I'm of the mind set that anyone that wishes to wear a seatbelt in their own private car / boat.....should be able to, anyone that doesn't want to wear a seat should not be forced to. I am concerned about being restrained in a car and be unable to get out in case of a fire for example. I like the idea of being restrained in an overturned boat even less. I resent being forced to wear a seatbelt and rarely do
I didn't suggest that people should be compelled to use seat belts, but that the operator should be compelled to provide them. When I'm sitting on a bench seat in a cabin perhaps 40ft long in a boat travelling at night at 40mph, I am acutely aware of what would happen to me and everyone else if the boat suddenly stopped (by hitting something). In the incident I referred to, which was not untypical, it appeared that all the injuries, very severe in a number of cases and fatal in one, were caused by unrestrained people being thrown against hard surfaces in the boat. Just as would happen in a car, but with a far greater distance for their bodies to accelerate before impact.
Modern seatbelts are very easy and quick to open. The risk of being trapped in a sinking boat by the belt is remote. The risk of being trapped anyway because you can't find the exit is far greater, and especially if you have been injured by being thrown against something.
In the UK seat belt wearing is mandatory and rigidly enforced. The statistics show that it saves lives and prevents many serious injuries. There have been cases where someone in the front seat of a car was killed by being hit during a crash by an unrestrained person in the back, and in fact an official film was shown simulating this. The evidence is so overwhelming that courts will now routinely award massive damages against the rear seat passenger - posthumously in most cases.
If a car crash has been severe enough to cause a modern car to catch fire, it is probable that anyone not wearing a belt would already have been seriously injured and would be unable to get out anyway. Again, the statistics show that it is extremely rare for someone otherwise able to get out who doesn't because they can't release their belt. People "thrown clear" are generally injured far more severely than those who were restrained in the car.
I presume you're also opposed to the fitment of air bags? For years now their fitment has been mandatory on the manufacturers, and in Europe at any rate (I don't know about the US) it is either impossible to disable them or a criminal offence to try to do so. Yet air bags have been known to cause injuries, especially to small people. It's just that they have prevented way more injuries than they have caused.
If seat belts were fitted to boats then just as in cars I would expect people to use them, and after an acclimatisation period for that use to become mandatory in at least some countries. If I were so restrained and I were hit and injured by you, having chosen not to restrain yourself, I would without any question sue you, or maybe my estate would sue yours, as having been directly responsible for my injuries. That's regardless of any criminal prosecution. You should think less about "me" and more about others.
