BondiTram:
Fair play to you, but consider this, if an accident happens, neither you nor your dependants will be entitled to not one penny in compensation, nor will they be entitled to any other benefits that may go with your job, i.e. death benefit.
This is assuming that you have dependants, otherwise carry on not wearing seatbelts
I have one, the wife, and she is smoking herself into an early grave. Presumably the reverse applies?
Quote Rob:
<<Also, what is the legal standing on it too please?>>
Already answered that Rob. If it’s fitted it must be working.
If it’s working it must be worn - hence my ranting (it isn’t an exclusive privelege you know ).
BTW thanks abunch again for resurrecting this thread. I’ve been calm for 18 months - now look what you’ve done. is far more dangerous than slack belts.
Iv just drove through town today and i see a couple of Hgv drivers without seat belts on waiting to come out of junctions,so if you was the police would that mean you would get a fixed fine…i think you would have to pay it out of your own pocket cause i think it’s company rules,if it’s in you must wear it…
£60 fixed fine…
And that would mean £120 per 10 minutes for the both of them…not a bad days work then if you was a policeman
jammymutt:
I was told once by one of the sphincters at Securicor at Newark that if a seat belt wasnt fitted you didnt have to wear it, so he said it was ok to take it out altogether.
This guy was a transport manager!!! at the same time he also told me if there wasn,t an A.B.S. lead you didnt need to use it ( whether there were connections or not!) he told me to put it in the side box and forget about it.
Gross Negligence if he removes the seatbelts?? Corporate Manslaughter??
But the driver would have to die before the manager could be done for it…
This guy was a transport manager!!! at the same time he also told me if there wasn,t an A.B.S. lead you didnt need to use it ( whether there were connections or not!) he told me to put it in the side box and forget about it./quote:
if the lead was just tossed in the side box and the vehicle was stopped by VOSA, if it had the connection for abs/ebs leads on the unit and it was not fitted it would be an “S” prohibition, and they are not good!
It just goes to show the type of plank some firms employ as the transport manager.
I never wear a seat belt as its part of the seat in a TGA, and being 6’2" tall it cuts into my shoulder and has no adjustment to lift it higher… would rather take the chance than suffer the pain in my shoulder.
On returning the defective Scania to the yard yesterday, and reporting the seatbelt for not reeling out, the mechanic exclaimed ‘what do you want a seatbelt for? I’d never wear one in a truck for as long as my [zb] has a hole in it!’, I answered that I didn’t fancy being thrown out of the cab in an accident or being speared by the steering wheel. Later that day, I met another of our drivers at an RDC and when I was preparing to leave I put on my belt - to which he said ‘err what you bothering with that for? just gets in the way!’
I do take it off for reversing work so I can look out of the window, but any forward driving, on goes the belt! I think this is partly down to my age too, as I am 28 and can only just remember when the seatbelt (in cars) laws came in so its habit to belt up anyway.
So, do you or do you not belt up, and if not then why not?
I don’t bother although I am aware that if the plod see me …
Belt just has never felt right in the truck. Dunno why. However, in bad weather such as snow/ice and more importantly to me, high winds, I do put it on as I was involved in a serious car accident once which had to car roll over a number of times and the seatbelt undoubtably saved my skin.
Tell your mechanics that seatbelts are part of the Ministry Test, so therefore the should be in working order or the truck is unroadworthy.
I wear them and don’t find them a problem and it is illegal not to wear them if fitted, but I have also got loads of stick from other drivers.
However they will stop you being thrown out of the cab and if the truck also has airbags they should be worn or you will hit the airbag on its way up not down as designed. The other reason to think about wearing them is if the worst happens and you are in an accident and then find youself unable to work or worse, an insurance company might use the fact you weren’t wearing a seatbelt as a reason to reduce any compensation payouts.
I was told once by one of the sphincters at Securicor at Newark that if a seat belt wasnt fitted you didnt have to wear it, so he said it was ok to take it out altogether.
This guy was a transport manager!!! at the same time he also told me if there wasn,t an A.B.S. lead you didnt need to use it ( whether there were connections or not!) he told me to put it in the side box and forget about it.
AAhh Securicor eh!!!..
As for the grease monkies maybe its time they were held responsible for the unroadworthiness of the vehicles? and made to do the daily checks before it leaves the yard, after all its them that know whats does what isn,t it?.
muckles:
and if the truck also has airbags they should be worn or you will hit the airbag on its way up not down as designed. .
as is the case these days that most vehicles fitted with airbags and seat belts have a pre tensioner in the seat belf pod that when an impact is felt that it pulls the belt tight and it makes the airbag go off a bit quicker so in theory not wearing belt reduces the air bags protection capabilities
i always put the seatbelt on, no matter how far the next drop is. the drivers who don’t wear the belt must have plenty of money to hand over to the goverment,just like running without number plate.as for abs i think its a £2000 fine if unit and trailer is fitted and your stopped without them being connected.but there are some drivers out there who think they are above the law.
Once rear rear-ended a stationary artic in a puddle-jumper when the brakes locked up on ice (pre-ABS days). Only lifted off my seat so not sure how much difference the belts make in an air-suspended cab - I’m assuming it was the impact that smashed the windscreen and not my head.
you have less chance of having a crash on a motorway,you are more likely to need your seatbelt in the towns and cities, as for air suspended cabs do they stop you going through the windscreen,i don’t think so.
always wear the thing… i have a real nice piccy of a scannie that is well mangled i.e passenger door half way down the body. only thing that saved the driver was the seat belt.
).
