Do you remember what year you started wearing a seat belt?

Question

I NEVER wore a seatbelt as a child or a teen. I can't recall when it was manditory to have them in automobiles. YOU?
Thank You!

Answer 1

Seat belts were in cars in the late fifties. Not all but people put them in themselves as a retro fit. My dad knew someone whom his life was saved by it so in the car in 58 we put them in. they were just a belt at the bottom not all across the shoulder. We never stopped because of this story. I never drove without one.

Answer 2

While growing up seat belts were not in cars. My very first car an American Motors Gremlin had seat belts which I intermittently used [1970]....My next car an AMC Matador also had them and they had some kind of gizzmo that wouldn't let you turn the ignition unless the belt was fastened...so like others I belted it behind me! [stupid I know]

Sometime between just before I turned that car in, in '77 and bought my next car, a Ford I began using them religiously...and have ever since.

Don't remember when they legally became mandatory. It appears it varied across the US

In the USA, seatbelt legislation is left up to state governments. Depending on which state you are in, not wearing a seatbelt is either a primary offense or a secondary offense, with the exception of New Hampshire, which does not have a law requiring people over age 18 to wear a seat belt. Primary offense meaning a police officer can pull you over for the seatbelt law violation alone, and secondary offense meaning you can only be punished for the seatbelt law violation if you're already pulled over for another reason. As of January 2007, 25 states and the District of Columbia have primary seatbelt laws, 24 have secondary seatbelt laws, and one state (New Hampshire) has no laws.

Answer 3

Last year, I started wearing a seat belt. I had gotten two prior no seat belt violations. 1st was a $25 fine, 2nd was a $50 fine. Now seat belt fines are higher, and I am not in a financial position to pay them if I were to get one.
Why, do you ask did I not wear seat belts. I used to work with a lady who had been in an auto accident and I heard the gruesome story and saw her scars and she had been wearing a seat belt. Her injuries would not have been such as she had not worn the seatbelt. Maybe it was the rebel in me, maybe just don't want someone telling me what I can do in my own car. I'm not causing harm to anyone but myself, if I don't wear it. And I figure if its my time to go, so be it. Now I wear it not because I want to, just because it would be too expensive for me not to.

Answer 4

I never wore one growing up, none of my family did. In fact, I doubt I ever even sat in a car seat as a toddler and I do remember standing up on the front seat so I could see everything. I started wearing a seatbelt in the early 90's when I started riding in cars with my teenage driver friends.

Answer 5

I began wearing a seat belt in 1966 when the car I purchased had seat belts in it. I have continued with that habit and feel strange if I don't wear one. It was not a law at that time, I still felt more safe.

I had to travel from Texas to Arkansas with someone who had no seat belts in his truck and I was totally frightened.

I am now thankful for the air bags as well but would never put a child in a seat with an air bag.

Answer 6

I remember getting 2 options if you sat in the front seat....sit forward on the seat and hold onto the dashboard (I swear) or sit all the way back, with my back against the seat....never was there an order to wear my seatbelt.

Of course I feel naked without one now and have pulled my car over on the highway once I realized my then 3-year old son had unsnapped his belt

Answer 7

1976, right after my head punched through a windshield during a car crash. I still have some lovely scars. My parents didn't belt me in either. I have another scar-on my chin-caused by hitting the dashboard when my dad stopped quickly when I was about 5 years old. Yes, I survived. I've never gone without seatbelts since 1976...

Answer 8

It was 1991--I was the safety officer at work and had to set a good example. I never wore them before and neither did my kids, and no fancy restraints either--I could slap a gorilla into the back seat if something looked like it was going to hit us. In fact once at the race track a car started to hit the rail in front of me and I threw my right arm out and dumped a beer all over the guy beside me---oops.

Answer 9

Indeed, I do. My father flew back seat in jet aircraft, where they were testing out some guided missiles. It seems that when they would shoot the missiles, the wings would flex. The planes would suffer some sort of disability and there were lots of emergency landings.

Thus, my father saw the benefit of seat belts. He bought seat belts at an aircraft supply store and installed them into our cars. This was in 1953.

Dad is gone now, but your question made me remember him as a young man...Thanks.

Answer 10

My parents (God rest them) bought a 1962 Buick convertible (in '62) and I insisted that they have seat belts installed as we lived just outside of New York City at the time.