Why do so many truck drivers still refuse To wear seat belts? I drive all over the UK and all the time I see drivers in there cab with no seat belt on. The facts are they do save lives and not forgetting it is the law or maybe you earn so much you can afford to pay the fines. You all expect to be treated as professional drivers but there you are sitting in your truck for all to see and breaking the law. Professional drivers I don’t think so.
£100 fine now!
When I was 17 I was a passenger in my friends 306, he hit a tree the car flipped and rolled down a ditch. As it scrapped along the road on its side I had to hold my mates head up to stop it scrapping along the Tarmac. After it rolled down the ditch we kicked the windscreen in to get out the doors were mangled they wouldn’t open. My injuries… I hit my knee on the dashboard that was it. Seat belts save life’s.
This happened to a friends brother in law on the m56 not so long back, he walked away from it shaken but unharmed because of his seatbelt
WTF happened there ?
He clipped a low loader on an overtake manoeuvre and ended up going down the road staring at the tarmac
Just habit really. I always wear one in the car but never in the truck.
I know I should but I’d hate to be told I had to wear one in the truck whereas it’d be ok in the car for some reason.
Lol, I bet he absolutely ■■■■ himself!
BigE:
Why do so many truck drivers still refuse to wear seat belts? .
.
They consider it unmanly and very restrictive when they are cooking or watching a DVD.
Fools.
.
Because lorry drivers have all got a mate who swears not wearing a seat belt saved his life as it stopped xxxx falling on his head. 
Old habits amongst those who were driving before seat belt use was compulsory (or even fitted!) die hard.
I remember a similar fuss when seat belts wearing was made law in 1982… it will fade eventually.
Some drivers are exempt from wearing a seat belt and produce a medical certificate to show the police if stopped.The ones that are not exempt are just bone idle and too lazy to wear one.
The excuse would be i am just going down the road.
I am on local and within my delivery radius so dont need one.
It hurts my neck.
It hurts my fat stomach.
What they do not realise is if you crash and the bones in the thoracic region pierce the internal organs so they bleed out.A lung punctured is a painful death drowning in blood.There is a lifetime in a wheel chair to ponder over too for a three second act of putting a belt on.
It stands out like a sore thumb when not wearing one which invites the police to go over a months tachos.Check the whole truck and delay you.They are idiots who do not wear one.
We have a night driver who doesn’t wear one and will clip the belt in by stretching it around the back of the seat to stop the warning bleeper sounding he may as well put it on properly.
Dieseldoforme:
BigE:
Why do so many truck drivers still refuse to wear seat belts? ..They consider it unmanly and very restrictive when they are cooking or watching a DVD.
Fools.
I can never forget this one now, Every time this subject crops up.
youtube.com/watch?v=yp3JrMH … ata_player
I know I shouldn’t laugh but
I suppose it shows you can survive ‘nicely’ without seatbelt 
I only wear one because they’ve started nicking lorry drivers now.
Not cos i’m some toughy either, its for reasons of safety, from when i drove an Volvo FM with the wardrobe mirrors (modern MANs and others just as bad) the bog cleaner fitted right in the field of vision too high up the windows, come to junctions and you can’t see a bloody thing, need to be able to duck and dive around to see whats coming.
Scania got this right, their mirrors are sited so you can see over the main (large) mirror and the wide angle is a seperate on top smaller causing less loss of vision…how did Volvo especially get this so wrong and stayed like that for so long.
If you’ve never missed something behind these stupid mirrors until the last moment and had to stop dead then you’ve not been driving long enough or have been extremely lucky, or maybe you have a giraffes neck.
Don’t fret ladies we’re all good little drones now and do as we’re told (by those who don’t do the job as usual), if we miss some poor bugger on his bike or in a van behind the bloody great mirror casing cos we’re belted in We’ll be alright as we go over them cos we have our belts on.
bald bloke:
We have a night driver who doesn’t wear one and will clip the belt in by stretching it around the back of the seat to stop the warning bleeper sounding he may as well put it on properly.
… reminds me of Peter Kay’s Nan…
“I’ll just put the buckle in my pocket” 
Impact,engine hump twists,seatbelt stalk jammed between seat and engine hump,fire and no way to cut the belt,die.
What the hell has “professionalism” and obeying the law got in common?
Professionalism is doing the job right.If your a good driver you should never need a seat belt.
Juddian:
I only wear one because they’ve started nicking lorry drivers now.Not cos i’m some toughy either, its for reasons of safety, from when i drove an Volvo FM with the wardrobe mirrors (modern MANs and others just as bad) the bog cleaner fitted right in the field of vision too high up the windows, come to junctions and you can’t see a bloody thing, need to be able to duck and dive around to see whats coming.
Scania got this right, their mirrors are sited so you can see over the main (large) mirror and the wide angle is a seperate on top smaller causing less loss of vision…how did Volvo especially get this so wrong and stayed like that for so long.
If you’ve never missed something behind these stupid mirrors until the last moment and had to stop dead then you’ve not been driving long enough or have been extremely lucky, or maybe you have a giraffes neck.
Don’t fret ladies we’re all good little drones now and do as we’re told (by those who don’t do the job as usual), if we miss some poor bugger on his bike or in a van behind the bloody great mirror casing cos we’re belted in We’ll be alright as we go over them cos we have our belts on.
ive done exactly the same thing coming to the first roundabout from ups shaw cross in one of their older daf’s,checked roundabout,set off and the big stupid square mirror blocked vision and i did’nt see a moped coming across and round,had to stop dead.
Anyone who drives an MAN will agree with you Juddian. The belt locks under the slightest braking force preventing you moving around for maximum visibility.
No idea what the answer is, but as we’re all pro’s we just have to adapt and overcome.
Bking:
Impact,engine hump twists,seatbelt stalk jammed between seat and engine hump,fire and no way to cut the belt,die.What the hell has “professionalism” and obeying the law got in common?
Professionalism is doing the job right.If your a good driver you should never need a seat belt.
Wrong. If you’re a good driver you should ALWAYS need a seatbelt; to protect you from the antics of those who are not good drivers.
Being a “good driver” is not just about capability; it’s about doing the job right and that includes obeying the law, however irritating it might be.
I have some sympathy with Juddian’s comments about blind spots and moving one’s body to see round them. My current Renault isn’t too bad for this but as he says Volvo FM’s are a royal PITA; inevitably you lean forward, belt locks, so you move back too quickly and lean forward again, it’s still locked, etc. Take a breath and lean forward slowly; bugger the traffic behind you let 'em wait till you can see safely.
Took me a while to get used to belts in trucks, I confess; however anyone complaining about them now would do well to remember some of the set-ups in earlier trucks where it felt like the belt would rip your head off if you pranged. That, I suspect, goes a way towards the reluctance of some drivers to wear them, though I suspect the “macho” bit is the most likely reason. I still occasionally forget; but nowadays I’m much more likely to remember within say 100 yards of moving off and put it on, whereas in days gone by I wouldn’t have bothered till I got to the next drop.