Police focussing on your seatbelts

HenryBG said :

wildturkeycanoe said :

Many times I have tried to make a check over my shoulder when changing lanes …..

Obviously NOT a Canberra driver then….

This is exactly why I don’t wear a seatbelt unless I’m on the highway. It just isn’t safe to wear a seatbelt in city traffic, and the supposed benefits it provides are dubious at best.

What suburb in Canberra do you live in Henry?

I’m not one to give peeps grief about being overweight or disabled but those are the only two reasons I can think of that wearing a seat belt would restrict your mobility while driving.

Claiming that a seat belt inhibits your skills as a driver is a poor excuse for not wearing one. A race driver with a bulky helmet, five point harness, stiff chair and much less room to move than you has far superior skills.
If you are a safe driver, without rage, who thinks ahead (i.e. not waiting to look over your shoulder in the last second) then you should have no problem with the seat belt catching.

HenryBG said :

Watson said :

Thanks for that! I let my 7yo ride in the front sometimes on drives through the neighbourhood.

I let mine stand on the towbar clinging to the radio aerial.

Watson said :

I don’t get people who don’t wear seatbelts. I basically can’t drive without feeling the pressure of mine.

You see that “pressure”? That “pressure” represents an increased risk of crashing your car. In some circumstances it also represents increased severity of injury resulting from crashes.
Luckily these shades of grey can be ignored because we have a nanny state which liberates us from the onerous task of conducting our own personal risk assessments before deciding on wearing a seatbelt.

Evil_Kitten said :

Yep I don’t understand how people can “forget” to put on their seatbelts either. It just feels weird and wrong. I will sometimes leave mine off to stop at my letterbox and it feels so strange even for that short distance. It makes me worry about so many other aspects of their driving if the simple act of the seatbelt forgets to register in their brain!

Drivers not wearing a seatbelt are more mobile in their seats and therefore more alert and capable of bringing superior skills to their driving.

Other drivers prefer the zombie couch potato feel.

To each his own. Oh, except for government trying to legislate their way into every aspect of our lives.

I can’t say that I’ve ever had a problem being mobile in my seating position while wearing a seatbelt, and I’m the sort of driver who is always moving about in my seat to clear blind spots.

At least the only person likely to suffer the consequences of your actions are you. Except for the emergency services personnel who may be called out to scrape up your earthly remains from the road, after your car spits you out via the windscreen…

wildturkeycanoe said :

I’m with HenryBG, the seatbelt can be a problem. Many times I have tried to make a check over my shoulder when changing lanes only to have the auto-lock on the seatbelt catch me half way, thus straining my neck or hurting my shoulder.
I have also had the unpleasant experience of having this same auto-lock fail in an accident. My face nicely found the steering wheel and my forehead the windscreen. Curse that invention, at least in older cars the seatbelt didn’t have the option of free-wheeling. I note here that I didn’t go hurtling through the windscreen, rather I ended up with the bottom half of my body trying to crumple into the floorpan.
There is one solution here that would in my opinion be the most sensible – 5 point racing harnesses. If it’s good enough for race drivers and good enough for toddlers, why not everybody else??

I agree as well. Volvo drivers are a prime example of people who are made to feel so safe that they ignore the realities of safe driving.

I’m all for bringing back non-safety glass, hard dashboards, etc. Then, when drivers do things wrong, they know it is going to hurt. We are making things so safe that, specially young drivers, feel that there are no consequences for bad driving.

It’s almost as though they can see little difference between video games and the real thing.

So, Henry, you have a couple of us that agree with you on this one.

Paul0075 said :

bigred said :

Still waiting for “no tailgating” month

And for driving with the fog lights turned off in clear conditions month

Exactly. We need a “No Wanker Lights” month

HenryBG said :

Watson said :

Thanks for that! I let my 7yo ride in the front sometimes on drives through the neighbourhood.

I let mine stand on the towbar clinging to the radio aerial.

Watson said :

I don’t get people who don’t wear seatbelts. I basically can’t drive without feeling the pressure of mine.

You see that “pressure”? That “pressure” represents an increased risk of crashing your car. In some circumstances it also represents increased severity of injury resulting from crashes.
Luckily these shades of grey can be ignored because we have a nanny state which liberates us from the onerous task of conducting our own personal risk assessments before deciding on wearing a seatbelt.

Evil_Kitten said :

Yep I don’t understand how people can “forget” to put on their seatbelts either. It just feels weird and wrong. I will sometimes leave mine off to stop at my letterbox and it feels so strange even for that short distance. It makes me worry about so many other aspects of their driving if the simple act of the seatbelt forgets to register in their brain!

Drivers not wearing a seatbelt are more mobile in their seats and therefore more alert and capable of bringing superior skills to their driving.

Other drivers prefer the zombie couch potato feel.

To each his own. Oh, except for government trying to legislate their way into every aspect of our lives.

Seat belts also make it difficult to reach behind the seat to grab that six pack of Bundy & Coke whilst driving…

Mordd said :

But more importantly, we’re up to comment 13 already and no-one has brought up the ‘fpcusing’ vs ‘focussing’ debate yet, is this RiotACT or did I get lost on the way somewhere…. LOL

Need to spell check myself before posting more, grrr, “focusing” sorry not “fpcusing” lol.

I’m still waiting to see a sign one day saying “Police now focusing on catching people breaking the law” or similar lol.

But more importantly, we’re up to comment 13 already and no-one has brought up the ‘fpcusing’ vs ‘focussing’ debate yet, is this RiotACT or did I get lost on the way somewhere…. LOL

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=focusing+vs+focussing

wildturkeycanoe said :

Many times I have tried to make a check over my shoulder when changing lanes …..

Obviously NOT a Canberra driver then….

This is exactly why I don’t wear a seatbelt unless I’m on the highway. It just isn’t safe to wear a seatbelt in city traffic, and the supposed benefits it provides are dubious at best.

wildturkeycanoe said :

I’m with HenryBG, the seatbelt can be a problem. Many times I have tried to make a check over my shoulder when changing lanes only to have the auto-lock on the seatbelt catch me half way, thus straining my neck or hurting my shoulder.
I have also had the unpleasant experience of having this same auto-lock fail in an accident. My face nicely found the steering wheel and my forehead the windscreen. Curse that invention, at least in older cars the seatbelt didn’t have the option of free-wheeling. I note here that I didn’t go hurtling through the windscreen, rather I ended up with the bottom half of my body trying to crumple into the floorpan.
There is one solution here that would in my opinion be the most sensible – 5 point racing harnesses. If it’s good enough for race drivers and good enough for toddlers, why not everybody else??

I can’t see you being able to turn head to check over your shoulder with a 5 point racing harness. Race drivers certainly don’t turn their heads very often.

this cannot be true because police in canberra only target speeding and never anything else and besides there arent any police cars on the road and if there were wed all stop speeding because if a policeman sees you you’ll slow down but if a camera sees you you won’t and i took my eyes off the road once to look at my speedo because a camera made me do it and i crashed into a bus full of kindergarteners and they all died

HenryBG said :

Watson said :

Thanks for that! I let my 7yo ride in the front sometimes on drives through the neighbourhood.

I let mine stand on the towbar clinging to the radio aerial.

Watson said :

I don’t get people who don’t wear seatbelts. I basically can’t drive without feeling the pressure of mine.

You see that “pressure”? That “pressure” represents an increased risk of crashing your car. In some circumstances it also represents increased severity of injury resulting from crashes.
Luckily these shades of grey can be ignored because we have a nanny state which liberates us from the onerous task of conducting our own personal risk assessments before deciding on wearing a seatbelt.

Evil_Kitten said :

Yep I don’t understand how people can “forget” to put on their seatbelts either. It just feels weird and wrong. I will sometimes leave mine off to stop at my letterbox and it feels so strange even for that short distance. It makes me worry about so many other aspects of their driving if the simple act of the seatbelt forgets to register in their brain!

Drivers not wearing a seatbelt are more mobile in their seats and therefore more alert and capable of bringing superior skills to their driving.

Other drivers prefer the zombie couch potato feel.

To each his own. Oh, except for government trying to legislate their way into every aspect of our lives.

Haha you are such a ridiculous mong.

I agree that peeps shouldn’t be forced to wear seatbelts, but ensure to not make ridiculous claims.

Evil_Kitten said :

What the hell are you on about? Are you being sarcastic or do you honestly think there should be no seatbelt laws? I’m not a fan of nanny state either but seatbelts??? They are kind of a good idea. You should pick your battles.

And true, no seatbelt makes you more mobile in your seat – when you go flying through the windscreen.

+1 Well put. I tried to respond but it was making me too angry to do anything other than insult dear Henry, so i just clicked to a new article.

I’m with HenryBG, the seatbelt can be a problem. Many times I have tried to make a check over my shoulder when changing lanes only to have the auto-lock on the seatbelt catch me half way, thus straining my neck or hurting my shoulder.
I have also had the unpleasant experience of having this same auto-lock fail in an accident. My face nicely found the steering wheel and my forehead the windscreen. Curse that invention, at least in older cars the seatbelt didn’t have the option of free-wheeling. I note here that I didn’t go hurtling through the windscreen, rather I ended up with the bottom half of my body trying to crumple into the floorpan.
There is one solution here that would in my opinion be the most sensible – 5 point racing harnesses. If it’s good enough for race drivers and good enough for toddlers, why not everybody else??

bigred said :

Still waiting for “no tailgating” month

And for driving with the fog lights turned off in clear conditions month

HenryBG said :

Watson said :

Thanks for that! I let my 7yo ride in the front sometimes on drives through the neighbourhood.

I let mine stand on the towbar clinging to the radio aerial.

Watson said :

I don’t get people who don’t wear seatbelts. I basically can’t drive without feeling the pressure of mine.

You see that “pressure”? That “pressure” represents an increased risk of crashing your car. In some circumstances it also represents increased severity of injury resulting from crashes.
Luckily these shades of grey can be ignored because we have a nanny state which liberates us from the onerous task of conducting our own personal risk assessments before deciding on wearing a seatbelt.

Evil_Kitten said :

Yep I don’t understand how people can “forget” to put on their seatbelts either. It just feels weird and wrong. I will sometimes leave mine off to stop at my letterbox and it feels so strange even for that short distance. It makes me worry about so many other aspects of their driving if the simple act of the seatbelt forgets to register in their brain!

Drivers not wearing a seatbelt are more mobile in their seats and therefore more alert and capable of bringing superior skills to their driving.

Other drivers prefer the zombie couch potato feel.

To each his own. Oh, except for government trying to legislate their way into every aspect of our lives.

I wish we could get this troll banned from here. His words are killing the brain cells of anyone who reads them.

What the hell are you on about? Are you being sarcastic or do you honestly think there should be no seatbelt laws? I’m not a fan of nanny state either but seatbelts??? They are kind of a good idea. You should pick your battles.

And true, no seatbelt makes you more mobile in your seat – when you go flying through the windscreen.

Watson said :

Thanks for that! I let my 7yo ride in the front sometimes on drives through the neighbourhood.

I let mine stand on the towbar clinging to the radio aerial.

Watson said :

I don’t get people who don’t wear seatbelts. I basically can’t drive without feeling the pressure of mine.

You see that “pressure”? That “pressure” represents an increased risk of crashing your car. In some circumstances it also represents increased severity of injury resulting from crashes.
Luckily these shades of grey can be ignored because we have a nanny state which liberates us from the onerous task of conducting our own personal risk assessments before deciding on wearing a seatbelt.

Evil_Kitten said :

Yep I don’t understand how people can “forget” to put on their seatbelts either. It just feels weird and wrong. I will sometimes leave mine off to stop at my letterbox and it feels so strange even for that short distance. It makes me worry about so many other aspects of their driving if the simple act of the seatbelt forgets to register in their brain!

Drivers not wearing a seatbelt are more mobile in their seats and therefore more alert and capable of bringing superior skills to their driving.

Other drivers prefer the zombie couch potato feel.

To each his own. Oh, except for government trying to legislate their way into every aspect of our lives.

Still waiting for “no tailgating” month

Yep I don’t understand how people can “forget” to put on their seatbelts either. It just feels weird and wrong. I will sometimes leave mine off to stop at my letterbox and it feels so strange even for that short distance. It makes me worry about so many other aspects of their driving if the simple act of the seatbelt forgets to register in their brain!

helium said :

and presumably this one too ?

“drivers who fail to ensure that children under 7 years are properly restrained in an approved child restraint are liable for a fine of $284 and 3 demerit points. Properly fitted restraints improve a child’s chance of surviving a serious crash”

If a vehicle has two or more rows of seats, then children under 4 years must not travel in the front seat.

If a vehicle has two or more rows of seats, then children aged between 4 years and under 7 years must not travel in the front seat unless all other seats are being used by children under 7 years. In this situation, a child may travel in the front seat using an approved booster seat and a properly fastened and adjusted seatbelt.

Thanks for that! I let my 7yo ride in the front sometimes on drives through the neighbourhood. Though I have been told that it is still always safer in the back and airbags are still an issue for kids that size. So on longer trips, she goes in the back.

I don’t get people who don’t wear seatbelts. I basically can’t drive without feeling the pressure of mine. It’s like going out without an essential piece of clothing.

and presumably this one too ?

“drivers who fail to ensure that children under 7 years are properly restrained in an approved child restraint are liable for a fine of $284 and 3 demerit points. Properly fitted restraints improve a child’s chance of surviving a serious crash”

If a vehicle has two or more rows of seats, then children under 4 years must not travel in the front seat.

If a vehicle has two or more rows of seats, then children aged between 4 years and under 7 years must not travel in the front seat unless all other seats are being used by children under 7 years. In this situation, a child may travel in the front seat using an approved booster seat and a properly fastened and adjusted seatbelt.