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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!!!
Because there is a passenger seat.
More importantly, there's no hard point to mount the shoulder belt to in the center of the roof. Not a problem with an Elio.
I agree, motorcycles don't have seatbelts and the whole issue is about the freedom as an adult to have the choice to wear one or not. Here in Fl we can ride w/out a helmet with proof of insurance so the same should apply for "seat belts" on a motorcycle or "autocycle" however if seatbelts were more cost effective than the airbag system on the Elio?
I believe they are both included to make sure the Elio meets the requirements for a 5 star safety rating. :-) Z