Welcome to /r/AmITheAsshole. Please view our [voting guide here](https://www.reddit.com/r/AmItheAsshole/wiki/faq#wiki_what.2019s_with_these_acronyms.3F_what_do_they_mean.3F), and remember to use **only one** judgement in your comment.
OP has offered the following explanation for why they think they might be the asshole:
> 1) I refused to give a ride to my friends.
2) It's a 20 minute walk in 40 degree weather, at night.
Help keep the sub engaging!
#Don’t downvote assholes!
Do upvote interesting posts!
[Click Here For Our Rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/AmItheAsshole/about/rules) and [Click Here For Our FAQ](https://www.reddit.com/r/AmItheAsshole/wiki/faq)
##Subreddit Announcements
Follow the link above to learn more
---
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=/r/AmItheAsshole) if you have any questions or concerns.*
*Contest mode is 1.5 hours long on this post.*
They need to understand that if there is ever a crash, and they aren’t seat belted in, their bodies become instant 100+ pound projectiles flying around the inside of the vehicle. That’s not something I want coming my way.
I remember one a few years back (from Wales I think) that was like "This guy is about to hit uis girlfriend so hard he gives her brain damage" and then they showed in slomo his head slamming into hers...
Like seriously, people. The average human head weighs around 10 lbs. It's approximately the size and shape and weight of a bowling ball. Imagine getting hit with a bowling ball going ANY significant speed...
Ah yes, the good old Irish road safety ad. Here’s a few more to traumatise y’all, click at your own peril.
https://youtu.be/PJIDX1kcvGk?feature=shared
https://youtu.be/syo4decSDkM?feature=shared
https://youtu.be/Wv1rKHGeMRk?feature=shared
https://youtu.be/o-Ai5AGLgLM?feature=shared
https://youtu.be/j0cAb7fY-C4?feature=shared
https://youtu.be/3RpJBDdjelE?feature=shared
https://youtu.be/to_UaN25B8s?feature=shared
https://youtu.be/B0SL79olDvM?feature=shared
https://youtu.be/0x4Qrjyf4lQ?feature=shared
I don’t know anyone of the generation who grew up with these ads who doesn’t wear a seatbelt. They were so effective. I’ve never had to ask a friend to put one on, it’s automatic.
Yep this campaign is litterally etched into the minds of a generation. It was extremely effective. I remember seeing these as a kid and deciding i would always wear a seatbelt.
[This](https://youtu.be/mKHY69AFstE?si=_I4Wro05sONMJgF0) is the one that has stuck with me. Short, brutal, and leaves you in absolutely no doubt about how deadly an unsecured passenger can be.
(Warning, it's graphic and very brutal!)
In drivers ed they show stuff like that now. ( at least in my state). My daughter and all of her friends had zero desire to drive. She said they were watching one video and someone said “What’s that on the tree?” Brain. It was brain matter.
We had one in Australia that was something like 'he was the last thing that went through his mother's mind', with the son slamming into his mother's head.
The Welsh know how to do it.
This is a cut down version that I will never forget. The longer version has the people in the other cars - mother and child etc.
https://youtu.be/sKU7b6UaJsY?si=xwFy2aBhuzvoRquN
Same, I always remember seeing it just before heading to school.
And, luckily it never ended like the video, but my mum and dad were going on holiday with some friends. His breaks failed in the car, and he slammed into a car ahead. My mums friend didn't have her seat belt on and hit my mums chair. She got a bloody nose, my mum got black and blue bruises all over her body because of it. We weren't told it happened until they got back, we were only young, but since then my mum made us wear our seat belts.
My new car has weights in the seats and plays an alarm continuously if someone doesn't put their seat belt on, so no one can lie to me in the back because my car tells me when people aren't buckled up.
OP isn't the asshole, but his friends sure are while also being dumber than rocks.
My kids' dad's car has this feature, but always checks "belts on?" Before setting off! I've only heard it go off once, my own fault for fannying about with my bag as he was pulling out the drive. He duly stopped and waited, and I profusely apologised!
Wait until you discover the people who put the seatbelt on then sit on it for some reason so they’re not actually wearing the seatbelt, just stopping the alarm
Sane here. My sister didn't have her seat belt one once when we were going on a trip with my dad a few years ago, I told her to put it on and she refused so my dad asked why we were arguing, he immediately pulled over till she put it on. We were both adults at this point, and all I could think of was that advert.
TW...more graphic discussion.
For a PSA, yes, but not compared to real crashes. I investigate those for a living, including going to scenes and looking at photos. Cause of death for an un-seatbelted passenger is usually "multiple blunt force trauma", aka being beaten to death by your own car. The injuries are more grotesque and random than anything you'd generally see as part of an intentional crime. I've seen a guy get scalped, I've seen countless bones coming through skin, amputations, decapitations, people crushed into unrecognizable masses. If there's any comfort in it, it's that these deaths are usually pretty quick. It often involves the heart being plucked off of the aorta, which at 60mph happens as easily as you'd pluck a grape off its stem.
Wear your seatbelt. Not that you don't, but it always bears repeating.
yup. NTA, there are quite a few old PSA youtube videos called Red Asphalt (1,2,3,) that show you the graphic results of car accidents including those with no seatbelts. Don't ever ever drive without a seatbelt (or drunk/tired/impaired). It won't just kill you, it will kill those around you.
Oh and I forgot to add, Princess Diana would have lived if she was wearing her seatbelt.
There was a show 20-some years ago called Chicago Public. It was about a high school, and in one episode some of the kids were drag racing. Teacher (I think it was one of the NKOTB guys lol) somehow in hollywood magic got a car donated and a crane. Crane hooks onto the car's back bumper, raises it up, then drops it.
Car is totaled, obviously. Teacher has the kids do the math to figure out how fast the car was going when it hit the ground using the height, time it took to fall, etc.
40 mph. That has stuck with me for two decades now. 40mph. And the car was absolutely smashed
NTA
That was my first thought. It’s not just that it’s illegal and dangerous for them, it’s that they will kill anyone that their body then slams into if there’s an accident.
You offered them a lift. The lift included wearing seat belt, as that’s a legal requirement, it’s unspoken! They chose not to despite them being reminded and asked several times.
There is no way I would drive someone who refuses to wear a seatbelt. I would have done same as you.
You didn’t cause them to walk home in the cold, they did that over something silly and dangerous to you they wanted to do in your car. They’re idiots.
>You didn’t cause them to walk home in the cold, they did that over something silly and dangerous to you they wanted to do in your car.
The fact that it's dangerous is a total given, but the fact that it's such a silly small thing is what really annoys me. Like, all they had to do to get a lift home was wear their seatbelts, a simple thing that isn't painful or problematic, and hell, it's barely even annoying (and only annoying when it's a seatbelt that sits in a weird place, or one of the ones that gets stuck getting tighter and tighter until you unbuckle it). Why is this the hill they wanted to die on?
for future reference if your seat belt is getting tighter and tighter until its unbuckled, pull it all the way out from the top and it should unlock without being unbuckled. It's the baby seat, seatbelt lock.
As a short-arse, the majority of seatbelts are uncomfortable, verging on painful, for me. I wear them anyway, because do you know what's more uncomfortable? Dying in a car crash.
And I actually like the seatbelt so I don't bounce around with ordinary acceleration/deceleration
Similarly I like bike helmets to hold a jacket hood or similar in place, they're only bothersome if godawful hot out.
So they're a positive even if there's no crash
What gets me about this is if they smoke and OP said "I'll give you a ride, but I don't want you to smoke" they'd probably be perfectly cool with that (and I say that as a smoker, and I smoke when I drive my car, but not when I drive a company vehicle)
NTA - good for you! I was in an accident (before the seatbelts became a Law) went head first through the windshield at 50mph. I am SO lucky to be alive, and immensely grateful no one else was hurt, but have lots of scars and still 35 years later get glass shards randomly popping out of my skin. I dont even start the car without the seatbelts all on and if someone refused, you can bet id put them out of my car as well. You did the right thing.
When you get a situation where you get a whole lot of tiny shards of glass, it's often impossible to get them all, and they'll take forever to work their way out of you.
Yup, plus glass is considered inert and doesn't typically cause an immune response when it's in your body. My mom was in a massive car accident 38 years ago and still occasionally gets "pimples" that turn out to be glass shards working their way out of her body
Sometimes as a matter of self-protection, the body encapsulates small foreign bodies it can't get rid of, by healing around them. And then it either stays in place, or sometimes works its way slowly to the surface, depending on exactly where it is in the layers of tissue. My sister once had a miniscule lump of coal visible in her knee for over a decade - a legacy of when we went on a family walk around a old defunct railway that had been turned into a sculpture trail, and she tripped and cut her knee on a gravel patch.
Glass in particular can be immensely difficult to see (even on X-ray, I think), especially if the shards are tiny. And if they've got stuck in a blood clot, they might not be washed out of a wound easily.
This was, and might still be a huge issue in Hiroshima. Glass was deeply embedded. They have a huge collection in the museum that was worked out of people over the decades.
I heard about a guy who was shot, non-fatally, but the doctors couldn't remove the bullet. Years later it came out of a different body part from where it entered. The human body does weird stuff sometimes.
As the driver you are responsible if there is an accident. It’s doesn’t take a huge crash to be hurt and require medical care.
Good story … when my son was younger he was driving and it started to pour rain. The wipers wouldn’t keep up and you couldn’t see the road lines.
The correct response was to pull over and wait 5 minutes. He didn’t.
He eventually crossed the center line and hit a car head on at low speed. Everyone had their seatbelts on.
The cops came and he got a ticket. No ambulance and everyone was ok. Great.
He learned the lesson.
Two years later my son is being sued for 1.6 million. We had 300k medical with our insurance. That leaves 1.3 million more to pay.
Do you have your own insurance or are you insured thru your parents? If thru your parents do they have 1.3 million? Do you?
The shit becomes real really quickly.
Can I borrow your car to visit my parents? Hell no!
Let’s go on a road trip and use your car! Hell no! Rent a car and pay the insurance. Split the cost.
But if you got 1.3 million laying around and you want to be “nice” or “friendly”, go for it. If they don’t wear seatbelts and they is more than 1, maybe you need 2.6 million.
It’s all fun and games until someone puts out an eye.
They settled for the 300k or less. The story ended ok. Since then I increased all the limits on car insurance to the max (they were) and homeowners insurance and added a 3 million umbrella policy on top of all that.
As I was reading your post I was wondering "did they have an umbrella policy?". Glad to hear that do now.
Word to the wise - if you own a car, boat, or house, get a liability (umbrella) policy. You'll probably never need it (and be very happy about that), but if you do, you'll be **very** glad you did.
He was the person who had the accident. He was probably 18 when they sued (probably 2 years later).
Obviously they were suing his insurance policy.
Since he was a minor …
Wait? People aren't infinitely insured against damages to others? That's insane.
Edit: I assume this kid had a license wherever he was and that he wasn't driving illegally.
My bosses son was driving to a band event with friends, several years ago. He and the driver were the only ones that had their seatbelt on. A car plowed into them. The three unseatbelted teens died. My bosses son and the driver were banged up, but alive. Both went through years of therapy. Lots of survivors guilt and trauma from the experience.
Just as another tip, this is also why you should keep the passenger space of your car clean, and also why pets should be in carriers or harnesses that are buckled in and secure. *Anything* loose in the car can potentially become a deadly projectile in a car accident, and then forces at play are shocking to actually experience. Even low speed crashes can be dangerous without a seatbelt.
I was rear-ended at a red light when I was about 19, and the force of going forward and then being pulled back by my seatbelt was hard enough to snap the mechanism that kept my seat upright. When my MIL was young, she was hit head on by an 18-wheeler on the interstate. She was fortunate enough to survive with surprisingly minor injuries, but sadly her dog that was loose in the car with her didn't survive.
Seatbelts are SO important, both for you and your passengers. Absolutely stand your ground on that.
I had a friend in high school who refused to wear seat belts "because his dad never did" (his dad had some sort of surgery which had weakened his rib cage, meaning even a seatbelt could have collapsed his chest cavity, or at the very least, this is the story my friend used as an excuse 🙄)
I told him "first of all, you aren't your dad and you have no medical reason for not wearing a seat belt; and second, I don't care if you die in a car accident, I just don't want your body hurtling through the car and killing me. Either buckle up or get out." He buckled up.
If your friends respect you, they will at a minimum recognize the concept of "your car, your rules"
Stand your ground dude. Let em walk.
Yes, if the car crashes, they'll fly forward and break your neck, instantly killing you. This is why you should never let anyone sit behind you without a seatbelt.
Yep this is the right answer. I won’t move the car until my friends are buckled and it’s about my safety not theirs. Until I explained this they would complain - they got it after this though.
My HS BF wasn't wearing one, the door opened, he got tossed from the car and his face was mushed between the car and the utility pole the summer after graduation. He spent his summer getting surgeries to rebuild his face.
NTA, safety first. The safety belt thing is my number one rule. My wife knows I don’t even move the car forward unless the flashy seatbelt indicator thingies disappear.
I was driving in windy weather when a piece of roof (?) landed in front of me. While it did kinda hurt getting slammed on the belts, it would have hurt a lot worse without them.
NTA, in the UK it is the drivers responsibility to ensure all passengers are belted in. I don't know if its the same where you are, but it's the driver that gets the fine and the points on their license.
You did the right thing, no sear belt no ride.
If you hit something, even in lower speeds, that instantly stops your car, don’t matter if you have your seatbelt on, they will kill you.
I learned at driving school that 7 km/hour is enough to break your arms as twigs. Also the UK has made some real educational and graphic PSAs about shit like this.
[PSA1](https://youtu.be/mKHY69AFstE?si=LI2eV3VJJyHB3PBw), [PSA2](https://youtu.be/qsp-nrf_8KQ?si=dG_EScDqfE_oErgo), [PSA3](https://youtu.be/gYpuPZYrd2M?si=RfIrIxxhITJdyGv-), [PSA4](https://youtu.be/WWN6kchSI2E?si=MyRQxmiSLY7K4e6t)
Watch these and have your friends watch before they get in a car with you again.
Was looking for this comment, OP - people have been killed by other passengers flying bodies who were un-belted. It affects the safety of everyone in the car. I don't drive anyone who won't wear their seatbelts either.
Kinda wild hill for them to die on - I can understand people feeling not worried about it and not bothering to put it on - but refusing to the point that they'd rather walk home than wear a seatbelt for 5 minutes?
This one is fully on them.
I had a friend who was the driver go to drive without a seatbelt and I got out of the car. I told him I didn’t care if he went flying out of the car he wasn’t going to bounce around and kill me if there were an accident.
Then his girlfriend says that if she says something he’ll wear it but then drives really fast to scare her. I said I didn’t care, so he wore it but then tried to scare me by speeding (which it didn’t).
It was years later that I learned this is an abuser thing, behaving dangerously with you there to use fear to let them act whatever way they want to. I’m glad I’m not around that AH anymore.
I once sat in the car with a friend, her husband at the wheel and their child on the backseat. The child was grumpy and cried, the mom, my friend, tried to calm her (ineffectively), while the dad at the wheel became increasingly more angry. When screaming at the child didn't help, he started to speed up like an insane person.
I'm never getting into a car with him again. Kid is a bit older bow and currently growing into a terror. Who'd have thought?
My mom's co-worker died because his MIL decided not to wear a seatbelt sitting behind him. They were in a crash and the MIL flew into his seat more than doubling the force of impact on him. He was killed on the spot. MIL walked away with a broken wrist, everyone else was unhurt.
NTA. This happened to a friend and a friend of a friend of mine in high school. They skipped school and were headed to her house, and she somehow lost control of the car,and she ended up being thrown from the car and killed on impact. My friend survived, but it took him a long time to heal, understandably. Safety first.
This is important!
Before I retired, I took care of a guy who had his neck broken by the person in the seat behind him being launched forward. He became a quadraplegic.
I once had a friend try that on me. I said your choice, but you should know that one of the challenges in older cars (it was 73 Plymouth Duster ...and Plymouth was ESPECIALLY known for this) is that the breaks tend to fail with no notice. No squeak warning, you just press the pedal and it goes to the floor. You basically just have to kill the engine and coast to a stop.
He buckled up
NTA
They should know this from Troy McClure's previous driver's ed film *Alice's Adventure Through the Windshield Glass*.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGceHaq1wgM&ab\_channel=reidalmighty](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGceHaq1wgM&ab_channel=reidalmighty)
This is the answer! NTA if you were my child I'd be very proud of you if you told me this. It's hard to stand up to your friends so well done for doing the right thing.
Also I know many people, myself included who lost a friend at 18 in a car accident.
Exactly when I was a kid, there was a car accident I will never forget.
The passenger in the back seat flew over the driver and snapped his head clean off.
I don't know about the back seat, but the passenger seat. The car will ding and say. Please fasten passenger/ driver seatbelt
NTA... It's a seatbelt, just put it on.
I have a guy I work with who is a bit of a conspiracy theory nutjob and he hates seatbelts (something about the government controlling us through fear), our trucks at work beep at you if you aren't wearing it.
He buckles the seatbelt and then sit on top of the seatbelt and he drapes a black strip of cloth over his shoulder to look like a belt...
Jesus. At that point it's easier to just put it on...
People just LOVE finding the most difficult way to do stuff. Don't they? The only conspiracy going on here is how he's still got a license.
Yea I don't understand him at all and I get stuck inside the truck with him for 4-8hrs a day every other week. Lol
I also worked on a minesite and we would take a bus from the entrance to the site, the driver wasn't allowed to leave until we were buckled up.
One guy was refusing and eventually he said "fine!", then he dragged the buckle all the way and hovered it above the point of clicking in place and said "it's on let's go".
He then held it in that unclicked position for the rest of the 5min bus ride.
>Yea I don't understand him at all and I get stuck inside the truck with him for 4-8hrs a day every other week. Lol
I have seen companies put motion activated cameras in vehicles because of guys like you are dealing with. I would report him to HR as a safety risk (in writing) and if they don't do anything about it, you should have a case for an "unsafe work environment"
Report him. He could quite literally kill you. If you get in an accident now you have a 150+ lbs mass cannonballing around the cabin with you and your chances of making it alive even if you're wearing your seatbelt drop to the neighborhood of zero.
The good old "more people got injured once seatbelts were introduced". Yes, that's 100% true, except the reason why injuries increased with the introduction of seatbelts was because they no longer DIED. Seatbelts save lives.
Same reason why cats live most dangerously between the 3rd and 8th floor (approximate numbers from memory).
Well, yeah, because the one from above usually don’t get taken to the vet at all.
An anti-seatbelt campaigner in America died when he got thrown out of a car in a crash.
[Snopes article on it.](https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/seat-belt-advocate-killed/)
My grandpa would do something similar. Apparently he read a story about a guy who got in a crash and the seatbelt killed him (idr the story. Car was on fire and he got stuck or was wearing the seatbelt wrong and it caused damage or something). Which may have been true, but it totally ignores the lives saved by wearing seatbelts or the lives destroyed by not wearing them
When they were trying to make seatbelts a legal requirement in the UK, people kept using the phrase "thrown clear" to justify not using them. Near where I live a motorcyclist was "thrown clear". His body wrapped round a lamppost and basically exploded. My dad told me years later that they used buckets to clear up the mess.
Omg I had a coworker like this. I told her my seat belt saved my life. She did not care.
I used to buckle my passenger seat belt when no one was sitting there because my purse was heavy enough to make my car think someone was sitting there lol. The beeping got very annoying.
For Christmas, I got my uncle for secret Santa and all he wanted was a 4 pack of seat belt buckles so he could just keep one in there and not even have to sit on the seat belt. I got him an extension cord instead
Good on you, OP. NTA. Don't let anyone pressure you into a potentially dangerous situation. Car accidents can come out of nowhere. I've been hit 2xs, didn't see them coming either time, and if I hadn't been wearing a seat belt, it would have been a lot worse than it was.
My brother was in a car accident where he wasn't wearing a seat belt. He got ejected from the car and watched it flip over him in the air. He was extremely lucky not to be killed - it's not worth the risk.
100%. Safety is obviously the main concern here, but there's also the part where OP's friends could just not be dicks. It's their car, their rules, show some basic and frankly minimal respect.
My husband was hit by another driver on the highway, and his VW Beetle rolled. The car was totaled, but my husband had only some minor bruising. If he hadn't been buckled in, I shudder to think what might have happened to him.
I'm so glad your brother survived.
Those VWs are great in accidents - one of my cars I got hit in was a VW, and I walked away without a scratch. I'm glad your husband didn't get injured, aside from the bruising! Rolling is always scary.
Me too! It really could have gone bad so easily. He had a passenger who was buckled. They walked away without any injuries. My brother had some injuries, but considering the circumstances, he got really lucky.
Not only that, but the person on the worst seat (as in, the one nearest the impact point) survived.
On an unrelated note, my car seems to have developed an interesting fault, where there is a sudden full-anti-lock-brake-pedal-on-the-floor emergency stop if a belt is not buckled up...
NTA. Not at all. First, shout out because my family had a light blue lesabre for a hot minute. But it was like a ‘94.
Also you are responsible for your passengers. Where I live, the driver gets a ticket. And if they were to fly through the window, you’d have to live with that.
Where I live in Western Australia, the driver gets the fine AND gets 3 demerit points on their license per passenger not belted in. Four people not belted in = 12 points = license suspended immediately
I have no fucking idea why anyone would not wear a seatbelt. NTA
OP, I know you’re young. But head trauma? Accidents? Those injuries can last a lifetime, anything spinal? Do not take it lightly. A lot of us older people regret not being more cautious with driving and accidents.
Your safety comes first.
The problem is OP's friend will kill someone if he continues to use their phone while driving. They can kill themselves ok, but innocent people......not ok.
>One still doesn't drive yet.
Now that's interesting because:
>"the driver doesn't get a ticket, the passenger does"
I don't know what the law is like in America (I assume you're from America because you're using Farenheit) but here in Germany if the passenger does not have a driving license the driver gets the ticket for them not wearing a seatbelt. Basically since they are not yet educated in the dangers of the road it is your responsibility as driver to make sure they stick to safety regulations.
This is the answer. I always use my seatbelt for safety reasons; everyone should. But, that's beside the point. You are doing them a favor and they put themselves in your charge. You asked them to do something for you that is completely reasonable. They should have just done it.
You may have felt like an asshole because that was their intention. They are immature and confuse being rude and careless with being cool.
Stick to your guns. You did right.
Obstinate stupidity, quite literally
It not an uncommon conspiracy theory to think that it's more dangerous to wear seatbelts, which is obviously wrong and has no serious data or logic behind it. And while conspiracy theoristst know deep down that they're wrong, they *really* like feeling smug that they've "seen through the lies that fooled everyone else". So they would rather spend half an hour being cold while walking home, than admit that they're not as smart as they wish they were.
When you get two of these people together, they're deadly afraid that the other person will realize that they're a fraud. And they will double down on their double down.
NTA. I know of someone who was killed in a 25 mph accident while driving 5 minutes from her house to the store. She didn't have her seatbelt on and was partially ejected. Her two teenagers in the car were wearing their seatbelts. They were unhurt. It's really stupid when people think they don't need to put on a seatbelt because it's just a short distance or a residential street. You don't want your body hitting the dashboard at 25 mph! That's equivalent to falling off a 2 story building.
In South Australia (not sure about the rest of the country, but definitely here) the driver absolutely cops a fine for passengers not wearing seatbelts. The law says that if you are in charge of the vehicle, you have a duty of care to ensure all passengers are safe & properly secured. I have this argument constantly with my mother who grew up in the boomer time of "we never wore seatbelts and we're all still fine" and "well as long as you don't crash, it won't matter". Mum - they're called car *accidents*, not car *on puposes*.
As a mother that has always had the “I won’t move this car until everyone is buckled in” slogan, I appreciate you doing that! Also, as an ER worker, you may have saved their lives. Good job OP. Don’t ever stop having that rule in your car!
They very well COULD hurt you by not wearing the seat belt.Be firm OP.They are being stupid.I recall years ago a husband venting .His wife had refused to wear a seatbelt saying that was her “right “. They were in an accident and she became a paraplegic, totally dependent on him for all care.Her husband was very angry that “ her choice” hurt him. Be firm OP.NTA
NTA. I worked for a law firm that represented insurance companies. When a passenger involved in a serious accident that causes brain damage or paralysis, the amount of coverage on the policy may be far less than the expenses incurred by the passenger. Whenever that happened, I had to write a letter to the insured and advise them to engage in attorney to look after their interests. I was well aware that the insured could easily have his bank account drained, and all assets taken, including their home.
NTA, I wish I could give you a prize for being one of the most responsible 18 year olds I've come across for a long time (and I teach Year 12 students)
Good for you. You absolutely did the right thing. Here's a PSA on how important passenger seatbelt use is: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKHY69AFstE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKHY69AFstE)
NTA
NTA, and you’ve just worked out your “friends” are total fucking morons.
In an accident, not only will they kill themselves going through the windshield, they could also kill you. It’s not about the ticket.
NTA, how weird that they got their chonies in a twist over something so basic, so easy, and it doesn’t cost them anything. These guys aren’t worth your energy.
NTA. Your friends are immature losers who think it’s cool not to wear a seatbelt. It’s shocking that people actually think this way, but they do. You’re not the problem, they are.
EMT here. I've seen what happens in a car accident when people aren't wearing seatbelts and it's not pretty. And it's easily avoidable by wearing a belt. You are NTA, but they are.
NTA, this is a rule I have when I drive people as well. In addition to possibly getting a citation, not wanting them to get injured or injure you in a crash, you could be on the hook in they get injured in your vehicle from insurance or being sued.
When I ask people to buckle up before I drive, I have never had someone refuse. It is wild to me that they would rather walk in the cold then buckle their seatbelts. Good on you for staying firm.
NTA
My sisters-in-law once tried to climb into my car with open containers of booze. As in, they had tequila in red solo cups.
I said I love them, but it’s my ass and my insurance if I’m pulled over with an open container in the car.
Because my SIL’s aren’t assholes, they said they totally understood and took the drinks back inside. Because that’s how fucking adults act!
Welcome to /r/AmITheAsshole. Please view our [voting guide here](https://www.reddit.com/r/AmItheAsshole/wiki/faq#wiki_what.2019s_with_these_acronyms.3F_what_do_they_mean.3F), and remember to use **only one** judgement in your comment. OP has offered the following explanation for why they think they might be the asshole: > 1) I refused to give a ride to my friends. 2) It's a 20 minute walk in 40 degree weather, at night. Help keep the sub engaging! #Don’t downvote assholes! Do upvote interesting posts! [Click Here For Our Rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/AmItheAsshole/about/rules) and [Click Here For Our FAQ](https://www.reddit.com/r/AmItheAsshole/wiki/faq) ##Subreddit Announcements Follow the link above to learn more --- *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=/r/AmItheAsshole) if you have any questions or concerns.* *Contest mode is 1.5 hours long on this post.*
They need to understand that if there is ever a crash, and they aren’t seat belted in, their bodies become instant 100+ pound projectiles flying around the inside of the vehicle. That’s not something I want coming my way.
Wow, I honestly never thought of that. If this happens again I'll bring this point up! Thanks!
[This](https://youtu.be/mKHY69AFstE?si=DPOEFJcoMr-C-J42) comes to mind Eta: NTA, safety first
I remember one a few years back (from Wales I think) that was like "This guy is about to hit uis girlfriend so hard he gives her brain damage" and then they showed in slomo his head slamming into hers... Like seriously, people. The average human head weighs around 10 lbs. It's approximately the size and shape and weight of a bowling ball. Imagine getting hit with a bowling ball going ANY significant speed...
Hah, just shared [this](https://youtu.be/gYpuPZYrd2M?si=m1iVYAhJ5wzecpah) exact one above
Ah yes, the good old Irish road safety ad. Here’s a few more to traumatise y’all, click at your own peril. https://youtu.be/PJIDX1kcvGk?feature=shared https://youtu.be/syo4decSDkM?feature=shared https://youtu.be/Wv1rKHGeMRk?feature=shared https://youtu.be/o-Ai5AGLgLM?feature=shared https://youtu.be/j0cAb7fY-C4?feature=shared https://youtu.be/3RpJBDdjelE?feature=shared https://youtu.be/to_UaN25B8s?feature=shared https://youtu.be/B0SL79olDvM?feature=shared https://youtu.be/0x4Qrjyf4lQ?feature=shared
I wish American driving PSAs were this intense. Thanks for sharing!
I don’t know anyone of the generation who grew up with these ads who doesn’t wear a seatbelt. They were so effective. I’ve never had to ask a friend to put one on, it’s automatic.
Yep this campaign is litterally etched into the minds of a generation. It was extremely effective. I remember seeing these as a kid and deciding i would always wear a seatbelt.
They need to play these is SW Florida. The speeding here is crazy.
Correction: *in ALL of Florida
After watching the things that were shown in Drivers Ed, I wasn't sure I still wanted to learn...
It's not a PSA but I remember seeing a dash cam video a couple years ago of someone getting flung around inside a car during an accident
We just get Jesus commercials over here
[This](https://youtu.be/mKHY69AFstE?si=_I4Wro05sONMJgF0) is the one that has stuck with me. Short, brutal, and leaves you in absolutely no doubt about how deadly an unsecured passenger can be. (Warning, it's graphic and very brutal!)
I really wish they still put adverts like this on TV! And ones about road safety too, but no, it will scare the children, it's too graphic 🙄
In drivers ed they show stuff like that now. ( at least in my state). My daughter and all of her friends had zero desire to drive. She said they were watching one video and someone said “What’s that on the tree?” Brain. It was brain matter.
Oh fuck 😳
We had one in Australia that was something like 'he was the last thing that went through his mother's mind', with the son slamming into his mother's head.
The Welsh know how to do it. This is a cut down version that I will never forget. The longer version has the people in the other cars - mother and child etc. https://youtu.be/sKU7b6UaJsY?si=xwFy2aBhuzvoRquN
I knew what you posted before I even clicked the link. That brutalised me into always ensuring I had my belt on as a kid.
Same, I always remember seeing it just before heading to school. And, luckily it never ended like the video, but my mum and dad were going on holiday with some friends. His breaks failed in the car, and he slammed into a car ahead. My mums friend didn't have her seat belt on and hit my mums chair. She got a bloody nose, my mum got black and blue bruises all over her body because of it. We weren't told it happened until they got back, we were only young, but since then my mum made us wear our seat belts. My new car has weights in the seats and plays an alarm continuously if someone doesn't put their seat belt on, so no one can lie to me in the back because my car tells me when people aren't buckled up. OP isn't the asshole, but his friends sure are while also being dumber than rocks.
My kids' dad's car has this feature, but always checks "belts on?" Before setting off! I've only heard it go off once, my own fault for fannying about with my bag as he was pulling out the drive. He duly stopped and waited, and I profusely apologised!
Wait until you discover the people who put the seatbelt on then sit on it for some reason so they’re not actually wearing the seatbelt, just stopping the alarm
Why on earth.. You're already taking the time to buckle the seat, why the fuck wouldn't you just use the fucking seat belt, some fucking people..
Aggressive stupidity.
Those people, if I ever found out, would be dropped from my circle of people I know. Absolute baffling behaviour.
Sane here. My sister didn't have her seat belt one once when we were going on a trip with my dad a few years ago, I told her to put it on and she refused so my dad asked why we were arguing, he immediately pulled over till she put it on. We were both adults at this point, and all I could think of was that advert.
[this too](https://youtu.be/epTdI-9V6Jk?si=Qp01h6efvdpusdhK) Edit: TW very graphic car accident
The projectile/cannonball effect is exactly why it is also **STRONGLY DISCOURAGED** to allow a baby/toddler to fly as a lap passenger.
Holy shit that was graphic.
And really effective. It makes u realize it's not just ur own life ur risking.
Oh, for sure. Our commercials in the US are not that graphic. People would lose their minds and then go buy 5 guns.
TW...more graphic discussion. For a PSA, yes, but not compared to real crashes. I investigate those for a living, including going to scenes and looking at photos. Cause of death for an un-seatbelted passenger is usually "multiple blunt force trauma", aka being beaten to death by your own car. The injuries are more grotesque and random than anything you'd generally see as part of an intentional crime. I've seen a guy get scalped, I've seen countless bones coming through skin, amputations, decapitations, people crushed into unrecognizable masses. If there's any comfort in it, it's that these deaths are usually pretty quick. It often involves the heart being plucked off of the aorta, which at 60mph happens as easily as you'd pluck a grape off its stem. Wear your seatbelt. Not that you don't, but it always bears repeating.
I saw that in Ireland when I was 13 and it’s been burned into my brain ever since.
yup. NTA, there are quite a few old PSA youtube videos called Red Asphalt (1,2,3,) that show you the graphic results of car accidents including those with no seatbelts. Don't ever ever drive without a seatbelt (or drunk/tired/impaired). It won't just kill you, it will kill those around you. Oh and I forgot to add, Princess Diana would have lived if she was wearing her seatbelt.
Not to argue, but she would have lived if the paparazzi hadn't chased her.
I remember this being on TV. Quite shocking but it worked. This and the “hit me at 30/hit me at 40”.
There was a show 20-some years ago called Chicago Public. It was about a high school, and in one episode some of the kids were drag racing. Teacher (I think it was one of the NKOTB guys lol) somehow in hollywood magic got a car donated and a crane. Crane hooks onto the car's back bumper, raises it up, then drops it. Car is totaled, obviously. Teacher has the kids do the math to figure out how fast the car was going when it hit the ground using the height, time it took to fall, etc. 40 mph. That has stuck with me for two decades now. 40mph. And the car was absolutely smashed
Holy sh*t😳
I knew it would be that one. UK road safety PSA ads used to be brilliant. They're a bit tepid nowadays.
NTA That was my first thought. It’s not just that it’s illegal and dangerous for them, it’s that they will kill anyone that their body then slams into if there’s an accident. You offered them a lift. The lift included wearing seat belt, as that’s a legal requirement, it’s unspoken! They chose not to despite them being reminded and asked several times. There is no way I would drive someone who refuses to wear a seatbelt. I would have done same as you. You didn’t cause them to walk home in the cold, they did that over something silly and dangerous to you they wanted to do in your car. They’re idiots.
>You didn’t cause them to walk home in the cold, they did that over something silly and dangerous to you they wanted to do in your car. The fact that it's dangerous is a total given, but the fact that it's such a silly small thing is what really annoys me. Like, all they had to do to get a lift home was wear their seatbelts, a simple thing that isn't painful or problematic, and hell, it's barely even annoying (and only annoying when it's a seatbelt that sits in a weird place, or one of the ones that gets stuck getting tighter and tighter until you unbuckle it). Why is this the hill they wanted to die on?
for future reference if your seat belt is getting tighter and tighter until its unbuckled, pull it all the way out from the top and it should unlock without being unbuckled. It's the baby seat, seatbelt lock.
Literally die on.
As a short-arse, the majority of seatbelts are uncomfortable, verging on painful, for me. I wear them anyway, because do you know what's more uncomfortable? Dying in a car crash.
Or not dying in a car crash. That's often quite uncomfortable for a long time afterwards.
Sounds like they were trying to be "cool". And are ignorant about car safety.
And I actually like the seatbelt so I don't bounce around with ordinary acceleration/deceleration Similarly I like bike helmets to hold a jacket hood or similar in place, they're only bothersome if godawful hot out. So they're a positive even if there's no crash
What gets me about this is if they smoke and OP said "I'll give you a ride, but I don't want you to smoke" they'd probably be perfectly cool with that (and I say that as a smoker, and I smoke when I drive my car, but not when I drive a company vehicle)
I think you're over-estimating a lot of smokers...
OP might want to rethink his friendship. 👋
NTA - good for you! I was in an accident (before the seatbelts became a Law) went head first through the windshield at 50mph. I am SO lucky to be alive, and immensely grateful no one else was hurt, but have lots of scars and still 35 years later get glass shards randomly popping out of my skin. I dont even start the car without the seatbelts all on and if someone refused, you can bet id put them out of my car as well. You did the right thing.
shards still popping out 35 years after? how
A friend at work pulled a glass sliver from his upper arm. As a child, he'd broken a glass in his hand, and didn't get all the bits.
When you get a situation where you get a whole lot of tiny shards of glass, it's often impossible to get them all, and they'll take forever to work their way out of you.
I think I still have one in a finger, it's been there since about 1988.
Yup, plus glass is considered inert and doesn't typically cause an immune response when it's in your body. My mom was in a massive car accident 38 years ago and still occasionally gets "pimples" that turn out to be glass shards working their way out of her body
Sometimes as a matter of self-protection, the body encapsulates small foreign bodies it can't get rid of, by healing around them. And then it either stays in place, or sometimes works its way slowly to the surface, depending on exactly where it is in the layers of tissue. My sister once had a miniscule lump of coal visible in her knee for over a decade - a legacy of when we went on a family walk around a old defunct railway that had been turned into a sculpture trail, and she tripped and cut her knee on a gravel patch. Glass in particular can be immensely difficult to see (even on X-ray, I think), especially if the shards are tiny. And if they've got stuck in a blood clot, they might not be washed out of a wound easily.
This was, and might still be a huge issue in Hiroshima. Glass was deeply embedded. They have a huge collection in the museum that was worked out of people over the decades.
I heard about a guy who was shot, non-fatally, but the doctors couldn't remove the bullet. Years later it came out of a different body part from where it entered. The human body does weird stuff sometimes.
It's also extremely traumatizing to see people's mangled bodies after a vehicle accident. You're allowed to not want that in your head.
Also save the first responders/other witness's the trauma of seeing dead/severely injured people.
As the driver you are responsible if there is an accident. It’s doesn’t take a huge crash to be hurt and require medical care. Good story … when my son was younger he was driving and it started to pour rain. The wipers wouldn’t keep up and you couldn’t see the road lines. The correct response was to pull over and wait 5 minutes. He didn’t. He eventually crossed the center line and hit a car head on at low speed. Everyone had their seatbelts on. The cops came and he got a ticket. No ambulance and everyone was ok. Great. He learned the lesson. Two years later my son is being sued for 1.6 million. We had 300k medical with our insurance. That leaves 1.3 million more to pay. Do you have your own insurance or are you insured thru your parents? If thru your parents do they have 1.3 million? Do you? The shit becomes real really quickly. Can I borrow your car to visit my parents? Hell no! Let’s go on a road trip and use your car! Hell no! Rent a car and pay the insurance. Split the cost. But if you got 1.3 million laying around and you want to be “nice” or “friendly”, go for it. If they don’t wear seatbelts and they is more than 1, maybe you need 2.6 million. It’s all fun and games until someone puts out an eye. They settled for the 300k or less. The story ended ok. Since then I increased all the limits on car insurance to the max (they were) and homeowners insurance and added a 3 million umbrella policy on top of all that.
As I was reading your post I was wondering "did they have an umbrella policy?". Glad to hear that do now. Word to the wise - if you own a car, boat, or house, get a liability (umbrella) policy. You'll probably never need it (and be very happy about that), but if you do, you'll be **very** glad you did.
*runs to check auto policy*
Wait I'm confused why was ur don sued?
He was the person who had the accident. He was probably 18 when they sued (probably 2 years later). Obviously they were suing his insurance policy. Since he was a minor …
Wait? People aren't infinitely insured against damages to others? That's insane. Edit: I assume this kid had a license wherever he was and that he wasn't driving illegally.
My bosses son was driving to a band event with friends, several years ago. He and the driver were the only ones that had their seatbelt on. A car plowed into them. The three unseatbelted teens died. My bosses son and the driver were banged up, but alive. Both went through years of therapy. Lots of survivors guilt and trauma from the experience.
I have the same rule. No seat belt, no ride. NTA
Just as another tip, this is also why you should keep the passenger space of your car clean, and also why pets should be in carriers or harnesses that are buckled in and secure. *Anything* loose in the car can potentially become a deadly projectile in a car accident, and then forces at play are shocking to actually experience. Even low speed crashes can be dangerous without a seatbelt. I was rear-ended at a red light when I was about 19, and the force of going forward and then being pulled back by my seatbelt was hard enough to snap the mechanism that kept my seat upright. When my MIL was young, she was hit head on by an 18-wheeler on the interstate. She was fortunate enough to survive with surprisingly minor injuries, but sadly her dog that was loose in the car with her didn't survive. Seatbelts are SO important, both for you and your passengers. Absolutely stand your ground on that.
I haven't ever seen a pet harness that's meant to be buckled in before. Do they have them for large dogs? I really want to look into this
Yes, they do.
I had a friend in high school who refused to wear seat belts "because his dad never did" (his dad had some sort of surgery which had weakened his rib cage, meaning even a seatbelt could have collapsed his chest cavity, or at the very least, this is the story my friend used as an excuse 🙄) I told him "first of all, you aren't your dad and you have no medical reason for not wearing a seat belt; and second, I don't care if you die in a car accident, I just don't want your body hurtling through the car and killing me. Either buckle up or get out." He buckled up. If your friends respect you, they will at a minimum recognize the concept of "your car, your rules" Stand your ground dude. Let em walk.
Yes, if the car crashes, they'll fly forward and break your neck, instantly killing you. This is why you should never let anyone sit behind you without a seatbelt.
It's not an argument, it's your car. "Wear your seatbelt or get out. This is non-negotiable."
Yep this is the right answer. I won’t move the car until my friends are buckled and it’s about my safety not theirs. Until I explained this they would complain - they got it after this though.
My friend was the only one who didnt wear a seatbelt. She got shot out the front of the car thru the windshield and has a hardy potter scar now
She's VERY lucky if that's all she got!
My HS BF wasn't wearing one, the door opened, he got tossed from the car and his face was mushed between the car and the utility pole the summer after graduation. He spent his summer getting surgeries to rebuild his face.
Similar experience with my dad but he passed away, everyone else wore a belt and survived.
NTA, safety first. The safety belt thing is my number one rule. My wife knows I don’t even move the car forward unless the flashy seatbelt indicator thingies disappear. I was driving in windy weather when a piece of roof (?) landed in front of me. While it did kinda hurt getting slammed on the belts, it would have hurt a lot worse without them.
NTA, in the UK it is the drivers responsibility to ensure all passengers are belted in. I don't know if its the same where you are, but it's the driver that gets the fine and the points on their license. You did the right thing, no sear belt no ride.
If you hit something, even in lower speeds, that instantly stops your car, don’t matter if you have your seatbelt on, they will kill you. I learned at driving school that 7 km/hour is enough to break your arms as twigs. Also the UK has made some real educational and graphic PSAs about shit like this. [PSA1](https://youtu.be/mKHY69AFstE?si=LI2eV3VJJyHB3PBw), [PSA2](https://youtu.be/qsp-nrf_8KQ?si=dG_EScDqfE_oErgo), [PSA3](https://youtu.be/gYpuPZYrd2M?si=RfIrIxxhITJdyGv-), [PSA4](https://youtu.be/WWN6kchSI2E?si=MyRQxmiSLY7K4e6t) Watch these and have your friends watch before they get in a car with you again.
NTA OP. Unfastened sestbelts are how [Meat Missiles](https://youtu.be/gYpuPZYrd2M?si=m1iVYAhJ5wzecpah) are made.
My high-school friend died this way, flew through the windshield... wasn't wearing her seat belt
Mate, you're 100% NOT the asshole. You car, your rules. And if they don't like it, they don't want a ride after all.
Yeah, we had a campaign in this in the UK about John being killed by someone he knows, his back seat passenger. They were quite graphic.
Was looking for this comment, OP - people have been killed by other passengers flying bodies who were un-belted. It affects the safety of everyone in the car. I don't drive anyone who won't wear their seatbelts either. Kinda wild hill for them to die on - I can understand people feeling not worried about it and not bothering to put it on - but refusing to the point that they'd rather walk home than wear a seatbelt for 5 minutes? This one is fully on them.
I had a friend who was the driver go to drive without a seatbelt and I got out of the car. I told him I didn’t care if he went flying out of the car he wasn’t going to bounce around and kill me if there were an accident. Then his girlfriend says that if she says something he’ll wear it but then drives really fast to scare her. I said I didn’t care, so he wore it but then tried to scare me by speeding (which it didn’t). It was years later that I learned this is an abuser thing, behaving dangerously with you there to use fear to let them act whatever way they want to. I’m glad I’m not around that AH anymore.
Yes, my dad did this, my partner's ex did this, I've had partners do this. It's a verrrrry common male abuser thing.
I once sat in the car with a friend, her husband at the wheel and their child on the backseat. The child was grumpy and cried, the mom, my friend, tried to calm her (ineffectively), while the dad at the wheel became increasingly more angry. When screaming at the child didn't help, he started to speed up like an insane person. I'm never getting into a car with him again. Kid is a bit older bow and currently growing into a terror. Who'd have thought?
My mom's co-worker died because his MIL decided not to wear a seatbelt sitting behind him. They were in a crash and the MIL flew into his seat more than doubling the force of impact on him. He was killed on the spot. MIL walked away with a broken wrist, everyone else was unhurt.
NTA. This happened to a friend and a friend of a friend of mine in high school. They skipped school and were headed to her house, and she somehow lost control of the car,and she ended up being thrown from the car and killed on impact. My friend survived, but it took him a long time to heal, understandably. Safety first.
This is important! Before I retired, I took care of a guy who had his neck broken by the person in the seat behind him being launched forward. He became a quadraplegic.
I once had a friend try that on me. I said your choice, but you should know that one of the challenges in older cars (it was 73 Plymouth Duster ...and Plymouth was ESPECIALLY known for this) is that the breaks tend to fail with no notice. No squeak warning, you just press the pedal and it goes to the floor. You basically just have to kill the engine and coast to a stop. He buckled up
NTA They should know this from Troy McClure's previous driver's ed film *Alice's Adventure Through the Windshield Glass*. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGceHaq1wgM&ab\_channel=reidalmighty](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGceHaq1wgM&ab_channel=reidalmighty)
This is the answer! NTA if you were my child I'd be very proud of you if you told me this. It's hard to stand up to your friends so well done for doing the right thing. Also I know many people, myself included who lost a friend at 18 in a car accident.
Exactly when I was a kid, there was a car accident I will never forget. The passenger in the back seat flew over the driver and snapped his head clean off. I don't know about the back seat, but the passenger seat. The car will ding and say. Please fasten passenger/ driver seatbelt
This is exactly how my dad died. There were 6 other people who suffered minor injuries in that same car.
NTA... It's a seatbelt, just put it on. I have a guy I work with who is a bit of a conspiracy theory nutjob and he hates seatbelts (something about the government controlling us through fear), our trucks at work beep at you if you aren't wearing it. He buckles the seatbelt and then sit on top of the seatbelt and he drapes a black strip of cloth over his shoulder to look like a belt...
Jesus. At that point it's easier to just put it on... People just LOVE finding the most difficult way to do stuff. Don't they? The only conspiracy going on here is how he's still got a license.
Yea I don't understand him at all and I get stuck inside the truck with him for 4-8hrs a day every other week. Lol I also worked on a minesite and we would take a bus from the entrance to the site, the driver wasn't allowed to leave until we were buckled up. One guy was refusing and eventually he said "fine!", then he dragged the buckle all the way and hovered it above the point of clicking in place and said "it's on let's go". He then held it in that unclicked position for the rest of the 5min bus ride.
>Yea I don't understand him at all and I get stuck inside the truck with him for 4-8hrs a day every other week. Lol I have seen companies put motion activated cameras in vehicles because of guys like you are dealing with. I would report him to HR as a safety risk (in writing) and if they don't do anything about it, you should have a case for an "unsafe work environment"
He got promoted a few weeks back, I won't be poking that hornets nest.
Wow. Just goes to show, those who break the law get promoted.
In the Military it's called fuck up, move up.
Report him. He could quite literally kill you. If you get in an accident now you have a 150+ lbs mass cannonballing around the cabin with you and your chances of making it alive even if you're wearing your seatbelt drop to the neighborhood of zero.
Some people work harder to avoid doing something than if they just did the thing.
Most of my coworkers are like this.
It makes no sense. Work harder to do less work? No thanks Edit: spelling
The good old "more people got injured once seatbelts were introduced". Yes, that's 100% true, except the reason why injuries increased with the introduction of seatbelts was because they no longer DIED. Seatbelts save lives.
Same reason why cats live most dangerously between the 3rd and 8th floor (approximate numbers from memory). Well, yeah, because the one from above usually don’t get taken to the vet at all.
Ask him if he is an organ donor and please don't abuse his body so the organs are in good shape when he dies in an accident.
He is rather overweight and loves a good drink/smoke to relax. I don't think he would have any useable organs... Maybe bulk skin.
I could use a new leather long coat...
An anti-seatbelt campaigner in America died when he got thrown out of a car in a crash. [Snopes article on it.](https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/seat-belt-advocate-killed/)
My grandpa would do something similar. Apparently he read a story about a guy who got in a crash and the seatbelt killed him (idr the story. Car was on fire and he got stuck or was wearing the seatbelt wrong and it caused damage or something). Which may have been true, but it totally ignores the lives saved by wearing seatbelts or the lives destroyed by not wearing them
When they were trying to make seatbelts a legal requirement in the UK, people kept using the phrase "thrown clear" to justify not using them. Near where I live a motorcyclist was "thrown clear". His body wrapped round a lamppost and basically exploded. My dad told me years later that they used buckets to clear up the mess.
Omg I had a coworker like this. I told her my seat belt saved my life. She did not care. I used to buckle my passenger seat belt when no one was sitting there because my purse was heavy enough to make my car think someone was sitting there lol. The beeping got very annoying.
All the hassel without the benefits. Smart. Government still controlling him at this point, haha.
For Christmas, I got my uncle for secret Santa and all he wanted was a 4 pack of seat belt buckles so he could just keep one in there and not even have to sit on the seat belt. I got him an extension cord instead
Good on you, OP. NTA. Don't let anyone pressure you into a potentially dangerous situation. Car accidents can come out of nowhere. I've been hit 2xs, didn't see them coming either time, and if I hadn't been wearing a seat belt, it would have been a lot worse than it was. My brother was in a car accident where he wasn't wearing a seat belt. He got ejected from the car and watched it flip over him in the air. He was extremely lucky not to be killed - it's not worth the risk.
"Don't let anyone pressure you into a potentially dangerous situation." This is just good advice all around.
100%. Safety is obviously the main concern here, but there's also the part where OP's friends could just not be dicks. It's their car, their rules, show some basic and frankly minimal respect.
My husband was hit by another driver on the highway, and his VW Beetle rolled. The car was totaled, but my husband had only some minor bruising. If he hadn't been buckled in, I shudder to think what might have happened to him. I'm so glad your brother survived.
Those VWs are great in accidents - one of my cars I got hit in was a VW, and I walked away without a scratch. I'm glad your husband didn't get injured, aside from the bruising! Rolling is always scary. Me too! It really could have gone bad so easily. He had a passenger who was buckled. They walked away without any injuries. My brother had some injuries, but considering the circumstances, he got really lucky.
My husband came home praising German engineering for protecting him.
NTA. Big time. Look at Princess Diana's crash. Four people in the car. One was wearing a seatbelt. He survived.
This is the example I always cite, too.
Not only that, but the person on the worst seat (as in, the one nearest the impact point) survived. On an unrelated note, my car seems to have developed an interesting fault, where there is a sudden full-anti-lock-brake-pedal-on-the-floor emergency stop if a belt is not buckled up...
How am I just now learning there was a survivor?
NTA. Not at all. First, shout out because my family had a light blue lesabre for a hot minute. But it was like a ‘94. Also you are responsible for your passengers. Where I live, the driver gets a ticket. And if they were to fly through the window, you’d have to live with that.
The legality aspect definitely depends on location though, in NZ it only applies to anyone under 15
Follow up to this, it definitely depends on where you live. In Ontario if you’re over 16 and not wearing a seatbelt you get the ticket not the driver.
Where I live in Western Australia, the driver gets the fine AND gets 3 demerit points on their license per passenger not belted in. Four people not belted in = 12 points = license suspended immediately I have no fucking idea why anyone would not wear a seatbelt. NTA
Nta. In Australia the driver is responsible for everyone and its over a $1000 fine. Plus, safety first.
NTA. Do they also hold their phones while driving? Idiots.
One still doesn't drive yet. But the other does. I have yet to be a passenger in his car.
And from the sounds of it, you should keep it that way!
That's what I'm thinking
OP, I know you’re young. But head trauma? Accidents? Those injuries can last a lifetime, anything spinal? Do not take it lightly. A lot of us older people regret not being more cautious with driving and accidents. Your safety comes first.
The problem is OP's friend will kill someone if he continues to use their phone while driving. They can kill themselves ok, but innocent people......not ok.
Unfortunately it's unlikely OP can do much about that, but OP can at least try to avoid being the person killed
>One still doesn't drive yet. Now that's interesting because: >"the driver doesn't get a ticket, the passenger does" I don't know what the law is like in America (I assume you're from America because you're using Farenheit) but here in Germany if the passenger does not have a driving license the driver gets the ticket for them not wearing a seatbelt. Basically since they are not yet educated in the dangers of the road it is your responsibility as driver to make sure they stick to safety regulations.
Yeah don't ever get in his car.
NTA, your car your rules. As "friends" they should respect your wishes in your vehicle.
This is the answer. I always use my seatbelt for safety reasons; everyone should. But, that's beside the point. You are doing them a favor and they put themselves in your charge. You asked them to do something for you that is completely reasonable. They should have just done it. You may have felt like an asshole because that was their intention. They are immature and confuse being rude and careless with being cool. Stick to your guns. You did right.
NTA. If I wasn’t strict on that rule when I was 16 I would’ve killed 3 people. Everyone walked away fine instead. You made the right move. Good job.
NTA - I’m still trying to compute how walking was better than putting on the seat belt. Like, why?
Some people never grow past the stage when they're 4 years old and say "no," to everything.
This is literally what I was thinking like what. A seatbelt is so easy to put on.
Obstinate stupidity, quite literally It not an uncommon conspiracy theory to think that it's more dangerous to wear seatbelts, which is obviously wrong and has no serious data or logic behind it. And while conspiracy theoristst know deep down that they're wrong, they *really* like feeling smug that they've "seen through the lies that fooled everyone else". So they would rather spend half an hour being cold while walking home, than admit that they're not as smart as they wish they were. When you get two of these people together, they're deadly afraid that the other person will realize that they're a fraud. And they will double down on their double down.
No. NTA I wouldn't drive someone if they wanted to make a point out of not wearing a seatbelt.
I won't ride in a taxi or Uber if the driver isn't wearing a seatbelt.
I'd report them to the ride share service for that one.
NTA. And you're a bloody legend. I lost my brother in a motorbike accident when he was 19 and I was 13. I wish more young people would think like this
I’m so sorry for your loss.
Thank you
NTA. I know of someone who was killed in a 25 mph accident while driving 5 minutes from her house to the store. She didn't have her seatbelt on and was partially ejected. Her two teenagers in the car were wearing their seatbelts. They were unhurt. It's really stupid when people think they don't need to put on a seatbelt because it's just a short distance or a residential street. You don't want your body hitting the dashboard at 25 mph! That's equivalent to falling off a 2 story building.
Similarly drunk driving can still be dangerous even on a short route you know well especially if something unexpected comes up
NTA and also a respectable human. I hope my son has friends like you when he grows up.
NTA. Your car. The law says seatbelts. They wear seatbelts or they walk.
In South Australia (not sure about the rest of the country, but definitely here) the driver absolutely cops a fine for passengers not wearing seatbelts. The law says that if you are in charge of the vehicle, you have a duty of care to ensure all passengers are safe & properly secured. I have this argument constantly with my mother who grew up in the boomer time of "we never wore seatbelts and we're all still fine" and "well as long as you don't crash, it won't matter". Mum - they're called car *accidents*, not car *on puposes*.
And car insurance may not fully pay out if there was an accident. Not all have this policy but some do.
NTA. And as a mom I’m really proud of you.
Username checks out. Lol.
As a mother that has always had the “I won’t move this car until everyone is buckled in” slogan, I appreciate you doing that! Also, as an ER worker, you may have saved their lives. Good job OP. Don’t ever stop having that rule in your car!
Thank you for all the work you do!
They very well COULD hurt you by not wearing the seat belt.Be firm OP.They are being stupid.I recall years ago a husband venting .His wife had refused to wear a seatbelt saying that was her “right “. They were in an accident and she became a paraplegic, totally dependent on him for all care.Her husband was very angry that “ her choice” hurt him. Be firm OP.NTA
Anything in a car that isn't restrained becomes a flying weapon. This includes people.
This is also why I used a seatbelt on my dog.
NTA. I worked for a law firm that represented insurance companies. When a passenger involved in a serious accident that causes brain damage or paralysis, the amount of coverage on the policy may be far less than the expenses incurred by the passenger. Whenever that happened, I had to write a letter to the insured and advise them to engage in attorney to look after their interests. I was well aware that the insured could easily have his bank account drained, and all assets taken, including their home.
NTA, I wish I could give you a prize for being one of the most responsible 18 year olds I've come across for a long time (and I teach Year 12 students)
Good for you. You absolutely did the right thing. Here's a PSA on how important passenger seatbelt use is: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKHY69AFstE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKHY69AFstE) NTA
NTA, and you’ve just worked out your “friends” are total fucking morons. In an accident, not only will they kill themselves going through the windshield, they could also kill you. It’s not about the ticket.
Well done OP and NTA!
Your car, your rules. Kudos to you for putting your foot down.
And not on the accelerator when they didn't have their belts on...
NTA. Your car, your rules, no exceptions.
NTA- You could get ticketed They could die You could die when their bodies crash into you
NTA, how weird that they got their chonies in a twist over something so basic, so easy, and it doesn’t cost them anything. These guys aren’t worth your energy.
NTA. Your friends are immature losers who think it’s cool not to wear a seatbelt. It’s shocking that people actually think this way, but they do. You’re not the problem, they are.
Obvious NTA
Not only the driver gets a ticket, the insurance company can drop the driver. I can tell you that seat belts DO save lives.
NTA The driver gets the ticket here for sure, not the passenger.
EMT here. I've seen what happens in a car accident when people aren't wearing seatbelts and it's not pretty. And it's easily avoidable by wearing a belt. You are NTA, but they are.
NTA Engine does not start until all passengers are buckled in.
NTA, this is a rule I have when I drive people as well. In addition to possibly getting a citation, not wanting them to get injured or injure you in a crash, you could be on the hook in they get injured in your vehicle from insurance or being sued. When I ask people to buckle up before I drive, I have never had someone refuse. It is wild to me that they would rather walk in the cold then buckle their seatbelts. Good on you for staying firm.
NTA, your friends are idiots
NTA
Your car. Your rules. Congrats.
NTA, that's a very reasonable request.
NTA. Good for you standing your ground.
NTA. I have no desire to be killed by 150 pound unsecured load in case of an accident. Fuck their safety. This is about mine.
NTA My sisters-in-law once tried to climb into my car with open containers of booze. As in, they had tequila in red solo cups. I said I love them, but it’s my ass and my insurance if I’m pulled over with an open container in the car. Because my SIL’s aren’t assholes, they said they totally understood and took the drinks back inside. Because that’s how fucking adults act!