******I'm still on pain pills from a wisdom tooth extraction, so forgive any odd spellings or me going on a tangent*****
Ok I have been thinking about this for awhile now. My friend got a ticket for not wearing her seat belt properly. She is 5' even and in her car she can't adjust the shoulder strap so it will ride on the right spot. It would ride right on her neck, so she would tuck it behind her. And the same thing happens in my family car where if I sit in back, it will rub against my neck on I can't adjust it.
So which is safer, tucking it behind us, or letting it rub against our necks and if we get in an accident it putting a lot of force there.
I know there is the little fleece wraps we can get to make it so that it wont hurt everyday, but it still wouldn't help if we got in an accident. What do you do??
Yeah let us hope that they will learn that one day soon. Thanks mama's! I will tell my friend to get a pillow or something to sit on, and I will suffer through the belt going over my neck! Luvs!
I would suggest either getting the adjuster, or going one better and getting a 'racing conversion kit' which is a 5 point system.
I am 5' 6" but half of my height is in my legs, so I have a short torso. I sit on a firm 2-3 inch pillow when I drive. If I am not sitting on a pillow I have a hard time seeing the front corners of my car and might hit something when I pull into a parking space, it also makes the seat belt a lot more comfortable. Find a firm pillow or a boat cushion to sit on, it might take a few tries to find a comfortable one but once you drive with a pillow you won't want to drive without one.
My kids and I were in a terrible freak car accident last summer. I was driving my dh's 1990's GMC he used for hunting and weekend trips. The seats and seatbelts are lousy for anyone 5'3 and under...they not only dig into your neck, but because the seats are so big and wide, there is alot of room for you to slide around. In short, not size appropriate for small women or children. Big grizzly men...yes. Women and children...no.
Anyhoo, in this accident, my gas pedal got jammed and was reved at 60-80 mps, and simultaneously my brakes failed as I was coming out of our long but steep driveway that leads to a busy street. We live on a very large and steep hill, and across from us is a gated community that is built down in a valley at the bottom of the hill my house is built on. Everything happend fast, and furious. The only good thing is we had our seatbelts on before the "ride" started. So if you can imagine, because of the steepness of the hill and no brakes, it was like being on an insane, unstoppable rollercoaster ride.
We were clipped by another car headed towards us from the left, so we fish tailed and almost rolled over. I managed to over correct the truck so we went up on a curb, and smashed full speed through the privacy fencing that closed off the gated community from the road, and then suddenly we flew over an 8 foot drop, and then crashed into a courtyard, then busted through the house at the bottom of the drop. And we were whipped around like rag dolls, but most definitely the worst part was the initial impact of crashing down on pavement from an 8 foot drop, only to go head on into the living room of a house at 80 mph. Since the truck was pre-airbags, my face still smashed into the steering wheel two times. Once when we hit the ground from the drop, and a second time when we smashed into the house. Thankfully the seatbelts worked (tighted up) even though our necks (my children in their front facing car seats that use the regular seat belts and I in the driver's seat) were trashed (deep gashes and severe bruising to be exact) from our seatbelts.
Of course medics, police, ambulances, and neighbors came running to our aide. Because of the seriousness of the accident, the police had to do accident reconstruction on the scene. They said that the brakes and gas pedal had rusted and corroded causing the gas pedal to jam and brakes to fail. My husband had just used the truck earlier that week for a trip! all the officer on duty could keep saying was "If you hadn't had seatbelts on, you all would have died from the intial impact because of the force would have sent you all flying through windshield. I believe him, because I did have a seatbelt on, but my face was severely bruised (looked like a Halloween mask for quite a while) and felt broken, even though it wasn't. I can only imagine what I would have felt like if that seatbelt didn't hold me back as much as it did. We had back problems, whiplash, hematomas and contusions. It took all of us 3-4 months of therapy to feel better. We're all still horrified to ride in big vehicles. All I can say is, what would have happend if we didn't wear seatbelts? My husband would be a widow and childless.
So yes, it is way better to wear the seatbelts, even if they dig into your neck. You can recover from injuries. You can't come back from the dead.
Tell your friend to get sheepskin pads for her seatbelt, and to be safe, not sorry.
Seat belts are only effective when worn properly.
Definitely don't put the shoulder belt behind you. And if my seat belt fit that poorly, I think I'd seriously consider getting something like the Harmony Secure Deluxe Comfort backless booster, which is apparently rather wide and would probably fit a petite adult just fine (see link here:http://carseatblog.com/2170/harmony-booster-review-part-i... ) and is only $20 at BRU
I wouldn't suggest one of those adjuster things. While it pulls it off your neck, it often pulls it up over your belly and all your abdominal organs are then susceptible to "seatbelt syndrome" (you can google that if you'd like). I think I would look for a good firm cushion and attach some grip to the bottom. You could sit on that and maybe get one of those fleece wraps to protect your neck a little from any rubbing that might still occur. Definitely don't put the shoulder strap behind you. Hopefully one of these days car manufacturers will get the hint that one size does not fill all when it comes to seat belts.
Best not to modify the position--just grin & bear it. They are designed to be NOT tucked behind for a reason.....
My grandma has this issue... either get a nice firm pillow to sit on, or they do make seat belt adjusters. (My SIL is a midget, and has an adjuster on hers that goes on the area where the buckle goes.)
Sitting on a pillow is not a good answer: neither is using a soft wrap around the belt. When the seat belt goes over your neck, it can break your neck if there is enough force in an accident. A pillow may slide out from under you, dropping you down.
There are metal pieces that you can put on the seat belt to adjust them. You probably can find them at an auto supply store. You weave the two belts into the flat piece of metal. I think I found one years ago in the auto section of Fred Meyer.
IF they are installed properly they will not cause the lap belt to rise up on your abdomen.
As to wearing the shoulder harness behind your shoulder. In a sudden stop the tension is caused by the harness tightening. I'll have to test it but I suggest that the lap portion won't be tight enough to hold you in place. And without the shoulder belt you will be thrown forward into the dash or the seat in front of you.
Back before shoulder belts, I was in an accident. My face hit the steering wheel, shearing off my nose. Fortunately they were able to sew it back on without leaving any scars.
