Seat belts and off road

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Do you ware your belt off road?

  • My landy has a what belt???

    Votes: 5 16.7%

  • Yes, i dont have a roll cage but it makes sence.

    Votes: 17 56.7%

  • Yes, the government man told me to.

    Votes: 2 6.7%

  • Yes, my roll cage wouldent count for **** otherwise.

    Votes: 2 6.7%

  • Hell no, if there a problem im getting out!

    Votes: 2 6.7%

  • Does it matter? Im screwed eather way.

    Votes: 2 6.7%
  • Total voters
    30
woods767

woods767

Well-Known Member
Posts
1,262
Location
Stuck in the ditch that runs along the side of the
So, who wares a Seat belt off road? Theres no doubt there a good thing on the road, i personaly ow at least my face to a tight seat belt, air bag and 7 foot bonnet.

Obviously most slow off road and laning its totaly un-nessesery. But for the tricky stuff, your options are, to be belted in to stop you getting throwen about, or being loose so you can jump out. Whats best?
 
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Fitted them in my old Series IIA a year ago which was off-road only.

The defender now...well I'm always wearing it.

Someone once told me that while it may slow you down getting out of a crash, if it holds you in your seat and lets you concentrate on driving, you're less likely to crash in the first place.
 
And more likey to be uninjured and able to escape.
 
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i always wear mine did any one see top gear when they had lorrys n theyhad to drift em? was so funny when clarkson who wasn't wearing his seat belt flew across the other side of the cab lol :doh:
 
as MHM says on lanes they are a legal requirement regardless of how necessary you think they are.. we get bad enough press as it is without flouting a law which has no negative effect on us...

not been 'proper' off roading but I would probably wear it anyway because I think you have more chance of getting out when sommat goes wrong if you aren't wearing 1/2 your windscreen on your nose..
 
I always wear my seatbelt in the landy or in a car. I know people that only survived an accident because they were wearing a seatbelt. I also know people that only survived because they weren't. It's luck of the draw. If you weren't wearing a seatbelt and were involved in an accident that was someone else's fault then you would automaticaly lose around half of your compensation as contributory negligence.:(

My truck however doesn't have seatbelts. If I hit a car at low speed I would be ok. If I hit a wall, bridge, back of another truck etc I have no protection and would stand a good chance of being dead. For that reason I have not had seatbelts fitted. At least I can still bail if I need to.:p
 
Four and five point harnesses are a good upgrade for any off-roader.

I wouldn't off-road without the belt and laning is a legal requirement to wear them, so yes, I always wear the seat belt.
 
I dont have seat belts in mine anymre, just harnesses and I always wear them. After my old 90 tried to kill me when the rear prop seized (why it didnt just snap i dont know) i realised if i hadnt had it on i would certainly not be here now. Even though I have a full MSA spec cage I never go anywhere without being well strapped in. Also because i have a tendancy to drive it rather quickly. As you do!
 
well as far as i can remember the back end locked up whilst going round a corner doing about 50. This shot me up onto a grass verge at about 30 degrees then hit a tree and spun and flipped twice before ending up on the drivers side facing the wrong way on the wrong side of the road. Fine but my foot flew out the door and the landy was lying on it. nice.
All i really remamber is my tools flying in front of my face whilst flying through the air.
Must have been quite a spectacle to oncoming traffic (luckily about half a mile away but saw it).
Bonnet flew off, truck cab was crumpled, chassis wad diamond shaped, front axle was banana shaped, bulkhead and seat box bent to fook and both wings were mashed. So everything was fooked really!
The only thing i still have is the rear tub which is on my current 90 after the rebuild and it still has the dent from where they lifted it off my ankle with the hydraulic jaws!
I also took home a half moon divot of tarmac in one of the very bent front rims, which is still missing from the road 4 years on!
The only fault i found when i stripped it down was the rear uj had siezed completely solid. Very strange as no symptoms at all. I have had a dry uj "catch" as i've been driving another vehicle and this shot me off to the left aswell so i am confident that was the cause so keep em greased!
Fairly certain if i didnt have my belt on i would have followed my foot out the open door and either landed in a heap in the road/bushes, or under my bent 90!
And I race these things!!
 
Tig9619 said:
well as far as i can remember the back end locked up whilst going round a corner doing about 50. This shot me up onto a grass verge at about 30 degrees then hit a tree and spun and flipped twice before ending up on the drivers side facing the wrong way on the wrong side of the road. Fine but my foot flew out the door and the landy was lying on it. nice.
All i really remamber is my tools flying in front of my face whilst flying through the air.
Must have been quite a spectacle to oncoming traffic (luckily about half a mile away but saw it).
Bonnet flew off, truck cab was crumpled, chassis wad diamond shaped, front axle was banana shaped, bulkhead and seat box bent to fook and both wings were mashed. So everything was fooked really!
The only thing i still have is the rear tub which is on my current 90 after the rebuild and it still has the dent from where they lifted it off my ankle with the hydraulic jaws!
I also took home a half moon divot of tarmac in one of the very bent front rims, which is still missing from the road 4 years on!
The only fault i found when i stripped it down was the rear uj had siezed completely solid. Very strange as no symptoms at all. I have had a dry uj "catch" as i've been driving another vehicle and this shot me off to the left aswell so i am confident that was the cause so keep em greased!
Fairly certain if i didnt have my belt on i would have followed my foot out the open door and either landed in a heap in the road/bushes, or under my bent 90!
And I race these things!!
Click to expand...

That sounds very nasty, i hope your foot is ok. My jag was going a fair bit slower than that (i think:eek:) when it jumped the kurb and hit a tree, but i was still glad for my ritual of driving with the seat far back and testing and tightening my belt everytime i leave from somwhere. Like i said, no doubt its a good thing on the road.

But in a sever roll over with no cage, it seems the roof can easily end up on the bulk heads, which cant be good for front seat occupants.

This was my jag, i dread to think what a similar collision would do to the occupants of a hatchback. Just shows what a tree can do even at a slow speed.
 

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My belt saved me from even encountering the airbag during my prang... Now i don't have an airbag (from choice - it was the cost of airbags that wrote the last one off!) it would be suicide not to wear it!
 
As Ratty said it's the luck of the draw. The chap who rolled his 90 after a failed hill climb. in the vid on the other thread would have been dead if he'd been wearing his seatbelt.
 
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