I completely agree with your following statement:

As long as people have the mentality that they will avert serious injury or death by simply wearing seat belts people will continue to disregard and ignore their responsibilities as drivers.

Using this as an excuse to not wear a seatbelt yourself (or to advocate the wearing of seatbelts by others) is, however, a complete logical fallacy.

To wit:

The idea that seatbelts cause accidents is so ridiculous it could only have come from an economist. That economist is Sam Peltzman, who in 1975 published a paper demonstrating that drivers did indeed drive more dangerously after mandatory seatbelt laws were passed in the US. He argued that despite technological evidence showing that seatbelts save lives in a given accident, there was no evidence that the seatbelt laws had reduced driver fatalities. In other words, drivers take advantage of seatbelts to drive more dangerously rather than to live longer. More compellingly, Peltzman detected a rise in pedestrian and cyclist fatalities when seatbelt laws were passed.

This is a classic case of moral hazard in action. To describe why, consider the two ways in which you can get into an accident:

1. You are at fault (you crash into someone or something).
2. Another driver is at fault (someone crashes into you).

In case one, where the crash is your own fault, a seatbelt brings no advantage: by wearing a seatbelt you’re probably driving more dangerously than you would without one and the net result is the same. The advantages a seatbelt confers are negated by the more dangerous driving.

In case two, however, a seatbelt offers you much more protection against the outcome of the crash. By not wearing a seatbelt in this scenario you are putting your life at risk. Regardless of your opinions of whether others should take more notice while driving, by not wearing a seatbelt yourself, you’re not lessening your risk of death and/or serious injury by doing so.

If you drive safer by not wearing a seatbelt (as you suggest), then why not drive safer while wearing a seatbelt? Not only are you protecting others by being a safer driver, you are protecting yourself against those stupid drivers who wear seatbelts.

Benjamin Koshkin

Now I will not say I have never been in an accident. I have been in three. The first was when myself and another driver backed into each other in a parking lot. The second accident a result of a punctured diesel fuel tank on a semi-truck during a rain storm causing the vehicle I was in to slide out of control into a river. Being the only one not wearing a seat belt I was the only one able to escape the vehicle after it submerged. My three friends drowned. A third accident involving a herd elk and a power pole let me watch another three friends die. After losing control and striking a power pole avoiding the herd of elk. Myself and one other person were the only ones to escaped prior to the live power lines falling on the vehicle igniting the fuel tank. The two of us were not wearing seat belts.

These people were not able to undo their belts because the crash computer triggers a mechanism in the seat belt latch that prevents it from releasing, this mechanism does not dis-engage by design. To ensure this feature does not fail another design feature is that the latch is made from steel that is harder than the piece that is inserted into it. When the two pieces are strained the softer piece is deformed preventing it from unlatching. This design is still being used today.

I have lost 37 friends and family members directly related to injuries caused by seat belts or they’re death was a result not being able to exit the vehicle. Six of those 37 have died when a rib underneath the seat belt breaks and punctures their heart. Four died when the pillar post behind their seat was struck pushing the post down and back causing the shoulder belt to crush their chest and/or break their neck. The remaining ones died in one of three ways of which were burning, drowning, or being struck by another vehicle while being trapped. On another ironic and sad note five emergency personnel were killed at different times while trying to rescue these people from their various accidents.

So again I will again re-iterate that my description of seat belts as cadaver keepers seems fairly accurate. Seat belts merely simplify the process of recovering and identifying remains of the vehicle occupants. Been there, done this, FAR, FAR, FAR, too many times.