritates me is that most safety people will not even admit that things like this ever happen. Even though these things occasionally happen, I don't think it's an excuse to not wear seatbelts.

[Lug_Nut]

Ever have seatbelts save your life?

At least once, I'm pretty certain. I was in my new 8 speed (and two reverse!) Dodge Colt version of a Plymouth Champ or Mitsubishi Somethingorother and hit a tree nearly head-on. The Oak I hit was a good 30+ inches in diameter at the base. I pushed it back about 6 inches. The tree died within a few months.
The car was pushed a bit further than that. The driver's seat was up to the clutch pedal. The roof buckled as the front stopped but the back continued forward. I nearly tore the shoulder mount point of the belt completely out of the B pillar. I was still moving fast enough to hit the steering wheel biting completely through my lower lip and hit my forehead on the windshield. I had to climb out the rear hatch as that was the only opening that still opened. The tree was within about 18 inches of the base of the windshield. The back of the car was still in the road on an unlit curve on a rainy night. I was concerned that someone coming along might not see the wreck in time so I picked up the back of the car and pivoted it out of the street. Yeah, had to be adrenaline. No way can I do that.
The cops came when a nearby resident called that it sounded like a car full of kids had crashed and were screaming. I was alone but must have been really cussing myself out loudly for my bone-headed driving.
The cops drove me home after I refused medical treatment. I looked in the mirror and noticed my teeth showing through the gash in my lip. I decided that they were right about needing medical attention. I hopped on my bicycle and pedaled the 15 miles to the hospital at 3 am. Seven stiches in my lower lip (three outside, four inside) and an x-ray for possible concussion were the extent of my injuries.

I've had two others since. Both of these were precipitated by others. I just happened to be there. I'd have been really hurt in each, but maybe not killed. Maybe not. I don't like the sound of that risk.

The most recent (2 months ago) popped both front airbags. That's why I have nothing yet to put in the "Gassaver's Garage". Whether the bags were required at that speed is debateable. The pretensioners and belts alone would have likely been sufficient. I ended up with abrasions on my inner forearms from "rug-burn" as the bag filled, and a dollar bill sized hematoma at my lower right rib cage, whether from the belt or the bag I can't say. But it beats riding a bicycle at night in the rain.

[Silveredwings]

Originally Posted by diamondlarry

...The next day as we were cleaning out the car at the salvage yard, I tried sitting in the driver's seat. The only way I could do that was to sink down and slide my butt to the edge of the seat because of the caved in roof. That Honda had shoulder harnesses and, had I been wering it, I would have been trapped underneath the roof when it caved in. The policeman on duty actually said that I probably would have been killed or permanently paralyzed if I had been wearing the shoulder harness. As I said above, I still wear my belts. The thing that irritates me is that most safety people will not even admit that things like this ever happen...

While some car makers strive to put the bare minimum into the structural strength of their cars, I'd like to think that most car makers today have improved the strength of the passenger compartment. I can dream, can't I?

[Silveredwings]

Lug nut: that's a pretty amazing story.

It sounds like you've had just about as much magnetism in your new cars and your life has had good luck.

[Ted Hart]

Originally Posted by rh77

No but plenty of times I've seen the result of seatbelt vs. no seatbelt as a medic. No brainer.

RH77

I've always said...if you wear your belts, you stand a good chance of walking away... no belts? Then, they clean you up with a sponge!

[diamondlarry]

Originally Posted by Ted Hart

I've always said...if you wear your belts, you stand a good chance of walking away... no belts? Then, they clean you up with a sponge!

As I mentioned in my post above, I don't agree that this is the case 100% of the time. I would have been severely paralyzed or killed if I would have had mine on in my accident. Also, as mentioned in my post, I do wear mine now.

[DracoFelis]

How would you tell if the seatbelt saved your life or not? After all, you don't know if you would have died, unless you ran the experiment (and actually died)! However, I can tell you that many years ago (when I was much younger, and a much less experienced driver) I got into a major accident, while wearing my seat belt.

In my case, it was during one of the last "winter storms" of early spring. As such, I was used to having the roads be clear (as this was spring, after all), and wasn't in my "the roads are slick" winter way of thinking. So while I was driving under the speed limit, I was still driving like I actually had traction (vs driving for the road conditions).

Well, you guessed it, I started losing control (on a turn in the highway), and so I figured I should slow down to regain control. And naturally (remember I was an inexperienced driver at the time) my instincts told me that the brakes are used for slowing down...

Result:

1) My brakes "locked" (this was before anti-lock brakes) and I slid into the oncoming traffic.

2) This caused my compact car (actually my dad's car) to hit the front left side of a pickup driven by an off duty police officer (yes, when it rains, it pours).

3) The next thing I knew, the car was spinning like a top (roughly two complete circles being made, before ending up in the ditch).

4) Naturally the car was totaled (in fact the front "engine compartment" had compressed to about 1/3 of its original size).

5) The pickup truck was also totaled. Specifically, the wheel I hit had bent 90 degrees, to be parallel with the road (pretty much making the drive train/suspension unusable on that truck).

6) I was wearing my seat belt, and walked away with a few sore muscles (presumably from the seat belt holding me in while all this force was being exerted on me), and that was it.

7) The police officer was NOT wearing his seat belt, but was in a MUCH bigger/heavier vehicle. None the less, because he wasn't wearing his seat belt, the crash forces pushed his foot hard to the floor (since there was no seat belt to hold him back), causing him to break his foot bones against the pedals.

Am I glad I was in the habit of wearing my seat belt? You bet!!!

BTW: The (off duty) cop I hit was real angry at me, to put it mildly. He was threatening to sue me for every penny I had, etc. However, the cops that were called to the crash scene were much nicer about the whole thing (realizing it was an inexperienced driver getting in over their head due the to weather, not some jerk just trying to be dangerous). And apparently, they later calmed down the cop I hit, as I never heard from him again. Instead, my insurance paid for both vehicles and the cop's injuries (minus our deductible, and increased premiums as the result of the accident), and I also had to pay a small ticket/fine for "Failing to control the vehicle". So in many ways I got off "easy" from that experience (and I like to think I did learn my lesson about "winter driving" as a result, as well)...