What a really dumb thing to do

Here’s a device designed to save lives, but there are fools who want to outsmart it.

OPEN the car door, get in the seat, close the door and buckle on the seat belt. Switch on the engine, check surroundings for traffic, people and other things you don’t want to hit or run over. Release the brake, press on the accelerator gently and go.

Sounds familiar? Well, that’s my routine before driving out in my car. Yours might differ in sequence, and there are, of course, other things you might also check, like the side and rear mirrors. Lock the doors if yours don’t automatically do so.

I will also set my phone into its holder to play Spotify, and turn on Waze for traffic information and directions. Oh, on a sunny day, I will put on sunglasses and pull on my sun protection gloves.

It sure seems like a lot of stuff on my checklist before hitting the gas pedal, and sometimes I may not do all. But one thing I never, ever forget to do is click on my safety belt. That’s the key word – safety.

The motor vehicle is 140 years old from when Karl Benz invented the first practical model in 1885. Since then, many features have been added to enhance its safety for drivers and passengers.

According to clarkfountain.com, personal injury attorneys in the United States, in the history of car safety features, one of the first was the manual wiper blade, followed by rear-view mirrors and automatic signalling arms to indicate when a car was turning.

Since then, many features have become standard and mandatory so that cars can qualify for high safety ratings.

These include airbags, a third brake light, an anti-locking braking system (ABS) and electronic stability control (ESC).

Vehicles also do helpful things like automatically turning on your headlights when it gets dark.

Even reversing is made a lot easier and safer with rear view cameras and on-screen guides. So, the onus is on the driver to ensure his or her safety and the safety of others is being reduced all the time as the car itself does more and more for us.

However, the one safety feature that has been proven beyond doubt to save lives and prevent serious injury is the safety belt, and that requires humans to make it work.

Yet a lot of people find that cumbersome to do, and look for ways to circumvent it.

One is to buy seat belt dummy buckles.

Recent news reports on the growing trend really floored me. As The Star reported in October last year, a dummy buckle is a vehicle accessory that resembles a real seat belt buckle that is being used to fool the car system and silence the sound of the seat belt reminder.

The report adds that the device goes by many names, including seat belt stop plug, seat belt inserts, insert hooks, and car seat belt clip buckle.

It is innocuously advertised as a useful device to make the seat belt more comfortable for occupants who are shorter, larger-sized or pregnant, and it may actually be used for that reason. But there are sellers on online stores that openly market it as a “car seat belt alarm silencer”.

Just a quick check on a popular shopping website in Malaysia, and you can see one vendor has sold 361,200 such dummy buckles over five years. Others have sold many thousands more, and prices can be as low as RM1.99 per piece.

User reviews praise it: “This item fits the seat belt slot of my car perfectly and does its job in eliminating the alarm when the seat belt is not needed”; “Bought this to stop the back seat passenger belt alarm from beeping”, and “Fits perfectly. Settles my beeping issue.”

That’s why the Road Transport Department (JPJ) and Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research (Miros) are calling it a significant safety risk because “its use encourages drivers and passengers to bypass wearing seat belts, leading to unsafe behaviour while on the road,” added The Star report.

Volvo’s engineer Nils Bohlin designed the three-point seat belt in 1959.

It ingeniously provided an “immovable anchorage point” below the hip that could hold the body safely in the event of a crash. And Volvo, which built its reputation on making safer cars, generously allowed other car makers to use for free this most important safety device ever invented, which we car users take for granted.

Bohlin had come up with a solution that was, as he described it, “simple, effective and could be put on conveniently with one hand.” But even that is too much trouble for many people who want to bypass buckling up.

There are clear reasons why wearing the seat belt is mandatory in many countries.

In Malaysia, seat belt laws for drivers and front passengers have been enforced through the Road Transport Act 1987 since April 1, 1979, and since Jan 1, 2009 for rear seat belt use.

According to the World Health Organisation, the use of seat belts for front occupants reduces the risk of fatal injuries by 45% to 50% and the risk of death and serious injuries among back-seat occupants by 25%.

Perhaps people think seat belts are no longer necessary since front seat airbags have been mandatory since 2012. But, as The Star reported, seat belts and airbags work “in unison to protect passengers from chest injuries caused by impacts with the steering wheel or dashboard.”

It added, “Seat belts are the primary protection system for drivers to reduce the impact of crashes. The Supplemental Restraint System (SRS) airbag only serves as additional support to the seat belt in the event of crashes.”

Having said all this, I am not completely without sympathy for people who dislike wearing seat belts, especially the rear ones.

While you can usually adjust the height of front seat ones by lowering or raising the anchor ring on the side pillar of the car – I think that’s what it is called – it’s not the same for rear seat belts.

I, too, have found the belt cutting into my neck instead of resting on my shoulder.

But despite the irritation, I will still buckle up and try to keep adjusting the belt position because I would rather stay uncomfortably safe rather than risk getting hurt or killed or injuring the front passenger should an accident throw my unbuckled body forward.

I think car manufacturers should look into this aspect and make rear seat belts, especially the middle ones, more comfortable.

That would take away a prime reason why people try to sidestep wearing one.

But for those who think they can outsmart and silence the seat belt alarm by jamming it, you are the dummies.

The views expressed here are the writer’s own.