Being a former member of my local fire depertment, I seen too many things. I quit for personal time constraint reasons.
I specialized in rescue, vehicle, bus, confined space, water, rope/high angle, search-and-rescue (this area is great for a hunter who wants to get lost), had two levels of firefighter training, and had limited experience in being an ambulance crewmember.
I have seen where seatbelts wouldn't have made ANY difference, the last one I worked on had her seatbelt on and the airbags deployed, it DID NOT MATTER as her Ford Explorer FOLDED in the middle. Square frontal impact with a tree at an estimated 45 mph.
I wear mine and make sure my immediate family follows suit, and if someone rides in my vehicle I make them too as Pennsylvania law states I can be stopped for just the seatbelt violation regardless of front seat occupant committing the violation, driver or passenger.
As far as seatbelts in busses, I'm all for it, my daughter gets picked up for head start in a 2003 GMC C-65 series schoolbus conversion which includes seatbelt provisions for all occupants with adjustability for different sized occupants, it also includes adjustable fold-away child safety seats (car seats) for what the law here requires of children of different ages and weights.
I took a bus rescue course for the department in 1995, the bus we worked with was almost 20 years old then, and it was difficult to gain alternate entry from the sides, roof, and floor. The newer models have external re-inforcement ribs, but are now equipped with alternate entry/exit points (look for the window frames that pop out, they have reflective paint or tape around them, and are located in the mid point of each side).
I am all for safety devices and stuff, but it should include ALL vehicles.
Motorcycles, and loud exhaust- they are legal, and don't have the emissions hound on them as hard.
My car has to be quieter than my lawnmower, and will soon have to make an emission testing machine happy.
The cyclist in PA. also has a choice of whether he wants to wear a helmet or not, I'm required to buckle-up but he's free to fly off his machine.
I have nothing against motorcycles, and have owned two in the past.
My kids have to wear a helmet in public areas on their bicycles, but not if they want to use a skateboard or rollerblades.
The neighbors' cats can run loose, walk all over my vehicles, and kill the rabbits my daughter loves to watch (and catch, but never does), but my dogs have to have shots, be restrained, and have licenses.
Laws arent meant to make any of us happy, they are meant to keep "darwins dimwits" alive and among us. "Heres' your sign"
The attached picture is of a PSP cruiser stuck in wet concrete in a construction zone, you would think the female officer would turn off the pursuit lights, she ain't goin' nowhere for a while.:thumbup:
The soapbox awaits the next member...