do any of you NOT wear seatbelts in the car? (or have family or friends who don't?)

[ash_schwin]

I drive my car to the gym at 5AM (1.5 miles away) to get my morning workout at which time I do wear my seatbelt. On the way back, I am guilty of not wearing my seatbelt as I am usually very sweaty and don't want to wear my seatbelt on my drive back home since there isn't ample time for it to dry out by the time I am done showering and dressed up to get to the office. I know it is a probably a lame excuse but reading some of these stories have now got me rethinking my strategy and will start wearing my seatbelt on the drive back home from the gym.

For every other time I am behind the wheel, I am 100% wearing the seatbelt and expect all my passengers to do the same.

[mjr24]

Honestly, I’m bad, I rarely wear them. Luckily my children haven’t picked up my habit. I’m trying to get better about it…..I do put it on if I’m in inclement weather.

When I was 17 or 18….which was like 1998, the Lincoln Navigator had just been released. I tried crossing a 3 lane highway. There was a car turning in the closest lane to me and I thought it was safe to cross to the median. I didn’t see the Navigator in the middle lane going 50 MPH in my little Pontiac Grand Am. I had a split second where I saw him coming but before he hit me and I leaned into the passenger side of the car. My driver door was smashed in pretty good towards the center console of the car.

My poor thinking said that if I had been wearing my seat belt that day I would have been seriously hurt because I wouldn’t have been able to lean over towards the passenger side of the car. I ended up just having a few pieces of glass stuck in my arm from the window breaking but that’s it.

It’s a stupid reason and not really based in reality since it’s obvious seat belts save way more lives. I guess by now it just makes me feel uncomfortable wearing one because I haven’t for so long. I probably need to work harder on breaking this habit.