Before there was seatbelt laws...
- Thread starter 1978 NYB
- Start date
commando1
Old Man with a Hat
And we all survived quite nicely thank you very much.
We are now firmly entrenched in a society that promotes the woosification of all the youth.
We are now firmly entrenched in a society that promotes the woosification of all the youth.
I can remember sitting in the front seat between my parents and sitting in the rear facing 3rd row seat, and that occurred within seconds of each other.
ambassador
Active Member
Those were the days.... Layin down in the way back of uncle bobs 71 custom suburban... 6 pass me my brother cousins Robby and Kelly.. Yup... Who knew ? Lol
I was riding in the back seat of my Mom and Dad's 57 Windsor one night. It was late and I was laid out sleeping on the back seat.
My Dad went around a corner and there was car in our lane coming at us. My Dad was a hell of a driver.... He put the car onto the shoulder and pounded the brakes hard. Most anyone else driving... we would have crashed.... I slid off the seat and hit the back of the front seat really hard... then fell down on the floor and across the floor hump. That hurt.
I still remember that.... and I remember my Dad getting the car stopped and then checking on me. I was 7 or 8 and old enough to understand what had just happened. My Dad said "I knew it was going to be a rough ride for you" and then explained what happened. My Mom was quite shaken.
So... seatbelts... Yea, I lived through the time. My oldest son was in the back of a Buick Skylark that I had owned for a total of 2 days. My now ex wife crashed into a corn field... somehow... I think she fell asleep... and did a "Dukes of Hazard" style jump off the road. She got hurt a little (I got a good story about that too LOL) and he was in the newly required child seat. He didn't get a scratch. The Buick... well.. that got wadded up pretty good.
My Dad went around a corner and there was car in our lane coming at us. My Dad was a hell of a driver.... He put the car onto the shoulder and pounded the brakes hard. Most anyone else driving... we would have crashed.... I slid off the seat and hit the back of the front seat really hard... then fell down on the floor and across the floor hump. That hurt.
I still remember that.... and I remember my Dad getting the car stopped and then checking on me. I was 7 or 8 and old enough to understand what had just happened. My Dad said "I knew it was going to be a rough ride for you" and then explained what happened. My Mom was quite shaken.
So... seatbelts... Yea, I lived through the time. My oldest son was in the back of a Buick Skylark that I had owned for a total of 2 days. My now ex wife crashed into a corn field... somehow... I think she fell asleep... and did a "Dukes of Hazard" style jump off the road. She got hurt a little (I got a good story about that too LOL) and he was in the newly required child seat. He didn't get a scratch. The Buick... well.. that got wadded up pretty good.
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My brother used to stand on the back bumper of the 9 passenger wagon with one hand hanging on and the other tossing newspapers on his route with my mom behind the wheel.
300Nutter
Senior Member
I want to know where the OP got that picture of our family wagon?
oh wait, ours was white. Must have been one of the neighbors.
oh wait, ours was white. Must have been one of the neighbors.
patrick66
Old Man with a Hat
First time I EVER wore seat belts was the first time I went drag racing at a track. Fortunately, that very same day on the way home from the track, and happened to use the belts on the highway for the first time. I rear-ended a '79 F250 4x4. Saved my *** from flying through the windshield and impacting the tailgate of that Ford.
But yeah, I've got a boatload of miles as a kid, riding unbuckled in cars, riding in the back of pickups, and riding in Dad's overhead camper, looking out a big glass window.
But yeah, I've got a boatload of miles as a kid, riding unbuckled in cars, riding in the back of pickups, and riding in Dad's overhead camper, looking out a big glass window.
tbm3fan
Old Man with a Hat
Oh, I remember all those times rolling around in the back of the station wagon. Then I got my license and no sooner than two months after that I had my first and only head on collision with me at 35mph. My chest hit the shoulder belt so fast that my glasses flew off and smashed against the front windshield, If there had been no belts my glasses would have hit the windshield while still on my face.
The first time I wore a seatbelt was in Germany in 1977....
Gosh, I remember during the summer going to Puyallup to pick strawberries. someone had a 3 row stationwagon and we had that sucker crammed with several families and some extra kids. Not saying it was the safest thing to do but I still remember that wagon filled to the gills, as it were.
Glenn
Glenn
300rag
It's Not Going to Shift Itself
I started wearing them well before they were mandated. Any time there was "spirited" driving involved, my passenger had to buckle up too. I guess the rallying, slaloming, and hill climbs had something to do with that. Track marshalling at Mosport also gave insight into the benefit of seatbelts, especially a proper harness.
300Nutter
Senior Member
When I was in Driver's Ed...they were mandatory. Not by law, but by Miss (whatever her name was), who was the driver's ed teacher. If you didn't put the belts on, you weren't getting the keys.
And it was an early 70s Plymouth Satellite we were driving around in. 318, 4 doors, 727 torqueflight. Woohoo!
So, that shows I am a comparative youngster round here.
However, shoulder belts were still "optional" back then. I don't remember ever wearing them, even in Driver's Ed.
And the three-point type...um....weren't ubiquitous yet.
I guess they existed...but can't remember....but seat belts were!
So, after I got my full license I started wearing them, I guess out of habit. Eventually they became mandatory. My kids grew up with them on all the time.
Times change!
And it was an early 70s Plymouth Satellite we were driving around in. 318, 4 doors, 727 torqueflight. Woohoo!
So, that shows I am a comparative youngster round here.
However, shoulder belts were still "optional" back then. I don't remember ever wearing them, even in Driver's Ed.
And the three-point type...um....weren't ubiquitous yet.
I guess they existed...but can't remember....but seat belts were!
So, after I got my full license I started wearing them, I guess out of habit. Eventually they became mandatory. My kids grew up with them on all the time.
Times change!
commando1
Old Man with a Hat
As soon as I first rolled over the Florida line after retirement was the first time for me..
Haven't had if off since.
Haven't had if off since.
78Brougham
"Chump"
What I don't like it's being forced to do something. By the stories told here, it was always a good idea to wear seat belts. But to FORCE people is another story. For the cops to pull someone over because they don't have a seat belt on is just wrong to me, and another way for townships or what have you to justify their wages thru court fees etc. Just ticks me off!
tbm3fan
Old Man with a Hat
When I was in Driver's Ed...they were mandatory. Not by law, but by Miss (whatever her name was), who was the driver's ed teacher. If you didn't put the belts on, you weren't getting the keys.
And it was an early 70s Plymouth Satellite we were driving around in. 318, 4 doors, 727 torqueflight. Woohoo!
So, that shows I am a comparative youngster round here.
However, shoulder belts were still "optional" back then. I don't remember ever wearing them, even in Driver's Ed.
And the three-point type...um....weren't ubiquitous yet.
I guess they existed...but can't remember....but seat belts were!
So, after I got my full license I started wearing them, I guess out of habit. Eventually they became mandatory. My kids grew up with them on all the time.
Times change!
LOL, I did my training in a 1968 Dodge Dart sedan with the 225 slant six. Everyone wore a seat belt, the instructor and the three student drivers in the car.
tbm3fan
Old Man with a Hat
Yeah, but look at it this way. Lots of horrific injuries are avoided. Injuries that would make the cost of health insurance skyrocket even more since the costs are spread out over society. Either that or every driver pay high premiums since there would be no way to know who would get it. I'm pretty sure many would want to mandate some sense into people regarding the one disease that costs the most to treat every year and will only get worse in costs.
KcImperial
Active Member
Yeah, but then why aren't motorcycles illegal? I had a motorcycle cop try to lecture me about how I have to wear my seat belt to be SAFE! I asked if it was safer if I just rode on top of my vehicle like he did? That cop had absolutely no sense of humor!
When I was a kid, there wasn't a law for seat belts. My family had the typical Brady wagon and we never used them. Around the time I got my license is when the federal law passed but all my cars were exempt (too old for seat belts). At the current time, I have 11 cars and am only required to have seat belts in one of them. It is fun to watch the younger/teenage crowd when they get into one of my '58 Imperials and awkwardly fumble around trying to find the seat belts then that look of shock and horror comes across their face when the car starts moving and they aren't buckled in.
I started wearing my seatbelt full time when the law changed that they could pull you over for not wearing it. Before that they had to pull you over for something else to be able to fine you if you weren't wearing it. The only time since the law changed, that I didn't wear it, (i completely spaced it and forgot to put it on after a gas station stop) I got pulled over and me and my passenger got fined. Heard the lecture about the cops friend who died not wearing one, blah blah blah and $110 fine. Pissed me off, and made me late for work. And I didn't get to ticket him for tailgating me for over a mile.
patrick66
Old Man with a Hat
I had some dumbass donut-consuming cop try to tell me that I had to have shoulder belts in my '66 Coronet once. I showed him the interior and told him "You tell me where they are supposed to go and I'll put them in!"...Of course, he couldn't, to which I quoted him the particular FVMSS that applies to belts, he just gave me an "F-you" look, gave me back my license and sulked away.
Same with AF base cops. Had one try to tell me I needed belts in a '59 F100 I was driving. Nope, the truck never had them. Ever.
Same with AF base cops. Had one try to tell me I needed belts in a '59 F100 I was driving. Nope, the truck never had them. Ever.
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