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Safety

How often do you wear your seat belt when you drive? I was hit or miss about this until Illinois passed their seat belt laws, but now I wear mine every time I drive.

AOL took a poll on this a month or two ago, and this is how AOL users responded to "How often do you wear a seat belt when you drive?"

Always 76%
Sometimes 17%
Never 6%

That's a marked improvement. Now we just need to pursuade the rest of you to BUCKLE UP!

Comments (6)

Funny, I don't like having a law that requires me to wear a seatbelt, but I always do. ALWAYS.

I was hemming and hawing as I wrote that post. I ALMOST always put my seatbelt on. The rare times I pass on it is when I'm in the back seat of a small car in a heavy coat.

I'm not fond of the law either, but I know that most of the fatalities come from being thrown from the car. I ALWAYS wear one if I'm the driver, and I make my mother buckle up, too.

I know that motorcycle riders chafe at the helmet laws, but I think they are necessary. I'd make them wear shoes that tie on, as well!

I'd say since about 1997 I fall into the ALWAYS category once I'm in a front seat. I would say I scarcely wear one in the rear seats...but I rarely travel in the back seat anyhow as I drive myself most places.

I am an "Always" in all vehicles. My babe was shocked when we went on a school fieldtrip and the bus did not have seatbelts. We have had a seatbelt law most of their lives... they really know no other way. Occasionally we take a cab for one reason or another and I have to ask the cab driver to wait till we are buckled, they tend to take off as soon as you are in, and our rule is the vehicle does not move until all are buckled.

I am a "sometimes". It's hard to put a seatbelt on a motorcycle (and you don't want one anyway - in an accident you definitely want away from the bike if at all possible).

Of course those people that don't wear proper shoes or boots while they are on motorcycles are fools (tie-ons can be dangerous if the laces untie and get caught up in the tire though).

Bogie, thanks for the heads-up about tie-on shoes. You can tell that I don't ride a motorcycle. I have seen people with slip-on shoes, or even flip-flops, instead of safer foot gear. My ex was flipped off the back of a cycle as a kid because he was improperly shod, so I got in the habit of looking at feet.

If you don't wear a tie-on shoe, what are your options? I can see that laces could be a major problem.

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