Safe Speed Forums

Mole I do believe Sixxy is a she (please correct if wrong).

I don't like seatbelts in modern cars I find that the tensioners are a bit much and uncomfortable on a long drive I use a 'klunk clip' to stop it getting too tight. Given that a modern car has a pretensioner, why do they need to be so tight?

In comparison my first car (Vauxhall Nova) had a belt that was snug but not too tight and even without a pretensioner did the job.

Handy the 5 point is there to stop you 'submarining' under the harness and is the same harness as parachute jumping, if the strap isn't quite right it can be sore but you'll live to regret it, the parachute training rig at Abingdon isn't known as the 'Knacker Cracker' for nought

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Gordon Brown saying I got the country into it's current economic mess so I'll get us out of it is the same as Bomber Harris nipping over to Dresden and offering to repair a few windows.

Chaos, panic and disorder - my work here is done.

http://www.wildcrafts.co.uk

Quite right, definately a she (at least last time I checked...)

Mole my research was limited somewhat as it was a bachelors degree rather than a masters so I was restricted to only looking at belts with solid anchors. However, I also found that belts fitted with pyrotechnic pretensioners (pioneered by Volvo or Saab, I can't quite remember) actually causes more severe injuries than their sprung-tensioned cousins. Yes belts with peak load limiters or peal-away anchor points do reduce injury severity quite markedly, but lets face it not everyone drives a car new enough to be fitted with these.

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Science won over religion when they started installing lightning rods on churches.

That's odd! If anything, my feeling is that the newer cars are less of a drag on the shoulder than older ones! Are you very tall by any chance? Often, the "tension" in the retractor that the wearer feels on the shoulder is actually a problem with the upper anchorage not being high enough. Old Hillman Imps and newer TVRs are like this- the car's waistline just isn't high enough to give a comfortable upper anchorage. The other problem (often on 2-door cars) is with it being a bit too far back (same problem). Most newer cars have an adjustable upper anchorage and on my current car I can adjust it so that it barely touches my shoulder! The retractors have springs in them to store the excess webbing when the belt is taken off and manufacturers try to get these as weak as possible whilst still being able to reliably drag the webbing through all it's various guides and past the trim when it is let go. They also want the belt to be as tight as possible so that you start to decelerate ASAP so that you don't travel too far "unrestrained" before the belt starts to "catch" you. (shock loads into collar bones etc).

Sorry Sixxy! ma'am!

All fair comments but I feel, quite passionately, that people shouldn't be discouraged in any way from wearing them. Sooner or later, I guess most cars on the road will have the newer technologies! The stuff that's being researched at present is so smart-arsed, it's scary! Little transducers in the seat that send out a beam of (I don't know what - ultrasound, I think) to establish whether the occupant is a 20 stone rugby prop or a little old lady with brittle bones. It (the car) then recalculates the amount of charge to deploy in the airbag and how much force the belt can exert before it starts to yield! There's no doubt that hwat you are sying is true but I think the "control" group's (unbelted occupants in cars of similar age / design / impact severity) injuries would need to be investigated too.

personally speaking, I'm mightily thankful for seatbelts.
I was a passenger in the last accident i was involved in and if it wasn't for the seatbelt I'd have gone through the windscreen head first and suffered rather more than minor whiplash.

I think (like most things) it's always going to be a case of six of one & half a dozen of the other Botach.

If you were about to drive head on in to an oncoming vehicle or a brick wall, then I have no doubt a seat belt would be a good thing.
By the same token, if you are about to run under the back of an artic carrying scaffold poles, then a seat belt is the last thing you need pinning you back as you try to dive down on ther floor in an attempt to get yourself lower than the dashboard.

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What makes you think I'm drunk officer, have I got a fat bird with me?

I think I may have been misunderstood - I wasn't advocating not using seatbelts, I was just sharing my research with you. I think at the end of the day the best approach is just not to hit anything!

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Science won over religion when they started installing lightning rods on churches.

I always wear a seat belt, all the time. It just feels weird not wearing one, but why it should be compulsory is beyond me. Why should the choice be taken away from the individual? I mean, I think we're circumventing Darwin's theory of evolution here. If we make everything safe enough for the dumbest people out there then it stands to reason they're gonna be able to reproduce, and so we get yet more stupid people. Let 'em kill themselves, survival of the fittest.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe they have seat belts fitted and the rider must wear the belt! So, you get knocked off by a dopy car driver and you drag along the floor attached to the bike... Hmmmm.

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Pecunia Prius Equitas et Salus

They do indeed use a crossbelt system

It is still officially a motorcycle, and there is no legislation in force that says you have to wear a seatbelt on a motorcycle (and there probably never will be)


If you are wearing the belts, then you cannot get dragged along the floor because you won't be able to fall outside the constraints of the safety cage.
BMW are trying to get current legislation regarding the helmet law changed for this particular vehicle. BMW's argument is that the cage is so strong that the rider does not need a crash helmet in the event of an impact (providing the rider is wearing the seatbelts of course).

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What makes you think I'm drunk officer, have I got a fat bird with me?

Humm... compulsory seat belt + compulsory helmet = compulsory neck injury!

Shouldn't they also have to wear a Hans device like all participants in motor sport these days too?

In the case of those stupid BMW things I'd vote for compulsory Lobotomy.

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Science won over religion when they started installing lightning rods on churches.

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Q. Are you a stupid fascist with limited reading skills or are you just a retard?

But the sides of your body will be dragged along the road as the cage isn't all-surrounding, like a car!

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Pecunia Prius Equitas et Salus

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Pecunia Prius Equitas et Salus

Sorry BB, I should have stated that my comments above were simply copied from a review site that I found about the thing.

Like most here, I wouldn't be seen dead on one so any possible seat belt issue is of no concern to me.

Riding anything that even remotely resembles one of those things is akin to shagging a fat bird.
You might give it a go if you are pissed out of you're head, but it's not something you'd ever want your mates to know about.

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What makes you think I'm drunk officer, have I got a fat bird with me?

Ah, I see - and don't get me wrong - I too,would never, ever be seen on one of those!

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Pecunia Prius Equitas et Salus

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Q. Are you a stupid fascist with limited reading skills or are you just a retard?

Then there are trikes. No seat belt, no helmet...now theres a thought!

I have also seen road legal quads being ridden helmet free. What strange laws we have in this country

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Speed camera policy Kills

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Q. Are you a stupid fascist with limited reading skills or are you just a retard?