Seat Belts And Shoulder Harnesses

[Mark Ambrose]

EXCELLENT idea!!!!

But being the sort who HATES a seatbelt, and who is convinced that he most likely survived two very serious accidents BECAUSE he was NOT wearing a belt, I wonder if we might be exempt from wearing them because this is a "motorcycle"? Or will part of the "autocycle" trade off be mandatory wearing of a "death belt"?

(Sorry, maybe if I were ever in an accident where I thought they had saved my life I might feel more positively toward seatbelts!)
(IMHO the jury is still out on airbags as I've never been in a vehicle when they deployed)

I have (see previous post in another thread). And I swear by them, The doctors that fixed my 5 broken ribs, fractured pelvis and punctured lung said I'd be dead were it not for the side curtain airbag. Also if seatbelts were such a death item then why do professional race car drivers wear them? I will always buckle up in any moving vehicle. However you do make a good point; the motorcycle classification for the Elio should exempt the driver and passenger from wearing a seatbelt. Good luck convincing a cop that you're actually in a motorcycle though.

 

[Malthorn]

EXCELLENT idea!!!!

But being the sort who HATES a seatbelt, and who is convinced that he most likely survived two very serious accidents BECAUSE he was NOT wearing a belt, I wonder if we might be exempt from wearing them because this is a "motorcycle"? Or will part of the "autocycle" trade off be mandatory wearing of a "death belt"?

(Sorry, maybe if I were ever in an accident where I thought they had saved my life I might feel more positively toward seatbelts!)
(IMHO the jury is still out on airbags as I've never been in a vehicle when they deployed)

I'll counter your two accidents with the roll over accident my parents and brother were in. Father and brother were both wearing seatbelts and walked away with bruises and minor cuts. My mother was not. She had to be airlifted to the hospital with multiple compound fractures, multiple skull fractures and spinal injuries.

 

[Rickb]

Because of the stats and based on personal experience, I wear mine and if you ride with me you buckle up or get the hell out of my Elio! Airbag question: I would rather have my face smash into (a) airbag (b) steering wheel (c)windshield if not wearing your seatbelt.

 

[Lil4X]

I'm all for protective devices, don't get me wrong, but once in a while they can work against you. My late business partner's widow was driving her 2000 Lexus ES300 when she struck another vehicle at about 10 mph. When the steering wheel airbag deployed, it punched her square in the face like she'd been hit by Mike Tyson. She recovered from her visible injuries within six to eight weeks, but at her age, about 75 at the time, there were other consequences, including brain injuries and vascular damage that would claim her life about two years later. While airbags are helpful in a high-speed collision, they can deliver considerable injuries - even if they are deployed more gently for low-speed impacts using a multi-stage deployment system. Lexus has had an outstanding record for the science and delivery of collision protection in all their products, but despite all the industry's best engineering efforts, automakers can't prepare for every eventuality.

Still, everything considered, I want air bags and seatbelts to give me the best chance of survival in any collision. We need to understand that there are no guarantees of absolute safety in every circumstance. Those crumple zones and steel cage in the Elio are great steps forward for an autocycle, but they are useless in preventing that "second collision" of your little pink body against the interior of the vehicle. That's where you get hurt.

 

[aknaten]

Why don't race car drivers stop wear their safety harnesses? In my short career as a teacher, I can count of at least 6 of my high school students who were killed when tossed from their vehicle because they did not wear the seat belt. I used to tell my non-believing students to do this experiment: close you eyes, run as fast as you can into the wall. That was only 12 mph. Imagine what 40 or 50 or 60 mph would feel like. And if you don't want to wear your seat belt for yourself, wear it for your mother, your father, your sister, etc.

 

[wizard of ahs]

WOW! Someone with some commonsense.
Maybe it's just me, seems to be lacking in most of the last 50 new threads.o_O JMO

May have a problem with the seat, window spacing on the right.

 

[goofyone]

Seat belts with both lap and shoulder harness have been well proven over the last several decades to save many lives. While there are unfortunate exceptions where the seat belts themselves cause serious injuries or death they have been well proven to save many more lives and prevent many more injuries than they cause.

I myself have been saved from serious injury or death by wearing a seat belt with lap and shoulder harness while being involved in two separate serious accidents. Neither accident was even remotely my fault as both were caused by drunk drivers. In one accident I was run into from behind by a car going about 30 MPH while I was completely stopped at a traffic light. The other accident was at highway speed and I was rammed from behind by the drunk driver who misjudged a lane change which caused my vehicle to run off the road and roll a number of times down an embankment.

I walked away from both accidents with some serious bruising caused by the seat belt and airbag but the fact that I was able to simply walk away from both of these very serious accidents is amazing. The seat belts are what held me in place enough to avoid slamming into the wheel and dash or being ejected from the vehicle.

 

[skygazer6033]

A side benefit of wearing a lap belt and harness is that the EMT's won't have to look for your body. Seriously though it's been proven that your chances of survival go down dramaticly if you're ejected from the vehicle during a crash. So sit down, strap in, drive defensively.

 

[GaPawn]

Race car drivers are in a heavy duty protective cage, and are wearing a five point harness, not a three point system. However, both vehicles that I was driving only had lap belts.

The first was in 1980 while driving a '68 fiat 850 spyder. I was hit and run off the road by a drunk driver in a pickup truck, and my car landed upside down. Being a tiny, flimsy, convertible, the windshield did nothing to keep the car from pancaking. Had I used the lap belt, and had it held me in my seat, I would likely have been crushed or decapitated. As it was, I only had a few scrapes on me and didn't even need the ambulance that showed up.

Sixteen years later, after over 2 million miles in company cars as a traveling salesman, without so much as a fender bender, or even scratched paint, I had my second accident. I had quit sales to become a pawnbroker. I was once again able to drive "fun" cars. YAY! Late one night, in 1996, on my way back to the shop in my '64 VW Beetle, a lady in a Chevy Cavalier ran a stop sign getting off the interstate. They estimated she was doing 70 MPH when she crossed the intersection. Had I gotten to that intersection a 1/2 second sooner, she'd have T-boned me, and I'd be dead. Luckily, as it turned out, I T-boned her. Though I was only going 45 MPH, the front of the VW buckled, pushing the ~1"~ diameter steering column over 20" into the interior. Had I been buckled in my chest would likely have been crushed, or speared, by the steering wheel and/or column. But, because she was coming from my left, I was thrown out the driver's door, and the steering column/ ~1"~ pipe was bent at a 45 degree angle, following my exit out the door. As it was, I was knocked unconscious, got 24 staples in my head, 22 staples in my left knee, and had a collapsed right lung. I have no recollection of the next several days. It was 6 months before I could return to work, and nearly a year before I could handle the shop alone. However, I am still breathing. Three months later when I could leave the house again, I saw the car. I truly believe that, had I been strapped in, there is no way I could have survived that accident.

Granted, these were both older vehicles which were none to safe to begin with, and both were basically tin cans. In newer vehicles the outcome may well have been very different. But, having escaped death twice, by NOT wearing a seatbelt, I hope you'll understand that I find it hard to make myself like them!!! Do I wear them? Yes, every time I get in the car. Why? Because it's the law.

Bottom line though, my most fervent belief is that the BEST way to survive an accident: IS TO NOT GET IN ONE IN THE FIRST PLACE!!!!

Drive defensively folks, and the good Lord willing, it won't matter if you're wearing a seatbelt or not!!!

 

[imageon]

The seat belt and the air bags work together, having one with out using the other - not good.
With the buckle on the door side extraction should be quicker.
MK