Guest guest Posted June 7, 2007 Report Share Posted June 7, 2007 This may not work for women (I think someone else brought this up) but I tuck the shoulder strap under my left arm so it rides across my chest. However, a couple months ago, I did get pulled over and given a warning about wearing it that way. When I pointed out to the officer that I recently had throat surgery, and having a shoulder strap laying right across my throat probably wasn't safe, he told me I still needed to get a doctor's note, and then a sticker on my license which allow me to wear the seatbelt in this manner. Bill On 6/6/07, Rickerruth@... <Rickerruth@...> wrote: > > I think it's a balancing act, constantly weighing the pros and cons. The > > seatbelt is supposed to be much less effective, if at all, if the shoulder > part > is not worn " properly " . Ideally, if the lowest setting provided by the car > > is not low enough in terms of where it cuts across shoulder and neck, then > we > should get one of the commercially available doo-hickeys, perhaps from the > > dealer, I thought someone had mentioned that possibility in the past, or > one > of the plastic clips sold for little old ladies to use when driving. I've > also > heard that the lapbelt part of the seatbelt is not effective if it's > pulled > up (by an inappropriately placed doo-hickey) above the lap-waist (supposed > to > be below belly, a location which is much easier to figure out now that I'm > > middle-aged). The dilemma that's raised for me, that Patti mentioned, was > if > I had the shoulder belt appropriately placed, as in hitting my shoulder > and > lap correctly, but still I couldn't reach necessary controls easily, > comfortably, and therefore, safely, then I decided that I needed to be > closer to the > steering wheel. For me, that was the balancing act. I'm going to take the > chance on being an inch closer to the airbag, but wearing the seatbelt > correctly (if it's useless to wear it but wear it wrong) while still being > able to > safely reach the ancillary controls. I had to reassess this again a week > or > two ago when I had some back pain issues and couldn't reach as far as > usual, > and put an additional inch of foam rubber behind me for a few days. Sure, > I > was even closer to the airbag now, but the last thing I wanted was to have > pain > inhibit my driving safely in neurotic Boston traffic. I was amazed at how > much more comfortable that one inch made. I also have a theory that any > bout > of back issues that I can't attribute to carrying something stupid, stems > somehow from driving, because that's when I'm most likely to make a > sudden, > asymmetrical movement with tense muscles to boot. > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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