5 ms·

> If cars had a max speed limit of 85 mph, and required the seatbelt to be engaged to work Wait, wearing a seatbelt is not mandatory?

dmead 4y ago
They are, but cars will function without them being used.
- GuB-42 4y ago
  At least in Europe, there is a very annoying beep if you don't wear the seatbelt. You can still drive, and there are ways to disable it, but most people just wear their seatbelt. I don't think it is mandatory, but it counts in the EuroNCAP score, and since it is one of the easiest safety feature to implement, they all have it.
  - mantas 4y ago
    It was fun when people were sitting on engaged seatbelts to prevent the beep :)
    - rootusrootus 4y ago
      My brother in law still does exactly that.
  - VectorLock 4y ago
    My brother does this and it drives me crazy when I'm a passenger in his car, I can't fathom how he just deals with it.
  - toast0 4y ago
    The beeps in the US are not that annoying. Ding ding ding ding ding for 30?seconds at start up, again when you put it into drive, and then again when you hit a certain speed (around 7-10 mph) and/or periodically. It's not pleasant, but it's tolerable when I'm moving cars around between my house and my barn. Yeah, I probably should still buckle up, but it's not critical for sub 15 mph, private road driving for a minute or two. My first car didn't have a seatbelt reminder, and it needed a bit of time to warm up, so I got in the habit of starting it and then buckling, and 20 years of driving with seatbelt reminders hasn't trained me to switch the order.
  - 14 4y ago
    You are right there are ways to disable it easiest being a seatbelt delete that clips into the buckle and disabled the annoying beep and you can clip into that should you choose. Who would choose to not wear a seatbelt is strange to me but I also rode a motorcycle so we are dead meat anyways if something goes wrong.
  - freedomben 4y ago
    US cars are the same way. If you move faster than 5 mph (which is really slow) and aren't wearing the seat belt, the car will start with uncomfortable beeping. It eventually climaxes to a nigh unbearable screech.
jjcm 4y ago
Legally it's required, but I think their point is it should be required by hardware. Right now most new cars just beep at you, but you can still operate them.
- 0xbadcafebee 4y ago
  We never pushed for it politically because it wouldn't change anything but it would piss people off. You can simply buckle the seatbelt with nobody in the seat, then sit down, and the requirement is defeated. On the other hand, a mandatory breathalyzer for ignition would be useful to prevent a lone driver from driving drunk. We already have them for people with DUIs, so we should make them mandatory for all cars.
  - skeeter2020 4y ago
    >> We already have them for people with DUIs, so we should make them mandatory for all cars. Yes, because the idea that every single person should now start doing what historically only a reprehensible convicted drunk driver was required to do will go over so well.
  - trashtester 4y ago
    > On the other hand, a mandatory breathalyzer for ignition would be useful to prevent a lone driver from driving drunk. We already have them for people with DUIs, so we should make them mandatory for all cars. People who frequently drive under the influence tend to have a strong habit. Those would just keep driving an old car if such a device is introduced in new cars. For most other people, such a device would be seen as a very annoying. For it to have the desired impact,it needs to be fitted in all old cars, and then we're adding a significant expense on top of the annoyance. Now, MAYBE if the device can be used to reduce insurance fees, it might be doable, but only in countries without public healthcare.
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
  - officeplant 4y ago
    Had a friend dumb enough to drive drunk a few times and get multiple DUI's resulting in a breathalyzer in his hopped up WRX. I will never forget the pure frustration of him dealing with stalling out a manual car and having to grab the breathalyzer while also trying to get started again. I wish he would have had to deal with that for years instead of 6 months, but at least he cleaned up his act.
rascul 4y ago
> Wait, wearing a seatbelt is not mandatory? Not in New Hampshire. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has published this document I have found with some statistics from 2018. I'm not sure if there's newer stuff published. It might be interesting to look at. https://crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov/Api/Public/ViewPublication/812967 https://crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov/Api/Public/ViewPublication/...
jhaile 4y ago
It's mandatory but the car will still operate without it buckled. Many newer cars will beep at you if it isn't buckled, but older cars don't.

dmead 4y ago

They are, but cars will function without them being used.

GuB-42 4y ago
At least in Europe, there is a very annoying beep if you don't wear the seatbelt. You can still drive, and there are ways to disable it, but most people just wear their seatbelt. I don't think it is mandatory, but it counts in the EuroNCAP score, and since it is one of the easiest safety feature to implement, they all have it.
- mantas 4y ago
  It was fun when people were sitting on engaged seatbelts to prevent the beep :)
  - rootusrootus 4y ago
    My brother in law still does exactly that.
- VectorLock 4y ago
  My brother does this and it drives me crazy when I'm a passenger in his car, I can't fathom how he just deals with it.
- toast0 4y ago
  The beeps in the US are not that annoying. Ding ding ding ding ding for 30?seconds at start up, again when you put it into drive, and then again when you hit a certain speed (around 7-10 mph) and/or periodically. It's not pleasant, but it's tolerable when I'm moving cars around between my house and my barn. Yeah, I probably should still buckle up, but it's not critical for sub 15 mph, private road driving for a minute or two. My first car didn't have a seatbelt reminder, and it needed a bit of time to warm up, so I got in the habit of starting it and then buckling, and 20 years of driving with seatbelt reminders hasn't trained me to switch the order.
- 14 4y ago
  You are right there are ways to disable it easiest being a seatbelt delete that clips into the buckle and disabled the annoying beep and you can clip into that should you choose. Who would choose to not wear a seatbelt is strange to me but I also rode a motorcycle so we are dead meat anyways if something goes wrong.
- freedomben 4y ago
  US cars are the same way. If you move faster than 5 mph (which is really slow) and aren't wearing the seat belt, the car will start with uncomfortable beeping. It eventually climaxes to a nigh unbearable screech.

jjcm 4y ago

Legally it's required, but I think their point is it should be required by hardware. Right now most new cars just beep at you, but you can still operate them.

0xbadcafebee 4y ago
We never pushed for it politically because it wouldn't change anything but it would piss people off. You can simply buckle the seatbelt with nobody in the seat, then sit down, and the requirement is defeated. On the other hand, a mandatory breathalyzer for ignition would be useful to prevent a lone driver from driving drunk. We already have them for people with DUIs, so we should make them mandatory for all cars.
- skeeter2020 4y ago
  >> We already have them for people with DUIs, so we should make them mandatory for all cars. Yes, because the idea that every single person should now start doing what historically only a reprehensible convicted drunk driver was required to do will go over so well.
- trashtester 4y ago
  > On the other hand, a mandatory breathalyzer for ignition would be useful to prevent a lone driver from driving drunk. We already have them for people with DUIs, so we should make them mandatory for all cars. People who frequently drive under the influence tend to have a strong habit. Those would just keep driving an old car if such a device is introduced in new cars. For most other people, such a device would be seen as a very annoying. For it to have the desired impact,it needs to be fitted in all old cars, and then we're adding a significant expense on top of the annoyance. Now, MAYBE if the device can be used to reduce insurance fees, it might be doable, but only in countries without public healthcare.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- officeplant 4y ago
  Had a friend dumb enough to drive drunk a few times and get multiple DUI's resulting in a breathalyzer in his hopped up WRX. I will never forget the pure frustration of him dealing with stalling out a manual car and having to grab the breathalyzer while also trying to get started again. I wish he would have had to deal with that for years instead of 6 months, but at least he cleaned up his act.

rascul 4y ago

> Wait, wearing a seatbelt is not mandatory? Not in New Hampshire. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has published this document I have found with some statistics from 2018. I'm not sure if there's newer stuff published. It might be interesting to look at. https://crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov/Api/Public/ViewPublication/812967 https://crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov/Api/Public/ViewPublication/...

jhaile 4y ago

It's mandatory but the car will still operate without it buckled. Many newer cars will beep at you if it isn't buckled, but older cars don't.