Cited on HN 3 times, 2021–2023, never outright recommendedscore 0
Years with an HN recommendation, 2007–2026
Used as a visual example in seat belt and personal-freedom debates, showing an unbelted rear passenger becoming a projectile.
IIHS frontal crash test footage showing what happens to an unbelted rear-seat passenger. It illustrates that buckling up in the back matters for the passenger and for front occupants.
“If you're in the back seat of a car, without a seat belt, in a collision you may turn into a projectile” (HN, 2021)
If you're in the back seat of a car, without a seat belt, in a collision you may turn into a projectile which can potentially injure or even lead to the death of someone in the front seat. [this video]
Crash test footage of an unbelted rear passenger striking front occupants.
Seat Belts affect you If you're a passenger in the back of a car, and the car stops suddenly in an accident, you will be launched into the seat in front of you. Drivers have died as the result of a rear passenger crushing them. Even seat belts can affect others. Crash test footage of an unbelted rear passenger - [this video] British safety 'advert' about it - [link] (Maybe not for the squeamish..) This is why people really should wear seat belts in taxis and Ubers.
Crash test footage showing an unbelted rear passenger launched into the front seat.
It's only a violation of personal freedom in the most obtuse sense where anything that dissuades or prevents you from doing anything you want (everybody's so creative) is an infringement on your personal freedoms. There's this saying that, if all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail; as for Americans, when all you care about is personal freedom, everything looks like an infringement. Something that went largely ignored by the personal freedom crowd during the pandemic is one's right to life. The government is duty-bound to protect your right to life, or at least it should be. And so it's not much of a decision between requiring masks to enter certain spaces versus letting vast swaths of the population die. (There's a great book about this called Emergency State by Adam Wagner). Here in the UK, the zeitgeist around the seatbelt wearing is different: there's not much, if any objection to seatbelt laws. And no doubt part of that is our socialised healthcare system: you not wearing a seatbelt is a direct burden on the taxpayer. You guys in America don't have socialised healthcare, or at least nowhere near to the same extent, but the question still remains the same... you still have insurance. Are you okay with your insurance premiums paying for stupid people inflicting themselves with entirely preventable injuries from taking an ideological stance against seatbelts? Your premiums will likely go up the more this happens. I remember one rather harrowing conversation w
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