people in rubbish cars exempt from seatbelt wearing

[helpmetoo]

the law states that you dont have to wear a seatbelt when performing a manoeuvre which includes reversing,

why this exemption?

rarely will you see a car that doesnt have mirrors these days,

or is this an exemption for rubbish drivers with hopeless spatial awareness who have to swivel in their seat or even worse get the co-driver to wave them back?

they should not be on the road in the first place.

[R1Geezer]

well if that's all you've got to worry about mate I envy you!

90% of laws are for 10% of the population who are dishonest, evil or thick. Surely you don't want the nanny state to be even more nannying?

[Ethel]

The amount of small children and pets that have been run over on their own drives in recent years, whilst the driver was reversing, proves that mirrors are not enough.

Mirrors will always have blind spots - a good driver knows this and looks round properly. Mirrors are of very little use when reversing to the left.

[eltelioni]

Jeez. What is your problem? Why do you care if someone leaves off their seatbelt whilst reversing? Arrogant g!t.

[LoftyLottie]

Agree with Ethel, and never rely on mirrors alone.

[helpmetoo]

cheers ethel,
you werent the driver who clipped my wing the other day in waitrose car park were you?

so occupied with whats happening behind that you forgot that the front end of the car was swinging out,

[Ethel]

Nope - I have had a full licence for over 50 years, and the only accidents I have had have been entirely the fault of other road users.

I am very used to reversing long limos into small places. Now I only drive a small car and have no problems at all.

[helpmetoo]

thanks eltelioni,

followed the law to the letter today,

reversed off my drive,
proceeded 45 miles to work,
reversed into parking bay,

didnt need to fasten seatbelt if i didnt want to as was 'performing a manoeuvre which includes reversing',

[jake-the-peg]

There are other exemptions too.

Cars that never had them fitted are exempt. My 1964 MGB did not originally have seat belts.

They've been fitted subsequently - It would be bad enough being in an accident in that anyway but without a seatbelt - no thanks.

[Ethel]

Sorry helpmetoo - you need to brush up on the law:

You MUST NOT reverse your vehicle further than necessary.

[Law CUR reg 106]

[daffy654]

I'm trying to figure out what "rubbish cars" have to do with the question.

[helpmetoo]

ethel,
thats not the issue, i dont drive to work in reverse!

[helpmetoo]

daffy,

ones the mirrors have fallen off,

or have no glass because a hopeless driver has clipped them against some object,

[daniela31]

LOL @ Ethel.....reversing the car 45 miles....that sounded so funny.
Sorry for laughing, but I got the impression that you didn't do humour.
I like it though, lets see more.

:-)

[Ethel]

I had my funny bone surgically removed.

[New Judge]

We�ve strayed a bit from the question.

�Why was this exemption allowed?� was the question.

It was allowed so that drivers who choose to �swivel in their seat� may do so without the encumbrance of a seat belt. Nobody forces them to do so; the law simply allows them to do so if they wish. So that was why the exemption is in place.

I imagine these �rubbish drivers with no spatial awareness� are the same drivers who have no idea how to control a car at 100mph on the motorway in fog. Fortunately no similar exemption from the speeding laws has been provided for those who are able to do so.

[rachael88]

i think after so many years of driveing ppl shuld take there tests again if they did i bet loads of them would il lol xxxx

[LoftyLottie]

Ethel does humour better than anybody else on this site. Very dry and very witty. She put one of the tedious regulars very much in his place on one particular thread I remember so well. No-one else could follow it.

She manages so well without any trace of rudeness.

[LoftyLottie]

I don't know what happened - I certainly didn't put all that space in!!!!

[Ethel]

That has really made me laugh, lottie - I was looking for the punch line.

:)

[JonnyBoy12]

Of course all your accidents are the fault of other road users, Ethel. They should not have been on the road at all, should they, as you own the road!