7 ms·

I _always_ buckle up, even in bus. I've gotten looks from taxi drives in south Europe for this, they treat it as an insult. I feel it's better to insult than be

by tyfon 11y ago

I _always_ buckle up, even in bus. I've gotten looks from taxi drives in south Europe for this, they treat it as an insult. I feel it's better to insult than be dead. Afaik since you get fined quite severely in Norway where I live (and most of Europe) if you don't wear a seat belt, the rate of use is much higher than the US. He will be missed. Hopefully it can put focus on such a simple thing to save lives.

themartorana 11y ago
Oddly, you get fined in the U.S. for not wearing a seatbelt in the car you're driving ("Click it or ticket!") but I've never heard of someone being cited for not wearing one in a cab. Is it because it's the back seat?
- po 11y ago
  At least in manhattan, the yellow-taxi cab Taxi and Limousine Commission (the TLC I mentioned above) lobbied have an exemption to that law. Same thing with baby carriers. It's illegal to have a baby in a car without a certified car seat, but it's legal in a NYC taxi to just hold them: http://www.nyc.gov/html/tlc/html/faq/faq_pass.shtml#9 http://www.nyc.gov/html/tlc/html/faq/faq_pass.shtml#9
  - ngoede 11y ago
    This seems insane. Especially the later exception.
    - rayiner 11y ago
      It's not. If you're riding in a cab, there's no way you have a baby carrier handy.
      - evan_ 11y ago
        The cab could keep one in the trunk...
        ulfw 11y ago
        They are not one-size-fits all
        rdl 11y ago
        I wonder how much extra you could charge for having a vehicle in the uber fleet with a variety of child seats, or similarly various handicapped accessories.
        phamilton 11y ago
        Answer is pretty easy to find out: http://blog.uber.com/uberfamily http://blog.uber.com/uberfamily Also: https://shuddle.us/ https://shuddle.us/
        darkmighty 11y ago
        Given that cabs last a long time (i.e. can amortize the cost) it shouldn't be too difficult to make an adjustable child seat eh?
    - anonetal 11y ago
      Why? It would be a major hassle otherwise when visiting cities like SF or NYC if you are not planning to rent a car (if you are, you might be carrying a car seat). I wouldn't be comfortable using a random carseat in the trunk, and in any case, given different age kids require different carseats, it's not really feasible.
      - robryk 11y ago
        Would you be more comfortable using none than using a "random one in the trunk"? I do not really see how a carseat can cause additional harm in an accident.
    - tomcorrigan 11y ago
      Surely its the other way around. It's reasonable to expect all adults to wear a seatbelt in a taxi but not reasonable to expect all taxis to carry child seats. It wouldn't be unusual to expect on occasion for a parent to travel with 3-3 children; should all taxis therefore carry 3 child seats? No. Should all adults travelling in taxis use a seatbelt when one is available and required when travelling in private transport? Surely yes.
      - mentat 11y ago
        When you request a taxi you can specify one with a child seat. Traveling without one is insane if you care about your children surviving a crash.
    - CamperBob2 11y ago
      You can't bubble-wrap the whole world. Please don't try.
      - mikeash 11y ago
        Making it so babies aren't dying from minor traffic accidents is not bubble wrapping the whole world.
        CamperBob2 11y ago
        Yes, it is. Read the other replies, specifically the ones pointing out that child seats are not one-size-fits-all.
        mikeash 11y ago
        I do not enjoy your implication that the only way I could possibly disagree with you is if I'm ignorant.
        CamperBob2 11y ago
        (Shrug) I don't enjoy your implication that you should be allowed to re-engineer society singlehandedly. We'll have to agree to disagree.
        mikeash 11y ago
        I'm pretty sure I implied nothing of the sort.
        deleted 11y ago
        [deleted]
        CamperBob2 11y ago
        Well, same here.
      - 11y ago
- sgustard 11y ago
  Front & rear seat belt laws vary by state; here's a summary of each state law, though it doesn't mention the taxi exemption. http://www.ghsa.org/html/stateinfo/laws/seatbelt_laws.html http://www.ghsa.org/html/stateinfo/laws/seatbelt_laws.html
- lawl 11y ago
  In Switzerland the driver has to make sure all passengers have their seatbelt on or they will also get fined. Cab drivers here won't drive if you don't put it on. Seems like a good solution to me.
  - speeder 11y ago
    Here in Brazil the law is like that too. I had a girlfriend that got fined once because of me :( (I forgot to put the seatbelt while I was in her car)
po 11y ago
Here's a fun fact: the yellow school busses most North Americans get trucked to school in usually don't have seatbelts. The reason is that they follow a different school of thought regarding safety. The basic idea is that instead of giving everyone seatbelts that unruly kids won't adjust properly and will use to whack each other's teeth out, you make really high padded seats so that in the case of an accident the passengers go flying into the seat in front of them, but its a relatively short distance and a soft, sturdy landing. The theory is called 'compartmentalization' if you're looking for a google search term. Here's one: https://canadasafetycouncil.org/child-safety/there-need-seat-belts-school-buses https://canadasafetycouncil.org/child-safety/there-need-seat...
- goodcanadian 11y ago
  The trouble with the theory is that the seats on the buses I rode on were neither particularly high nor particularly soft. On the bus I rode regularly, the back of the seat in front did not have exposed metal, but many in my town did. Frankly, the fabric covered ones were not much better as you could feel the metal bar beneath the fabric. Even as a kid, I knew I was likely to get seriously injured in the event of an accident. Thankfully, accidents are rare. Perhaps, newer buses are somewhat better, but I imagine most of the old ones are still in service.
- delinka 11y ago
  We have a local school bus that took a head-on collision at speed (bus traveling 45mph, oncoming pickup at 60mph) and treated the occupants very well. The bus was full of high schoolers, the pickup was driven by another high schooler. The bus driver took a break near the ankle and none of the students sustained anything more than bumps and bruises. Now, a lot comes into play here - the bus outweighs the pickup by several times, so it has the momentum to absorb the oncoming momentum and keep moving. But it's certainly not like hitting a flying bug. All that energy from the truck headed the opposite direction has to go somewhere, and it slows the bus dramatically in an instant. And these are high schoolers - no matter how many times the driver reminds them to sit down, sit correctly, they just won't. And even after all that, with no one besides the driver in a seatbelt, the students were all OK. (To satisfy curiosity: the driver of the pickup took serious injuries of which none were life-threatening; he spent two days in the hospital. He'd gotten impatient driving behind a tractor/trailer and decided to pass immediately after a curve without checking the lane first. This was a two-lane state "highway" and he was indeed in a zone that allowed passing.) Then there's the Really Bad Accidents where the bus ends up on its side or upside down. Seatbelts are designed the hold under stress-- the button becomes near-impossible to operate and release. Smaller children will require the assistance of an adult. And there's ONE on the bus. With 50 kids. They make a safe belt cutter that a driver can carry, but now the driver has to visit every seat with multiple belts, cutting kids free, supporting them so they don't fall. This is not a scenario I'd care to have enter reality.
D-Coder 11y ago
"They treat it as an insult" — also some US drivers. I just say "Oh, I trust _your_ driving, it's the drunks and crazies out there that I don't trust."
- hudell 11y ago
  I've heard of people treating that as an insult, but I've had the opposite experience: I've had taxy drivers asking me to use the seatbelt when I forgot to.
perakojotgenije 11y ago
Since you've mentioned south Europe, here in Serbia since a few years ago the fines for not using a seatbelt are so high that taxi drivers often ask you to buckle up if you don't do it yourself and they never give you strange look for using it. At least one good thing here.
- ild 11y ago
  Serbia is Eastern Europe; you do not want to deal with cops in Eastern Europe.
BlackDeath3 11y ago
>they treat it as an insult I treat that as an insult. As if their ego is more important than me not being launched through a fucking windshield.
davidp 11y ago
> I've gotten looks from taxi drives in south Europe for this, they treat it as an insult. I feel it's better to insult than be dead. It's easier than that -- just tell the driver you're not worried about him or her, but about the other drivers on the road.

by tyfon 11y ago

themartorana 11y ago

Oddly, you get fined in the U.S. for not wearing a seatbelt in the car you're driving ("Click it or ticket!") but I've never heard of someone being cited for not wearing one in a cab. Is it because it's the back seat?

po 11y ago
At least in manhattan, the yellow-taxi cab Taxi and Limousine Commission (the TLC I mentioned above) lobbied have an exemption to that law. Same thing with baby carriers. It's illegal to have a baby in a car without a certified car seat, but it's legal in a NYC taxi to just hold them: http://www.nyc.gov/html/tlc/html/faq/faq_pass.shtml#9 http://www.nyc.gov/html/tlc/html/faq/faq_pass.shtml#9
- ngoede 11y ago
  This seems insane. Especially the later exception.
  - rayiner 11y ago
    It's not. If you're riding in a cab, there's no way you have a baby carrier handy.
    - evan_ 11y ago
      The cab could keep one in the trunk...
      - ulfw 11y ago
        They are not one-size-fits all
        rdl 11y ago
        I wonder how much extra you could charge for having a vehicle in the uber fleet with a variety of child seats, or similarly various handicapped accessories.
        phamilton 11y ago
        Answer is pretty easy to find out: http://blog.uber.com/uberfamily http://blog.uber.com/uberfamily Also: https://shuddle.us/ https://shuddle.us/
        darkmighty 11y ago
        Given that cabs last a long time (i.e. can amortize the cost) it shouldn't be too difficult to make an adjustable child seat eh?
  - anonetal 11y ago
    Why? It would be a major hassle otherwise when visiting cities like SF or NYC if you are not planning to rent a car (if you are, you might be carrying a car seat). I wouldn't be comfortable using a random carseat in the trunk, and in any case, given different age kids require different carseats, it's not really feasible.
    - robryk 11y ago
      Would you be more comfortable using none than using a "random one in the trunk"? I do not really see how a carseat can cause additional harm in an accident.
  - tomcorrigan 11y ago
    Surely its the other way around. It's reasonable to expect all adults to wear a seatbelt in a taxi but not reasonable to expect all taxis to carry child seats. It wouldn't be unusual to expect on occasion for a parent to travel with 3-3 children; should all taxis therefore carry 3 child seats? No. Should all adults travelling in taxis use a seatbelt when one is available and required when travelling in private transport? Surely yes.
    - mentat 11y ago
      When you request a taxi you can specify one with a child seat. Traveling without one is insane if you care about your children surviving a crash.
  - CamperBob2 11y ago
    You can't bubble-wrap the whole world. Please don't try.
    - mikeash 11y ago
      Making it so babies aren't dying from minor traffic accidents is not bubble wrapping the whole world.
      - CamperBob2 11y ago
        Yes, it is. Read the other replies, specifically the ones pointing out that child seats are not one-size-fits-all.
        mikeash 11y ago
        I do not enjoy your implication that the only way I could possibly disagree with you is if I'm ignorant.
        CamperBob2 11y ago
        (Shrug) I don't enjoy your implication that you should be allowed to re-engineer society singlehandedly. We'll have to agree to disagree.
        mikeash 11y ago
        I'm pretty sure I implied nothing of the sort.
        deleted 11y ago
        [deleted]
        CamperBob2 11y ago
        Well, same here.
    - 11y ago
sgustard 11y ago
Front & rear seat belt laws vary by state; here's a summary of each state law, though it doesn't mention the taxi exemption. http://www.ghsa.org/html/stateinfo/laws/seatbelt_laws.html http://www.ghsa.org/html/stateinfo/laws/seatbelt_laws.html
lawl 11y ago
In Switzerland the driver has to make sure all passengers have their seatbelt on or they will also get fined. Cab drivers here won't drive if you don't put it on. Seems like a good solution to me.
- speeder 11y ago
  Here in Brazil the law is like that too. I had a girlfriend that got fined once because of me :( (I forgot to put the seatbelt while I was in her car)

po 11y ago

Here's a fun fact: the yellow school busses most North Americans get trucked to school in usually don't have seatbelts. The reason is that they follow a different school of thought regarding safety. The basic idea is that instead of giving everyone seatbelts that unruly kids won't adjust properly and will use to whack each other's teeth out, you make really high padded seats so that in the case of an accident the passengers go flying into the seat in front of them, but its a relatively short distance and a soft, sturdy landing. The theory is called 'compartmentalization' if you're looking for a google search term. Here's one: https://canadasafetycouncil.org/child-safety/there-need-seat-belts-school-buses https://canadasafetycouncil.org/child-safety/there-need-seat...

goodcanadian 11y ago
The trouble with the theory is that the seats on the buses I rode on were neither particularly high nor particularly soft. On the bus I rode regularly, the back of the seat in front did not have exposed metal, but many in my town did. Frankly, the fabric covered ones were not much better as you could feel the metal bar beneath the fabric. Even as a kid, I knew I was likely to get seriously injured in the event of an accident. Thankfully, accidents are rare. Perhaps, newer buses are somewhat better, but I imagine most of the old ones are still in service.
delinka 11y ago
We have a local school bus that took a head-on collision at speed (bus traveling 45mph, oncoming pickup at 60mph) and treated the occupants very well. The bus was full of high schoolers, the pickup was driven by another high schooler. The bus driver took a break near the ankle and none of the students sustained anything more than bumps and bruises. Now, a lot comes into play here - the bus outweighs the pickup by several times, so it has the momentum to absorb the oncoming momentum and keep moving. But it's certainly not like hitting a flying bug. All that energy from the truck headed the opposite direction has to go somewhere, and it slows the bus dramatically in an instant. And these are high schoolers - no matter how many times the driver reminds them to sit down, sit correctly, they just won't. And even after all that, with no one besides the driver in a seatbelt, the students were all OK. (To satisfy curiosity: the driver of the pickup took serious injuries of which none were life-threatening; he spent two days in the hospital. He'd gotten impatient driving behind a tractor/trailer and decided to pass immediately after a curve without checking the lane first. This was a two-lane state "highway" and he was indeed in a zone that allowed passing.) Then there's the Really Bad Accidents where the bus ends up on its side or upside down. Seatbelts are designed the hold under stress-- the button becomes near-impossible to operate and release. Smaller children will require the assistance of an adult. And there's ONE on the bus. With 50 kids. They make a safe belt cutter that a driver can carry, but now the driver has to visit every seat with multiple belts, cutting kids free, supporting them so they don't fall. This is not a scenario I'd care to have enter reality.

D-Coder 11y ago

"They treat it as an insult" — also some US drivers. I just say "Oh, I trust _your_ driving, it's the drunks and crazies out there that I don't trust."

hudell 11y ago
I've heard of people treating that as an insult, but I've had the opposite experience: I've had taxy drivers asking me to use the seatbelt when I forgot to.

perakojotgenije 11y ago

Since you've mentioned south Europe, here in Serbia since a few years ago the fines for not using a seatbelt are so high that taxi drivers often ask you to buckle up if you don't do it yourself and they never give you strange look for using it. At least one good thing here.

ild 11y ago
Serbia is Eastern Europe; you do not want to deal with cops in Eastern Europe.

BlackDeath3 11y ago

>they treat it as an insult I treat that as an insult. As if their ego is more important than me not being launched through a fucking windshield.

davidp 11y ago

> I've gotten looks from taxi drives in south Europe for this, they treat it as an insult. I feel it's better to insult than be dead. It's easier than that -- just tell the driver you're not worried about him or her, but about the other drivers on the road.