Seatbelts

I see that a lot of people around me don’t wear seatbelts. Here are my arguments for them.

1. A bad tempered police officer will not fine you…

… if you wear a seat belt.

2. You can get in a crash inside the city, not just outside of it; in fact, most of them are inside the city, where you don’t fasten it

More car accidents that occur in urban areas or cities than in rural areas or between cities. This is because urban areas tend to have higher traffic volume, more intersections, and more pedestrians, which increases the likelihood of accidents. Additionally, drivers in urban areas may experience more distractions and may need to navigate more complex driving environments. (This passage is ChatGPT generated, but true.)

3. Airbags

When in a serious crash, and the airbags pop out, you may get injured because of them pushing you away. At the same time, the airbag will not do what it’s supposed to do, protect you.

If you wear the seatbelt, you will stay in your spot, the airbag will do its job properly, and as a bonus: You will not be injured because of airbags.

4. Hitting other passengers

Some crashes are not physically dangerous to the driver or passengers, but can be serious even when not life-threatening. In this situation, everyone inside the vehicle is a projectile that can hit the nearby person.

In the event of a “medium seriousness” crash, if you have your seatbelt on, you won’t hurt other passengers because of your displacement in the vehicle; if they are fastened, they won’t hit you, either.

5. Risk of death

When in a crash, seatbelts reduce your risk of death by about 50%.

6. Freedom to make the best move

In the worst possible scenario, you will be most comfortable to take a least-consequence manoeuvre.

If you’re thinking whether turning the wheel, or hitting the leg breaks, or rising the hand break will hurt yourself, or your passengers, like hitting yourself, or them, off the windshield (likely: family members), you have a serious worry. Instead of thinking about the best driving thing you can do, you may be reasoning which manoeuvre will do least damage to your passengers.

So, fasten all the seatbelts, and be free to do your best in the worst moment.

7. Comfortability

I’ve been using the seatbelt, and after the initial adjustment to it, its acceptance, i now like it how it puts me in a good posture. It gives me a sense of where i am in the car (i feel the back of my seat all the time, giving me a sense of security); it keeps my spine straight, and i look like a confident person.

By always feeling the back of the seat, i have unconscious awareness (memorisation) of the position of the pedals, too. Because of this driving needs less thinking whether i need to move my foot a bit more to the side, front, or back in order to hit the break pedal.

So, having a seatbelt on makes me feel comfortable. In fact, i get stressed when not wearing a seatbelt.

8. Confidence

In a blatant expression of arrogance and stupidity, and trying to justify their own lack of confidence in themselves because of being seen with a seatbelt on in the city, some people mock me for wearing a seat belt. They don’t wear one, so they don’t like it when someone else is wearing it. They will ask why i’m doing it, scoff and/or smirk about my willingness to put it on.

Wearing a seatbelt goes straight in the face of the morons who try to mock me because i’m wearing a seatbelt, and i like it.

A special stupidity reward should be awarded to drivers who get very uncomfortable when i put on the passenger seat belt, and they think that it’s a bad omen, a call for an accident (even though they will actually be more vigilant because of it).

I feel very confident exactly because i’m wearing a seatbelt in the city. I feel special, too.

The cover photo is from here.