How many of you are parents, grandparents or a guardian?? As a parent, how many of you buckle up your child and tell them they have to wear a seatbelt?
I know I do….I think most of the people with children that I know do.
Now here I go…this is what really pisses me off the most. Why do people preach and preach and preach to their own children to wear a seatbelt…..ONLY to NOT wear one themselves????
WHY???????????
This is how I feel. We are trying to teach our kids to wear this to save their lives. So if we were to get into an accident the chances of a child living over a parent who does not wear a seatbelt is a lot greater. So instead of just buckling up and showing your child you are trying to do as you teach them to do, you would sooner die and possibly leave your child with no parents?
Again I ask, WHY do people do this???
Us Girls..Our Views 
The best for me is when I saw a kid sitting on the dashboard I was like um hello? One quick stop and kid is on pavement… real intelligent must say
I don’t know. I got in the habit when I started driving, so I’ve never had to really think about it. I remember when we were kids and nobody wore them. When there was a big push, my mom refused to wear hers because it “rumpled her clothes.” Even today, she usually doesn’t want to wear it, though she will if asked. She had a turning point when my sister was driving her somewhere and was getting pulled over by the cops. “Mom, put on your seat belt!” “OK, . . . where is it? Oh here it is . . . how do I put it on?” Like the cop isn’t noticing all this reaching and pulling . . . . But, Mom has never been one to push others to buckle up either. I guess since “nobody” wore them during most of her traveling days, it seems like overkill to her now.
I also think people from the older generations believe that adults aren’t that vulnerable in a car crash. Like, the kids could go flying without warning, but the adults would see it coming and do something smart so as to avoid injury. I think there might also be a fear of being unable to get out of a seatbelt if, for example, the car went into a ditch full of water. I don’t know how logical that fear is nowadays, but maybe it was a realistic fear with older seat belt models.
I do have a friend who saved herself by getting down on the floor when she saw a head-on collision coming. Everyone else in the car was killed (broken necks), and she was told that her action was what saved her. She had a 5-year-old boy who would have been an orphan if she were wearing her seatbelt. So, it’s not totally off the wall to think that wearing a seatbelt isn’t always safer.
There are lots of things where we do the whole “do as I say, not as I do” thing. OK, here’s a controversial one – smoking. I had a friend who was a smoker, and she used to babysit for her pre-teen niece. Well, she caught her niece smoking and made her eat a cigarette, to convince her that smoking was a terrible idea. (The kid’s mom was a smoker too – and in those days, people didn’t step outside to smoke; they blew it right in the kids’ faces.) This is just one example of the smoking adults I’ve known physically punishing and threatening their kids for smoking. I’m not sure what message the kids are getting. My granny used to smoke when I was a kid, and every time I brought up the health hazards, she’d just say “I don’t smoke, the cigarette does.” I figured my granny wasn’t long for this world.
I don’t get it either. I really don’t. *shrug*
My mom and grandma did this. They grew up not wearing one, so stayed with the habit. I do wear mine though and so does my brother. I probably didn’t as much as a teen though. Kids aren’t very good at listening, but they sure imitate well.
Oh, I know – it’s so infuriating when people do that. It’s like- hey, don’t rob banks honey, it’s wrong. Now could you hold the lock pick for mommy please?
I see way way way too many parents not buckling their kids in at all even when they’re tiny toddlers and jumping around on the back seats! And then they have a stupid “baby-on-board” sign hung in the back window… Oh yeah, so you let your kids bounce around wildly in your back seat but you expect everyone else to be careful of the precious bundles you’re NOT DOING A THING TO PROTECT? Urgh, makes me mad >.<.
I was in a car accident when I was 19 – it eventually led to me getting out of the Navy. Here’s the story: I was T-boned by a man in an intersection, he ran a stop sign. He was fleeing from the cops, and half his windshield was covered in duct-tape. There were 3 kids in the backseat, and not a single occupant of that car was wearing seatbelts. The three of us in my car were all belted up. We got pretty banged up, but the driver of the other car moreso (I don’t know about the children).
I always, always wear my seltbelt, and so do my kids. However, this is how I feel: if you don’t want to strap your kids in, or yourself in, fine. Should be your choice. If you’re in an accident, and your baby goes flying out the window because you felt that seatbelts weren’t needed, you get to live with that. Same with helmets.
I no longer wear high heels while driving, though (my shoes got tangled in my pedals, I owned a stick-shift).
I used to have this same argument with Jason, he very rarely wears his seat belt. Bailey is adamant about wearing his and used to tell Jason all the time to put his on. We both realized he won’t and we can’t make him. I don’t get it either!!! But it does drive me nuts!
For the same reason parents tell their children not to smoke… while they are sucking down one of those fire safe fags. 🙂
It’s the ole “Do as I say because you are a little person. When you get grown up you can screw up your life any way you want. In the mean time, I’m going to do it” arguement. lol
Hey, give me a break!! Lisa wrote this one!!
I do buckle up and so does Paul. When it became a law our boys were pretty young. Even though they both came home from the hospital with NO car seat. People just didn’t use them back then. Now it wouldn’t even be a consideration not to use one. When it became a law we just decided to use them to avoid the “why don’t you have to”? Now it’s just our second nature to put it on. I don’t even think about it nor where I’m going. If I turn it on, I buckle up.
I have always used a seat belt even when it wasn’t a law. When I started driving I would not turn the car on unless all of my friends were buckled up. I told them “My car, my rules! If you don’t like ’em walk!”
I don’t know why people do this, but it’s really dumb if they preach up a storm and don’t follow. I wear my seatbelt, my kids wear their seatbelts and anyone else in my car should be wearing it too.
This reminds me of something my dad does. He is 67 years old and has been driving since before Santa was born. He never developed the habit of using his turn signals. Every time he is going to turn, he consciously decides whether or not to use them. If there’s anyone around, he does. If there’s nobody to signal to, he doesn’t.
Do you know anyone else on this planet who doesn’t just automatically use the turn signals without thinking, regardless of who’s around??
**Earlier comments made by me that have similarities to persons reading or posting in this blog are strictly coincidental and not intended as factual. 🙂
Howzat? 😉
Me. If there is no one else around, I do not use my signals. Also, if I’m in a marked turn lane, I don’t always do it either. I’ll signal to get into the lane, but I won’t sit at the light with the thing blinking.
SKL, my Mom does that!! It drives me nuts. To me it’s a simple habit…a good one to have. You never now when a cop is hiding behind that bush or something…that’d be my luck. Even more my luck it’d be the same cop that always pulls me over. Hmm maybe he has a crush…except then I wouldn’t get the ticket huh? Darn redheaded meanie! Sorry he makes me mad!