Road Safety

Harrytherid said:
Never found a seatbelt on a bus. If they are there they must do a jolly good job of hiding them.
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In Scotland most if not all intercity buses have them. I have used them travelling from Glasgow to Inverness, Edinburgh, Perth, and Aberdeen. Many years ago I travelled from Glasgow to London and used the seatbelt provided,
 
campervanannie said:
Well this is my car from about 5/6 yrs ago when someone side swiped me sending me spinning into a lamppost I believe the seatbelt and airbag saved my life View attachment 139822View attachment 139823
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Hi Annie, glad you were belted up and are still with us after your accident.
From what you have posted I agree, you were saved by being belted up, and the airbag probably prevented further injury.

My son was probably saved by his seatbelt years ago. He was forced off the road by someone overtaking, and struck the side of a wall.
The seatbelt left him with a lot of bruising, but other than that he was ok.
I reckon he would have went through the windscreen onto the road or into a river had he not been belted up.
 
I felt very brave last year, making a tea & using the loo whilst on the Autobahn, but we were stationary for over 3 hours.

On a more serious note, I refuse to drive if anyone in my car is not wearing their seat belt. I used to get a lift to work in Slough, at least an hour each way. I started driving my own car as one guy sat in the back and never used his seat belt.
 
Sharon the Cat said:
I felt very brave last year, making a tea & using the loo whilst on the Autobahn, but we were stationary for over 3 hours.

On a more serious note, I refuse to drive if anyone in my car is not wearing their seat belt. I used to get a lift to work in Slough, at least an hour each way. I started driving my own car as one guy sat in the back and never used his seat belt.
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At 30 mph he would be the same weight as a baby elephant hitting the back of your seat 😨
 
My FiL was paranoid about getting stuck in a car with a jammed seatbelt, I once drove a 200mile round trip with him and best I could do was get him to hold the belt across himself, which would have been a waste of time in a accident.
 
My g dad hated belts & when i was young he would not let anyone use them or remove the plastic seat or door trim pretection covers from new, a car was a god to him and he traded in at about 18 mths of driving them.
Once going to Galway a car pulled out in front of us and braking hard i came from the back seat to just touch the dash with my head in our gt mk 1 cortena.
 
Sometimes end of last century there was an incident on M5 near Weston super mud , one evening a 4x4 was traveling south with boxes in the back, kid was asleep on top of the load. Somehow the back window blew out and kid landed on the tarmac.

When I was a teenager used to watch rallycross and rallying on the box, once you've watched people roll cars end over end and walk away from it seat belts are a no brainer. I guess there's an argument for carrying a Stanley knife to cut the belt and hammer for the windows if you're paranoid.
 
A campaigner has proposed making it compulsory to carry a hammer in the car following 4 lads who drowned in an overturned vehicle, I think it’s being debated in parliament.
 
ricc said:
Sometimes end of last century there was an incident on M5 near Weston super mud , one evening a 4x4 was traveling south with boxes in the back, kid was asleep on top of the load. Somehow the back window blew out and kid landed on the tarmac.

When I was a teenager used to watch rallycross and rallying on the box, once you've watched people roll cars end over end and walk away from it seat belts are a no brainer. I guess there's an argument for carrying a Stanley knife to cut the belt and hammer for the windows if you're paranoid.
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Volvo did more for car safety than any other car manufacturer, and from what I witnessed to great effect. I remember accident between a Ford Escort and a Volvo 850. The two boys in the Escort sadly died, and the old man in the Volvo walked out his car requiring only minor first aid.

They had their side impact protection system, SIPS, they were first to use pre tensioners on seat belts. They were at the forefront of airbag technology. They realised the importance of energy absorption in the crumple zone, and again were at the forefront regarding this.

But for all the worthwhile and valuable gadgetry nothing has saved more lives than the simple seatbelt headrest combination. I lost count of the amount of times I witnessed people surviving accidents where I am sure they would have perished had they not belted up, and had set their headrest set properly. Yet for years cars were supplied with only two headrests at the front and none for rear passengers.
 
Belts are fitted to coaches now. Just impractical to get the driver to try to enforce their use.
 
Fisherman said:
Volvo did more for car safety than any other car manufacturer, and from what I witnessed to great effect. I remember accident between a Ford Escort and a Volvo 850. The two boys in the Escort sadly died, and the old man in the Volvo walked out his car requiring only minor first aid.

They had their side impact protection system, SIPS, they were first to use pre tensioners on seat belts. They were at the forefront of airbag technology. They realised the importance of energy absorption in the crumple zone, and again were at the forefront regarding this.

But for all the worthwhile and valuable gadgetry nothing has saved more lives than the simple seatbelt headrest combination. I lost count of the amount of times I witnessed people surviving accidents where I am sure they would have perished had they not belted up, and had set their headrest set properly. Yet for years cars were supplied with only two headrests at the front and none for rear passengers.
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We always bought Volvo when our kids were kids and still wouldn’t buy another make of car. Thankfully never tested any of their many safety features.
 
Several years ago on the M3 a car a little way ahead of me was rear ended and spun into the central barrier. I was just far enough back to stop a safe distance away in the outside lane with my flashers on. When I got to the car the driver was in shock but it was clear the air bags had saved her from very serious injuries (or possibly worse).
 
ricc said:
Belts are fitted to coaches now. Just impractical to get the driver to try to enforce their use.
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Ten years ago we sat on a coach at Heathrow, the driver announced, "sorry I'm not moving until you are all seated and belted", soon got everyone settled down, no idea if any undid them once underway.
 
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