Do you wear a seatbelt when riding in the BACKSEAT of a car?

[Skippy722]

If you’re in my vehicle you’ll wear your seatbelt, otherwise you can walk or drive yourself. Had to have that conversation with the youth group at church....

Youth: “But so and so would have died in their car accident if they had their seatbelt on so I’m not wearing one!”
Me: “Yeah well my mom had to X-ray a guy that looked more like ground hamburger than a person because he flew through the windshield and my uncle had to scrape a guy off the highway with a shovel because they didn’t have a seatbelt on. Put it on now!”

 

[bbhero]

I've heard that so many times.

I have seen a dead 18-20 year old who had a seat belt on... His cerebral cortex visible, fixed and dilated.

He was running from the police and barrel rolled his car... The road rash on the side of his face told the story.... His head smashed the driver's side window and on one of those barrel rolls his face hit the asphalt... Dead on scene.

Hanging from the seat belt.

His 3 buddies asking if he was on as I got pit of the car... I just shook my head. The officer who had been chasing them told them their buddy was dead.

Seat belt always worn by me. Always.


Just remember... It won't save you if your head smashs through that window...

And it won't save you if you barrel roll your vehicle and that roof get smashed down upon your head...

And it won't save you if you are going 70 mph and hit a large enough tree and that motor and transmission end up in the driver's compartment... Much less the massive g forces involved in that type of impact... Your cervical spine can't take that much force... This why the HANS device has proven so helpful in saving race car drivers. But passenger car drivers don't have that. Much less a mulit point belt system too.

Seat belts definitely save lives. Airbags are very, very helpful in helping save or help a impact from causing more serious injuries.

But in certain circumstances... Physics take over and there's no good outcome.

 

[warrenf]

I have seen a dead 18-20 year old who had a seat belt on... His cerebral cortex visible, fixed and dilated.

He was running from the police and barrel rolled his car... The road rash on the side of his face told the story.... His head smashed the driver's side window and on one of those barrel rolls his face hit the asphalt... Dead on scene.

Hanging from the seat belt.

His 3 buddies asking if he was on as I got pit of the car... I just shook my head. The officer who had been chasing them told them their buddy was dead.

Seat belt always worn by me. Always.


Just remember... It won't save you if your head smashs through that window...

And it won't save you if you barrel roll your vehicle and that roof get smashed down upon your head...

And it won't save you if you are going 70 mph and hit a large enough tree and that motor and transmission end up in the driver's compartment... Much less the massive g forces involved in that type of impact... Your cervical spine can't take that much force... This why the HANS device has proven so helpful in saving race car drivers. But passenger car drivers don't have that. Much less a mulit point belt system too.

Seat belts definitely save lives. Airbags are very, very helpful in helping save or help a impact from causing more serious injuries.

But in certain circumstances... Physics take over and there's no good outcome.

Usually when that happens, people are doing something extremely reckless and stupid and are just asking for it. Nothing can save them in those situations. 99.99% of the time, seatbelts save lives.

 

[bbhero]

Dead is dead...

I am making a clear number of points..

Is a) keep your vehicle from going into a barrel roll circumstance... Rolling over and over and over... Your body will go into that thing window beside you... Your head hits that pavement... You are dead..

And people barrel roll vehicles everyday... And it's not running from the law...

That kid was not going like 90, 100 mph...

He was going 55-60 mph... Still managed to barrel roll that car... Too tight a turn at the stop light at Belroi Rd.

Make sure you don't put yourself in a place where that can happen in regards to not barrel rolling your vehicle...

Your vehicle weak points are windows and roof.... Take a 10 pound maul and hit a roof of a car... Now imagine a telephone landing on that flimsy roof... On your head... I had a teacher die from a dead pine tree falling on to his car in a noreaster... Winds were 35-55 mph. I drove through the exact same area... He died 15 minutes after I went through that area on Burleigh Rd...


Vehicle roofs are weak. Try to stay off them.

Drivers side windows are exceptionally weak obviously...

Stay on the pavement as best one can... Going off it can easily led to barrel rolling events.

B) don't take on trees... Better to hit something on the road vs a tree which will not give at all and transfer all that kinectic energy into you... Belt or not... It will not end well. . . People die all the time... Belts or not... Airbags everywhere...

You hit a large tree going 60, 65, 70 mph...

Physics take over... And it does not end well.

 

[warrenf]

Dead is dead...

I am making a clear number of points..

Is a) keep your vehicle from going into a barrel roll circumstance... Rolling over and over and over... Your body will go into that thing window beside you... Your head hits that pavement... You are dead..

And people barrel roll vehicles everyday... And it's not running from the law... Make sure you don't put yourself in a place where that can happen...

Your vehicle weak points are windows and roof.... Take a 10 pound maul and hit a roof of a car... Now imagine a telephone landing on that flimsy roof... On your head... I had a teacher die from a dead tree falling on to his car in a noreaster... Winds were 35-55 mph. I drove through the exact same area... He died 15 minutes after I went through that area on Burleigh Rd...
Vehicle roofs are weak. Try to stay off them.

Drivers side windows are exceptionally weak obviously...

Stay on the pavement as best one can... Going off it can easily led to barrel rolling events.

B) don't take on trees... Better to hit something on the road vs a tree which will not give at all and transfer all that kinectic energy into you... Belt or not... It will not end well. . .

I have actually barrel rolled in a vehicle. It flipped multiple times and came out without a single scratch or bruise. Not even seatbelt burn or whiplash. Newer cars that are on the road today do not have roofs that easily cave in either.

 

[bbhero]

Yeah lucky you...

That kid... Was dead...

Dead dead dead dead ....

About nothing too... And dead for nothing..

Seat belt did matter to him... Brain sticking out of his forehead.... Road rash on his face...

Terrible terrible thing to see...


It won't matter... Hit something hard enough... It won't matter... A telephone pole broken falling on top of a vehicle roof... It will crush a roof like a aluminum can...

There ain't no street outlaws roof work done on these vehicles... Not bunches of roll bars etc etc...


People need to understand that hitting trees...

And barrel rolling with weak roof top vehicles = bad bad results.

 

[bbhero]

Three other boys in that car that night that barrel rolled...

Were walky talky.... Just fine...


The driver... Not so much. Dead as dead can be.

 

[warrenf]

Three other boys in that car that night that barrel rolled...

Were walky talky.... Just fine...


The driver... Not so much. Dead as dead can be.

Glad they had their seatbelts on, didn't get ejected and survived

 

[bbhero]

Amen to that ^^^^^

Totally totally agree ^^^

 

[bbhero]

There was another accident in my home county where 4 boys died in a single vehicle accident...

A girl was driving way way way fast like 85 mph+... Lost the SUV off the road and into the trees. 4 boys dead.

I don't know if they were wearing seat belts.

Though I bet good money they were not....

The girl survived with a punctured lung and a couple of broken bones...

 

[warrenf]

There was another accident in my home county where 4 boys died in a single vehicle accident...

A girl was driving way way way fast like 85 mph+... Lost the SUV off the road and into the trees. 4 boys dead.

I don't know if they were wearing seat belts.

Though I bet good money they were not....

The girl survived with a punctured lung and a couple of broken bones...

She may have survived but I bet her soul is broken forever. The death of 4 young people could've been so preventable had they wore their seatbelts.

 

[bbhero]

I actually met her while in school at Rappahannock community college...

She was very casual about that accident..

It bothered me at first. Then I thought to myself that maybe that was her way of coping with that horrible accident... Just too hard for her to truly understand what had happened that night.

Honestly her going 85 mph into the trees... I am not sure in that case it may have helped but so much...

I have to ask my good friend Tony again about that accident. He was on the Gloucester fire and rescue squad at that time.

Off the top of my head I think I remember him telling me that they were thinking that those guys were not wearing their seat belts... I remember him telling me that they were all over the place. I need to ask him about it again.

 

[ZeeOSix]

Q: "Do you wear a seatbelt when riding in the BACKSEAT of a car?"

If someone doesn't, they definitely should. I rarely ride in the back seat of vehicles, but do wear the seat belt when I do.

 

[bbhero]

Windows are in the back seat of vehicles too...

That thin glass is all that separates your head from that pavement in a roll over...

I am certainly not against wearing seat belts..

I wear mine all the time every time. Have done so for 39 plus years...

But they do not mean total and guaranteed safety in all types of accidents. .

And that is a fact.

You get rear ended in the back seat by someone going 60+ mph... It's going to be extremely rough.

My sister worked at the ER in Dover Delaware where a vehicle was rear ended by another vehicle going 60 mph... Killed several children in the back of their vehicle. All who were belted in and or in a child safety seat/belted in...

No guarantees.

Again... I certainly believe in there use.. every time, all the time and by everyone in a vehicle.

Sometimes... This is a very, very , very harsh and extremely difficult to understand world.

No guarantees.

Just a very, very helpful mitigation choice being made.

 

[warrenf]

Windows are in the back seat of vehicles too...

That thin glass is all that separates your head from that pavement in a roll over...

I am certainly not against wearing seat belts..

I wear mine all the time every time. Have done so for 39 plus years...

But they do not mean total and guaranteed safety in all types of accidents. .

And that is a fact.

You get rear ended in the back seat by someone going 60+ mph... It's going to be extremely rough.

My sister worked at the ER in Dover Delaware where a vehicle was rear ended by another vehicle going 60 mph... Killed several children in the back of their vehicle. All who were belted in and or in a child safety seat/belted in...

No guarantees.

Again... I certainly believe in there use.. every time, all the time and by everyone in a vehicle.

Sometimes... This is a very, very , very harsh and extremely difficult to understand world.

No guarantees.

Just a very, very helpful mitigation choice being made.

I do agree but cars that are made today have curtain and side airbags in the windows (front and back) which prevent you from flying out the car and lessening your injuries.

 

[bbhero]

I truly wonder though... That the airbags will for certain and guaranteed 100 percent of the time keep one from still making contact with the pavement...

Things happen...

There's no guarantee of anything.

Even if no windows were there... It could be rough. . Like my car which has two back seats with no windows...

And again... You getting hit quite hard from behind with a lot of kinectic energy... Your neck is a weak point that would be in trouble with this sudden massive g forces being exerted upon your neck.

No multiple point restraint system back there in the back seat and no Hans device...

 

[bbhero]

My car has like 6 or 8 airbags in it...

And I am certainly glad they are there. No doubt.

But they don't mitigate everything. They can't.

A multiple point restraint system and a Hans device would be greatly, greatly helpful in mitigating potential injuries.

I certainly believe in seat belts all the time, every time and by everyone.

Again... There's nothing guaranteed.

Very, very,very helpful and preventative and right to do... Absolutely.

 

[Leo99]

My wife lost control on an icy road 15 years ago and hit a utility pole head on doing about 35 mph. Totaled the vehicle. Wife came out of it with a mild bloody lip from the air bag and the seat belt caused a nasty black and blue bruise on her chest. Extremely minor injuries. Cars are designed very safely if you wear your seat belts.

Only time I'm in the back seat is if I'm in an Uber or using car service to go to the airport. Always wear the seatbelts. Hey, you never know when disaster could strike.

I knew a woman that wouldn't wear her seatbelt because she was afraid that if she crashed she would be trapped in the seat belt and the paramedics couldn't get her out before the car burst into flames. I explained to her that the paramedics carried a special tool with them called a knife and they would get her out. Some people think up the craziest reasons to not do something good for them.

 

[bbhero]

Well said Leo99 ^^^^^^^^^

I do agree.

Making a good mitigation choice is without question the best thing to do.

 

[bbhero]

In my and my sister's line of work...

We have seen a lot... A whole whole lot....

It has made me very, very critical and makes me highly, highly question everything... .


Systems fail.. mechanical devices... Fail routinely. People fail..

A mechanical device failed at the hospital I used to work at... A PCA pump failed and dumped at least 70-80 mgs of Dilaudid in a patient just back from PACU... Mind you... For every milligram of Dilaudid is equal to 7 mgs of morphine.... That patient got the equivalent of 490-560 milligrams of morphine.... The patient died instantly... Aka coded. My friend Will was right there when it happened. They emptied the ENTIRE hospital of Narcan... For the exception of the NICU for new born babies. To bring that patient back from being dead.... That patient survived.

That PCA pump should certainly not have failed.... But it did. The hospital had all new PCA machines a week later.

My airbag failed in my Ford Fusion... I hit a deer going 64 mph on rte 5.... Airbag light came on and never went off. I knew that passenger side airbag likely should have deployed given how hard I hit that full grown deer. . It did not. It failed. And when the insurance adjuster told me that airbag had to be replaced... Did not surprise me one bit.

Things happen.

All you can do is do the best you can.

Wearing a seat belt is certainly one of those choices.

But there are no guarantees.