What is the psychology behind this?
Often see people get into a car, start up, pull away, then struggle to get seat belt on with one hand whilst driving away, or even steering (probably) with knees whilst using two hands to tug on the belt.
I know some one will say "stupidity" but I am interested in the deeper reason.
I have even seen someone drive off whilst putting belt on one handed whilst half turning in seat to clump a kid in the back. Or, fag in left hand on steering wheel, can of drink in right hand which is tugging on belt.
Anyone else notice this?......or even do this?
|
|
I learned to drive in Australia where seatbelts were mandatory and returned to the UK before they became mandatory here. The Australian police rigidly enforced the law on belts. Many people were surprised and commented that my OH and myself always put our belts on before moving off before it was mandatory here. Pure habit that is still effective.
Edited by Old Navy on 01/05/2009 at 18:03
|
|
|
Often see people get into a car start up pull away then struggle to get seat belt on with one hand whilst driving away or even steering (probably) with knees whilst using two hands to tug on the belt.
Struggle? what struggle? I can reach over with one hand, pull and click the belt in place with one fluid movement between changing from 1st to second.
What is the psychology behind this?
None BUT I have to reverse out of my drive sometimes between two cars parked either side of my drive, while school traffic is pilling up in the road. Wearing a seatbelt doing that hinders my ability to see all around me 360 degrees.
In summary Yes I do it and for good reasons.
|
I can't claim to do it in one fluid effortless movement like AE, but it is quite easy to put your belt on while you are driving, or at the first traffic light or snarl-up. Sometimes I do it, sometimes I don't.
Quite a lot of us drove for years before seat belts were fitted, let alone compulsory, and old habits even when firmly suppressed, overruled and superseded can sometimes sneak back when you aren't looking. But the main reason is that people often think they are in a hurry. I certainly do.
|
I do this is someone is waiting for the space such as at the fuel pump.
I pride myself setting off within 6 seconds of touching the outside door handle without looking rushed.
|
Unless you are Ronnie Corbett I am not sure how having your seat belt on can stop you seeing?
|
What is the psychology behind this?
Unless you're reversing then its just lazyness...
|
i dont do it
to be honest i tried it once the belt didnt clip into the clip it flew up and nearly knocked my front teeth out
i also clunk click before every trip and have to say i prefer the old type seat belts anyway that you tied yourself into so could go much faster round bends and not fall out
|
Never understood this.
But then I mostly drive middle aged to elderly hydropneumatic citroens. Start engine; fasten belt; sort radio; sort aircon/demist; sort lights; sort mirrors, and by then the hydraulic pressure STOP light might just have gone out!
|
|
|
you tied yourself into so could go much faster round bends and not fall out
Yes bb, I'd forgotten that. In the days before seat belts we often used to fall out on any sort of bend. Thanks for reminding me.
I can't understand what made me forget actually. Perhaps it was the time I fell out of am 850cc Mini on a slow left-hander and a Sherman tank coming the other way ran over my head with its offside track. But perhaps it was some other, more dramatic occasion.
|
|
it was a tiger tank that got me guv
|
I remember static seat belts BB.
Pulled tight, they held you in your seat.
Used to great effect on a '60s Vitesse on autotests.
|
|
|
|
In the days before seat belts we often used to fall out on any sort of bend. >>
Like driving a Bedford Dormobile with the door open.
|
|
|
|
|
|
None BUT I have to reverse out of my drive sometimes between two cars parked either side of my drive while school traffic is pilling up in the road. Wearing a seatbelt doing that hinders my ability to see all around me 360 degrees.
Shouldn't one reverse IN?
MD
|
I used to know a well educated bloke who, despite this, always used to slip the seat belt over his shoulder and leave it hooked there. He met another car head on one day and (pre airbag) smashed most of his teeth out on the steering wheel.
Edited by oilrag on 02/05/2009 at 08:44
|
|
|
>> Shouldn't one reverse IN? MD
Yes. Someone killed my Dad reversing out of a drive.
Please reverse IN.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Don't think you'll ever see a police driver start a vehicle with his/her seatbelt on - their training tells them the most likely point (although very rare) at which a car will catch fire is when you turn the ignition on, and you wouldn't want any obstacles to getting the hell out of there! However no-one should ever actually move off before clunk clicking. As an aside, should you forget to fasten yours (none of us are infallible) and be pulled over, before the policeman gets to your window grab the belt with your LEFT hand and pull it across your lap only, and fasten it. Then claim "Ah, yes, officer, it LOOKS as if the seatbelt isn't fastened, that is, not across my chest. But actually it is, as you can see - it's just that I've badly sprained my right shoulder and wearing it normally hurts..." Chances are the bobby won't want to argue the point in court. And next time you won't forget!
Edited by scorpion on 13/05/2009 at 11:07
|
>>should you forget to fasten yours (none of us are infallible)
Interesting. I could no more imagine sitting in a car without a seatbelt on than I could imagine going outside without my trousers on. It is utterly ingrained.
(And I remember I used to enjoy standing up in the back of my mother's Allegro estate... how the world has changed over the last 30 years!)
|
Yes, Mapmaker. I remember well standing on the back seat of Dad's Zodiac with my head out of the sunroof! And when I was smaller and he had his Reliant Regal, I uesd to sit on his lap and steer the car with him! Then there's sitting in the passenger seat of a Herald ramming the gearstick between the ratios whilst he popped into the bookies. Thanks for jogging these memories.
Can't imagine letting my own children doing something like that now.
|
|
|
|
should you forget to fasten yours (none of us are infallible) and be pulled over, before the policeman gets to your window grab the belt with your LEFT hand and pull it across your lap only, and fasten it. Then claim "Ah, yes, officer, it LOOKS as if the seatbelt isn't fastened, that is, not across my chest. But actually it is, as you can see - it's just that I've badly sprained my right shoulder and wearing it normally hurts..." Chances are the bobby won't want to argue the point in court. And next time you won't forget!
They will give you a ticket anyway,are you going to take a day off and spend it hanging around the mags to try and get off a £30 ticket?I was delivering door to door,for the local council, along a street,moved my car across a junction,as it was less than 50 metres I did not use a seat belt.There was a copper at the junction,he pulled in and gave me a ticket,he was not interested in the exemption,kept saying I could have died if I had crashed,I must have been doing 20 mph.It was not worth the hassle of contesting it in court,which he knew.
|
|
|
|
|
Perhaps some people have been manoeuvring - you don't need to wear a seatbelt when doing this (e.g. reversing).
|
"Often see people get into a car, start up, pull away, then struggle to get seat belt on with one hand whilst driving away, or even steering (probably) with knees whilst using two hands"
I'm one of those people who upon leaving a petrol station will always be poking his hand through the spokes of the steering wheel to reset the odometer right at the moment the that the steering wheel is spinning back into it's 'straight on' position, thus necessitating heavy braking or veering across the carriageway.
|
Never, ever put your hand through the spokes of a steering wheel, particularly off-road in a 4X4!
What's with these people who invert their hand and grab the steering wheel from inside, at the top? I'd love to see them do it on a test, ;>)
|
I tend to put my seatbelt on before startng the engine.
One elderly person I used to carry as a passenger was very stubborn about using seatbelts and would sit holding the unfastened end of the belt in their lap rather than clunk-click it.
Edited by Sofa Spud on 13/05/2009 at 17:30
|
Quote:...""Never, ever put your hand through the spokes of a steering wheel, particularly off-road in a 4X4!""
I knew someone who broke their thumb when they hit a kerb in a Triumph Herald when doing a U-turn and the steering wheel fought back.
|
I've done this a couple of times recently and I suspect the reason the seatbelt comes so low down on the list of "startup rituals" is that the first few seconds of driving invariably involve manoeuvring to and fro (i.e. out of a parking space) which involves reverse gear and low speeds. With the seatbelt off it is much easier to swivel, look round, look behind properly and back again; in the old days of static belts it was nigh on impossible to do any of this with the buckle fastened unless it was very loose.
The "revolutionary" seat belt warning light in the Leyland Princess caused annoyance to the majority of drivers who did not then buckle up as we do now and was dropped by the time the wedge had transmogrified into the Ambassador. (Which also had a hideous dashboard marginally ahead of the Marina/Ital's.)
The flashing light and "News at Ten Bongs" in my Focus ANNOY ME VERY MUCH as they do not take into account reversing manoeuvres; likewise if I remove my seatbelt before switching off the ignition (Honest John's diesel engine cool-down drill!) I get BONG BONG BONG even with the handbrake on and car stationary.
|
The flashing light and "News at Ten Bongs" in my Focus ANNOY ME VERY MUCH
Isn't there something mentioned in the handbook to switch it off? Pretty sure I've seen mention of it in our Focus pool car's handbook at work. Might be wrong though and its previously been posted here.
|
|
|
|
