Volvo Trucks recently published a safety report which found that the number of serious road accidents involving HGVs is dropping, but there are still far too few HGV drivers wearing seat belts.
The report claims 50% of the non-belted HGV occupants that have been killed in accidents would have survived if they had worn a seat belt.
I am writing an article for Truck & Driver about this and wanted to find out from professional drivers some of the reasons why they – or others – don’t tend to wear a seat belt.
Obviously, I will keep it anonymous if you would prefer, but if you want to provide a comment please feel free to PM me, or comment below.
Thank you very much.
Chris
I never used to wear a seat belt in a truck and used to use all the old excuses (in and out too much, move around too much, safer in a truck anyway blah blah) until one day after seeing another driver wearing his i just randomly decided ‘you know what bugger it, I’m going to start wearing mine too’
It very quickly became habit and now it wouldn’t feel right not too, I also realised pretty quickly how lucky (and stupid) I’d been before.
Why are taxi drivers exempt but hgv drivers are not?
The-Snowman:
Why are taxi drivers exempt but hgv drivers are not?
Taxi drivers are only exempt whilst in a car without a divider (regular saloon car not a London cab) and ONLY whilst they have a fare onboard.
It is to stop the seatbelt being used as a weapon against you (wrapped round your neck from behind or holding you in place whilst being robbed)
You can (should) get done if you are alone in that vehicle.
Never used to wear a belt in a truck, until one of Virginias trucks went over in Dublin and the driver was killed, most likely because he wasn’t wearing his belt. Made me realise there simply is no sensible reason not to, why risk dying for such a daft reason
Reef:
The-Snowman:
Why are taxi drivers exempt but hgv drivers are not?
Taxi drivers are only exempt whilst in a car without a divider (regular saloon car not a London cab) and ONLY whilst they have a fare onboard.
It is to stop the seatbelt being used as a weapon against you (wrapped round your neck from behind or holding you in place whilst being robbed)
You can (should) get done if you are alone in that vehicle.
Ah. Cheers
Makes sense I suppose.
The-Snowman:
Reef:
The-Snowman:
Why are taxi drivers exempt but hgv drivers are not?
Taxi drivers are only exempt whilst in a car without a divider (regular saloon car not a London cab) and ONLY whilst they have a fare onboard.
It is to stop the seatbelt being used as a weapon against you (wrapped round your neck from behind or holding you in place whilst being robbed)
You can (should) get done if you are alone in that vehicle.
Ah. Cheers
Makes sense I suppose.
The exemption applies to taxi drivers (private hire) only when carrying fare-paying passengers. It applies to Hackney carriage drivers any time they are “on duty”. The logic being that the latter could be flagged down at any point by a fare who could then jump in the back and use the seatbelt as a weapon - private hire drivers are not (legally) able to be flagged down so will always know when they are about to pick up a passenger.
I admit that up to April when I got my new truck I never wore a seat belt in any truck that I drove .All the trucks I’d had before that either didn’t have a buzzer that sounded or somebody had disconnected it . The new one has an alarm that sounds and cuts the volume to the radio , I started to wear the belt and now 8 weeks later I’m used to it. I won’t disable the alarm - I know I could - I know others have a dummy end of a seat belt to plug in to fool the system. I like my truck original and all the bells and whistles to work on it .
And as an aside when did they stop fitting middle curtains in FH’s ? I’ve driven F7’s, FL10’s ,F10’s, F12’s ,All versions of FH’s (1-4) and this is the first without a set of middle curtains . Might not sound like much but they help when your parked up in the daytime cutting the light out to the bunk area .
switchlogic:
Never used to wear a belt in a truck, until one of Virginias trucks went over in Dublin and the driver was killed, most likely because he wasn’t wearing his belt. Made me realise there simply is no sensible reason not to, why risk dying for such a daft reason
Just curious, what was your “daft reason” for not wearing one before that event then? Genuine, not sarky.
I remember as a kid being interested when in the wagon with my dad that not only did he not wear a belt, it wasn’t fitted! I thought it was quite “cool” at the time, especially as my parents kept harping onto my sister and I about belts in the car, yet, out with the old man in his wagon and it was all different rules! When I started driving myself I vaguely remember not wearing a belt, some lorries didn’t have them if I recall, if they did maybe they were crap and I didn’t wear them as I’d been brought up that way. Can’t remember too much. I don’t have memories of belt wearing in lorries and being all restrained anyway, not until I tried it again a few years ago and then I wore them of course.
We have full 5 point harnesses in my line of work, there’s different rules about how many bits need to be fastened depending on which stage. You see “loose application of the rules” by many people, usually on the ground with the top straps 
.
I’ve mentioned…
This before on another seat belt thread.
You will be laughed out of court if you try to claim any compensation and you weren’t wearing your seat belt.
If seat belts are fitted then you have to wear it,its the law.I have heard of drivers wearing a shirt with a diagonal stripe to fool the cameras ,but why?
Two choices really, stay in your seat or headbutt the screen?
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Not a nice way to die, drowning in your own blood, which is what happens when the rib cage bones puncture the lungs and other vital organs.
You are alone lying on the tarmac, the last thought is wishing the seat belt was attached .
Or suffer a serious head injury , being off work for years, on benefits and loss of a lgv licence.
For the ones that say it is uncomfortable, grow up .
Some of you may remember the incident where a driver rolled his truck full of glass bottles on the bend near the stockyard, causing chaos for those trying to get in to park up. The driver is a friend of mine, he wasn’t wearing his seat belt at the time and was told by the firemen attending the scene that not wearing it probably saved his life. Ironically there wasn’t a seatbelt fitted to the truck,but due to the age of the truck it should’ve been fitted, and he got busted by the cops for not wearing it
Back in the days before seatbelts began to be standard in cars I was first on scene at a couple of accidents, seeing the effects on occupants who’d butted windscreens made me drive a lot more sensibly. Once i had a car with them I always wore them.
I was always taught to wear one since I can remember. My mum used to be a nurse and she saw plenty of what was the result of people not wearing them. I remember getting recovered from Kingston in London by a guy in an old Foden, pre fitted seatbelts. Pre speed limiters too. I have never felt more unsafe than I did in that truck.
You may survive in certain situations by not wearing one but i’d guess that’s a pretty low percentage.
My view is that there are too many idiot drivers out there for you not to wear one. And as above head-butting the windscreen or similar if you end up doing a bit of off roading it or suchlike is not going to be particularly pleasant.
We had a guy at our place who had to avoid a head on due to another incident and ended up in a field with the truck being a complete write-off and pretty much unrecognisable and he walked away with some light grazes and bruises, if he hadn’t been wearing one I don’t think he’d still be around today.
The only time I haven’t worn a seat belt is when I was ‘on the buses.’ You never knew when some cretin fancied having a go over nothing, and it did come in handy more than once. I can’t remember whether or not they were fitted in lorries when I started in the 60’s. If they were, I was probably too indestructible to wear them. 
If you look at the Volvo logo on the front of the cab grille, the diagonal line denotes…
The seatbelt. Trucks never had them when I started and if IIRC, the lap belts were on a Volvo too. 
always wear one now though, because I can. easier, you can NOT beat the system! Resistance is futile, fother muckers! 
I reckon about 50% of the time I got in a different truck the seat belt was already plugged in.