seatbelt laws?!

[340Rallye]

looking for a definitive answer. my dad and I have always been told by most law enforcement usually at car shows that unless the car came with a permanent 3 point seatbelt, you don't have to wear it as one. we've always just worn the lap belt. then you get the handful that say if it came with lap and shoulder belts then you have to wear them both. we've never been pulled over. I'm just curious.

[tparker]

Probably every state is different, but I to have heard the "if it had one, then you gotta wear it. The  cool thing with Challengers, and assuming Cudas, is that the shoulder belt is tucked up high and I doubt anyone that pulls you over will really know its there.

[Racer57]

Local Sheriff told me not to worry about being pulled over for not wearing shoulder harness in my 1970 car, but to wear seat belt.  Plenty of Cops have seen me and never stopped me.

https://magazine.northeast.aaa.com/daily/life/cars-trucks/auto-history/a-seat-belt-history-timeline/

[torredcuda]

I would check state law as they probably vary but why would you not wear the shoulder belt if the car has one? I prefer NOT to have my face imbeded in my steering wheel if something ever happened.

[7212Mopar]

To me it is safety first. These old cars were not design to absorb energy in an accident like newer cars. I replaced the stock belts with a three point belts for safety and convivence. I know, it is not stock and the shoulder belt is at less than ideal location.

[tparker]

I ride a motorcycle as my daily driver, all year long. To me it  is  about managing risks. If   I am in an accident I am screwed. I try to drive defensively and watch out for idiots (everybody but me  ),  but I'm only half the equation. It seems odd for me to wear seatbelts when I am  in a car in general where I am infinitely safer. I know I would be even safer if I wore a seatbelt but again, I  am on a bike the  majority of time. I do wear the seatbelt, but not all the time. 

Every one  has  to manage their own risk. This is not  a justification, but I  do feel we  are at less of a  risk. For one,  I tend to  think we  drive  more  cautiously in our  20-100K cars that can't  be  easily replaced and that we worked  so hard on  getting just right. In  my regular car  I  tend to take things for granted that I wouldn't in my  challenger. On  the flip  side, I   think others notice our cars and tend to take a wider bearth or at least notice  us. Basically it  lowers the odds of a crash.

something like   20-30K people  die  from car crashes a year and "some"  of  those could have been  prevented, how  many we don't  know,  but some.  So   I'm  not saying people  shouldn't wear seatbelts,  but if  I was overly worried about it, I wouldn't ride my motorcycle. Life is a dangerous place in general

[MoparCarGuy]

Consider changing to 3-point seat belts from Wesco or Seat Belt Planet.
Details in pictures to choose correct belts.

[700 AKN]

My shoulder belt has never been used in my 1970 Cuda.  If I tried to unravel it there would be major problems to get it flat enough to wear.
It's been folded up above the window forever.  I did go through a ride check one time with my car and the officer asked why I was not wearing my seat belt.  I told him I am wearing my lap belt and showed him.  He just assumed that I was not wearing a belt because he did not see a shoulder belt on me. He never questioned it and sent me on my way.  I've driven my car for 39 years and never had a citation for not wearing my seat belt.
 

[anlauto]

If the shoulder belt is optional, as in our 70-73 E Bodies, then it's optional to wear it. Of course the lap belt is mandatory. That's my understanding.

[torredcuda]

I ride a motorcycle as my daily driver, all year long. To me it  is  about managing risks. If   I am in an accident I am screwed. I try to drive defensively and watch out for idiots (everybody but me  ),  but I'm only half the equation. It seems odd for me to wear seatbelts when I am  in a car in general where I am infinitely safer. I know I would be even safer if I wore a seatbelt but again, I  am on a bike the  majority of time. I do wear the seatbelt, but not all the time. 

Every one  has  to manage their own risk. This is not  a justification, but I  do feel we  are at less of a  risk. For one,  I tend to  think we  drive  more  cautiously in our  20-100K cars that can't  be  easily replaced and that we worked  so hard on  getting just right. In  my regular car  I  tend to take things for granted that I wouldn't in my  challenger. On  the flip  side, I   think others notice our cars and tend to take a wider bearth or at least notice  us. Basically it  lowers the odds of a crash.

something like   20-30K people  die  from car crashes a year and "some"  of  those could have been  prevented, how  many we don't  know,  but some.  So   I'm  not saying people  shouldn't wear seatbelts,  but if  I was overly worried about it, I wouldn't ride my motorcycle. Life is a dangerous place in general

I have to admit years ago I never wore a seatbelt, heck some cars growing up didn`t even have them, I also rode my motorcycles with no helmet sometimes. Now I always wear my seat belt/shoulder harness and don not feel safe without it, I don`t ride street bikes anymore but do wear a helmet trail riding. I guess being older/wiser and more aware that I am not invincible like I thought when I was younger have led to me being a bit more cautious but I agree - everything has some risk in life and we all choose what risks are acceptable to us.

[Brads70]

Consider changing to 3-point seat belts from Wesco or Seat Belt Planet.
Details in pictures to choose correct belts.

This is what I did years ago..... I'm happy with it.

[JH27N0B]

If the shoulder belt is optional, as in our 70-73 E Bodies, then it's optional to wear it. Of course the lap belt is mandatory. That's my understanding.

Was the shoulder belt optional in E body hardtops?  I've only seen that option code for convertibles.  I have never seen a convertible with that option so don't even know what it looks like.  Perhaps the rarest E body option?
In the late 70s into the 80s I don't recall how often I wore my seatbelt.  They made it a law sometime in the mid to late 80s here that wearing seatbelts was mandatory.  I learned to fly in the late 80s and seatbelts are required, and I think that really instilled the need to be diligent about using seatbelts.
In 1991 I was critically injured in a plane crash, and if memory serves I had a diagonal bruise across my shoulder and chest where my shoulder belt was.  I doubt I'd be alive if I hadn't been wearing it.  The shoulder belt hasps in those Cessnas were loose fitting and tended to come loose while flying, and not long before my accident, my club had installed some little plastic keepers in the shoulder belt hasps to keep the belt from coming unhitched.  I may owe my life to that repair!
When the Cirrus airplane was designed in the 90s to be a revolutionary new design with many safety features including a ballistic parachute, one safety feature is the yoke (steering wheel for non pilots) is only half a conventional yoke and installed off to the side instead of directly in front of the pilot.  The reason is that when they were researching accidents, they found that a large % of fatal injuries to pilots in crashes was thoratic injuries from the pilots torso impacting the yoke.  So they designed one that is off to the side to prevent that.
I have become so dedicated to seat belt usage that when I bought my '71 Challenger at an auction in 2010, when I noticed it had no lap belts, I decided that when I came back the next day, I was going to bring the drivers seat lap belts that were stored in a box for my then stalled out T/A project, and install them for my 25 mile drive home in it.  My first purchase after I got it was a set of repro seat belts from BE&A.
When I watch car reality shows like graveyard cars and Iron Resurrection, I always cringe when they go for a test drive and I don't see them wearing belts.  I'd hate to see Amanda fly through a windshield!    Mark Worman, well maybe 
Of course my convertible has no shoulder belt so I am at risk cruising in that.  I do wear the shoulder belt in my hardtops.
 

[7212Mopar]

This topic reminds me of what happened to one of my hero, the late Dale Earnhardt. It was a dark day for NASCAR. From there on, more safety features, more belts are required today in motorsports. A standard three point belt setup is really minimal. Lap belt alone or not wearing any, I just wonder why take the chances.

[chargerdon]

Being that i was born in 1947 i have ridden in cars for decades before lap belts were even in cars let alone shoulder belts.   Ive been in 3 separate collisions (one a T-bone with new then 70 challenger and yes i had my lap belt on.   No injury.  One of the comments was ..."why take a chance without them "   I look at it this way...ill bet NOT ONE of us has installed air bags in our classic cars.   Gee are we taking a chance in them.   

[anlauto]

If the shoulder belt is optional, as in our 70-73 E Bodies, then it's optional to wear it. Of course the lap belt is mandatory. That's my understanding.

Was the shoulder belt optional in E body hardtops? 

NOT optional, like an extra cost option, optional like you don't have to use it if you don't want to, it's separate from the lap belt...literature back in the day said something to the affect of " seat belts including lap and optional shoulder belt"