"Walked away without a scratch, though the belts left bruises"
In my first post about the subject I said this:
<<In the instance of someone running into someone at a right angle to his travel so there is no shearing off--seatbelts are a definite plus>>
So I certainly see the benefit of a seatbelt in that particular situation that you describe. If I knew that I had one accident ahead of me in life and that this was it, and that there would be no shearing off to transfer 50 MPH of momentum into a whipping and deadly side force--vehicle side by side with object--I would never be without a seatbelt again. However, I find this scenario less probable even than having my vehicle hit by a train while I remained yet inside.
Knowing how much speed and momentum can be stripped from a car in only a second or two, and coupling that with the fact that my city driving seldom reaches 50 MPH at any time, I can say rather confidently that any city driving accident I might have will not resemble that scenario. And if someone hits me going 50 MPH, it is almost certainly not going to be from the front. Of course...it is not impossible. In any case, I would rather have a thousand city accidents than one on the highway.
I don't know the details of your accident. Obviously, we are the better for your having survived it. Those belts took a lot of force. The back of a seat will also take a lot of force--safely against the large muscles of the shoulders and back, but as I have indicated--I would rather have a seatbelt on at that particular speed if I knew the forces would continue in the line of travel, and if I knew I would not have a second to slow it down to 25.
It may be that you believe that your defense is best transacted by wearing a seatbelt. I would never ever attempt to prevent anyone from exercising the defense of their life, and the lives of their family--in the manner which seemed best to them given their own reasoned analysis and experiences. But that's just me. I, however, do not wear them... |
