I drove an r reg merc 7.5t a while ago, no seat belt fitted and i was ■■■■ scared lol.
The seat belt saved my life once a few years ago, hopefully i.ll never be in that situation again but i always wear a seat belt just to be no the safe side. Especially seeing the accidents this last week.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk
alamcculloch:
When I am on tippers I find the belt presses on my bladder. As a tipper driver I can stop anywhere for a pee between the wheels.If a belt is fitted you risk a £ 60. Fine and 3 points for not wearing the damned thing.If you want to pay another tax…
No points for failing to wear a seatbelt.
Coffeeholic:
as a wise old TN member once posted, “If seatbelts are not fitted you don’t have to wear them.”
Mmm Jammyutt■■? 
Coffeeholic:
brados:
Coffeeholic:
Certain medical conditions provide an exemption.Too fat for the belt to reach around?
Allergic to the fabric the belt is made from?
Merinthophobia- Fear of being bound or tied?
Must be many more but how many have plod heard I wonder?
I believe you carry a doctor’s letter if you have an exemption so you can show it if you get pulled. We have at least one member on here who has such an exemption.
I’m exempt. I have MS and wearing a belt triggers a spasm in my chest/around my ribcage which, at it’s worst, can make it very difficult for me to breath. I carry a Seatbelt Exemption Certificate, which is an official document produced by DVLA and filled in by my doctor. The certificate has to be renewed every couple of years, although I have one left over from before the rules changed which is valid “indefinately” (I have two, one to leave in the car, and another to carry in the truck, saves me forgetting it).
A medical seatbelt exemption is not something that’s easy to get, isn’t automatic with any condition - there has to be a specific problem, and the decision to issue one is made by the doctor based on balancing the risks. There is more chance of me having an accident and injuring myself and/or others if I can’t breath than if I just don’t wear the belt, therefore it is “medically inadvisable” (to use the proper term) for me to do so.
Believe me, I wish I could wear it.
(Hope that made some kind of sense…It’s late and I take a lot of meds of an evening. 
)
Lucy:
I’m exempt. I have MS and wearing a belt triggers a spasm in my chest/around my ribcage which, at it’s worst, can make it very difficult for me to breath. I carry a Seatbelt Exemption Certificate, which is an official document produced by DVLA and filled in by my doctor. The certificate has to be renewed every couple of years, although I have one left over from before the rules changed which is valid “indefinately” (I have two, one to leave in the car, and another to carry in the truck, saves me forgetting it).A medical seatbelt exemption is not something that’s easy to get, isn’t automatic with any condition - there has to be a specific problem, and the decision to issue one is made by the doctor based on balancing the risks. There is more chance of me having an accident and injuring myself and/or others if I can’t breath than if I just don’t wear the belt, therefore it is “medically inadvisable” (to use the proper term) for me to do so.
Believe me, I wish I could wear it.
(Hope that made some kind of sense…It’s late and I take a lot of meds of an evening.
Just out of curiosity Lucy; whilst I’m aware that you’d notify your insurance company about your condition, do you have to tell them about the seat-belt exemption, and if so do they noticeably load your premium?
No. But then, they couldn’t load the premium, just as they can’t load it for anything else related to the MS. The Disability Discrimination Act makes it illegal, and for once it’s enforced. 
ETA: My employer had to be informed as well, but that was mainly so I didn’t get carpetted under company policy! 
Lucy:
No. But then, they couldn’t load the premium, just as they can’t load it for anything else related to the MS. The Disability Discrimination Act makes it illegal, and for once it’s enforced.ETA: My employer had to be informed as well, but that was mainly so I didn’t get carpetted under company policy!
That’s worth knowing. Cheers.
Hiya you don’t have to ware a seatbelt if you’ve got a colostamy (spel) bag…then again who
wants one of them…saying that my mate had one for 20 years better than having
the big C…
My AEC has no seatbelts … i have’nt got dead this this year but not many of you would
want to driver her full time…she’s1964
John
Sam Millar:
Why wouldn’t you want to wear it?I believe you can only not wear it if you have a medical exemption certificate and/or youre a multidrop driver with delivered 50m or less apart.
Thats by sure not for Professional Drivers.
If your Medical doesnt let you do the Job as you shall you just don’t and do anything else.
Dont think you would safe the £60.- and the Point
Like someone else who posted a seatbelt saved my life once. That and the airbag. I had a bright purple bruise in the exact shape of a seatbelt for three weeks. To this day I’ve no idea why I was wearing the belt as I never did back then. But thank Bertie I was.
I used to think I was invincible, like most do in their early 20’s. But then I had a couple of bad car crashes that woke me up. I realised that if I died in a crash because I wasn’t wearing a belt no one would say ‘well, he was such a rebel’. No they’d say ‘stupid arse never wore his seatbelt’.
I’m not paying the ultimate price for the sake of pulling a strip of fabric across my chest.
Sam Millar:
Why wouldn’t you want to wear it?.
Perhaps because you don’t like the poxy things?
Perhaps because you know the risk but are prepared to take it because you are an adult with a mind of your own?
Perhaps because not wearing it only endangers your life, unlike all the rock climbers, sky divers, scuba divers, F1 drivers, MotoGP riders, who risk others’ by exercising their right to take risks with their own lives?
Perhaps? 
Coffeeholic:
44 Tonne Ton:
Coffeeholic:
Certain medical conditions provide an exemption.Sent from the M1 Roadworks near J10 using Tapatalk while not wearing my seatbelt.
I will be forwarding your written confession to the relevant authorities forthwith. Please answer the door when they knock.
You do realise I was on the bunk?
i do believe you should still use a brick net whilst on the bunk , you did know that did,nt you ? and it has to be a HI-VIZ one aswell . and you should at least throw a rachet strap over just incase , one over your forehead and one over your feet , you never know do ya ?
@ Lucy
Are you in danger of being injured by an airbag if it went off without the seatbelt restraining you?
I am thinking that the force of a body going forward meeting an airbag coming at you could be some force!!
Hi guys ,
various good points on here about seat belts , but what about this situation ?- we run a 2000 w plate ec11 , seat belts not fitted when new , however when i done my c+e test earlier this year i fell into the new requirements of test examiners- they can only test in vehicles fitted with seat belts , same time as brake test stopped . so we duly fitted one on passenger side ( a sensible move , but 2 days bloody work ! ) .
here’s my dilema - the truck is up for test shortly & a little birdy told me that if there’s one belt fitted then it must have both fitted for test , yet a friend of mine only has one fitted in his 99 volvo ( driver side ) , am i ok to leave as is , remove to avoid any hassles , after all it’s a retrofit .
whats your thoughts ?
scourfield:
Hi guys ,various good points on here about seat belts , but what about this situation ?- we run a 2000 w plate ec11 , seat belts not fitted when new , however when i done my c+e test earlier this year i fell into the new requirements of test examiners- they can only test in vehicles fitted with seat belts , same time as brake test stopped . so we duly fitted one on passenger side ( a sensible move , but 2 days bloody work ! ) .
here’s my dilema - the truck is up for test shortly & a little birdy told me that if there’s one belt fitted then it must have both fitted for test , yet a friend of mine only has one fitted in his 99 volvo ( driver side ) , am i ok to leave as is , remove to avoid any hassles , after all it’s a retrofit .
whats your thoughts ?
When I was with Owens I started with an EC6; drivers seat was pretty rough so with the boss’s blessing I robbed one out of an EC11 in the yard; new one had a seat belt, passenger side didn’t. Went through its test with no hassles.
AFAIK if the belt is fitted it has to work, that’s all.
ROG:
@ Lucy
Are you in danger of being injured by an airbag if it went off without the seatbelt restraining you?I am thinking that the force of a body going forward meeting an airbag coming at you could be some force!!
Nowhere near as big as the danger of injury from head butting the steering wheel.
dri-diddly-iver:
Coffeeholic:
as a wise old TN member once posted, “If seatbelts are not fitted you don’t have to wear them.”Mmm Jammyutt■■?
LOL what i was trying to say at the time was that my old boss said they can be taken out of the vehicle…!!! .
Spardo:
Sam Millar:
Why wouldn’t you want to wear it?.
Perhaps because you don’t like the poxy things?
Perhaps because you know the risk but are prepared to take it because you are an adult with a mind of your own?
Perhaps because not wearing it only endangers your life, unlike all the rock climbers, sky divers, scuba divers, F1 drivers, MotoGP riders, who risk others’ by exercising their right to take risks with their own lives?
Perhaps?
Perhaps all the above use enough health and safety gear to minimise the risk of an accident just do what Jimmy Savile said and clunk click every trip.
When I 1st started on the tippers back in 03 I had an M reg ERF EC14 8 wheeler and that didn’t have any belts fitted, felt a bit strange as I always wear my belt in the car but got used to it.
Fast forward a few months and we upgraded to a brand new Scania 114 and obviously this had belts fitted, but I continued to not wear it as i’d got used to driving without it and to be fair the belts fitted to the seats on the Scania tended to pull down and cause me pain due to an old shoulder injury (ironically caused by the seatbelt in my car after an accident when someone pulled out in front of me and I piled into the side of them at 50mph!!)
A couple of years later I attended my EPIC training course and the subject of wearing seatbelts was brought up, the guy taking the course then went on to tell us the story of an accident that involved a brick truck going off a fen road somewhere in Lincolnshire.
According to him when the emergency services arrived on scene the driver was no where to be seen, only when the vehicle was being recovered did they make the awful discovery that the driver had been ejected from the cab during the accident and was underneath it…needless to say the poor guy didn’t make it.
If he’d have been wearing his belt then the outcome would have been completely different and no doubt he’d still be here to tell the tale.
That was enough for me to start wearing mine, ok it hurt for a bit but after a while I didn’t notice it and don’t go anywhere without it.
You only get one chance in life so why add risk to it for the sake of not belting up…its a long way down to the passenger window in the event of a roll over as one of my mates found out recently, thankfully he was belted up and he walked away…
Be safe out there guys…
ROG:
@ Lucy
Are you in danger of being injured by an airbag if it went off without the seatbelt restraining you?I am thinking that the force of a body going forward meeting an airbag coming at you could be some force!!
Yes. As I said above, I wish I could wear the ■■■■ thing, but I can’t so that’s that. 
