[narvval]

> You are going to be the only one of 20 people on the plane doing this, for jump after jump, no matter how experienced you become? I wish there was a way to test this. I don't believe you.

I'm really really surprised by these comments. Maybe it's a cultural thing but for sure where I live everyone checks at the very least themselves before jumping.

For me it's like saying "sure you won't remember to fasten the seatbelt on your car, ride after ride, once you are an experience driver?". Well, you can be damn sure I will ;)

[TeMPOraL]

Which is why I can't see how you're surprised. Seatbelts are the perfect example - in my experience, a lot of experienced drivers don't bother, or at least didn't bother in my country until the fear of getting ticketed for it started to feel real. And I'm convinced that the moment this law would disappear, a significant chunk of drivers would stop bothering with seatbelts.

[narvval]

> Which is why I can't see how you're surprised.

What I am surprised at is the fact that the parent literally says "I don't believe you" regarding something that I experience myself all the time.

It's like they internalized that doing so is not only rare -which it might be in their country- but just not at all possible!!

> Seatbelts are the perfect example - in my experience, a lot of experienced drivers don't bother

See that's quite my point. I don't doubt that people might not use the seatbelt where you live. But if you told me you "don't believe" that the vast majority of people use it here when I see it with my own eyes every day... Then I'd be indeed very surprised.

(As a side note seatbelt usage here in Switzerland is reported to be ~94% by the European transport safety council)

[spuz]

I think this is a cultural thing. In the UK, I would say more people automatically wear a seatbelt than for example Italy. I had an Italian friend who was in a crash where the car flipped but luckily his time in the UK ingrained in him that he should wear a seatbelt, even while riding in the back. On the other hand, he now uses this story to try to change the behaviour of his Italian compatriots who he says very often do not wear seatbelts while in the back of a car.

[thecatspaw]

I am still surprised.

For me, its simple. I want to live. Checking my gear/wearing my seatbelt increases my chances for survival if something goes wrong.

If it takes 5 minutes to make sure you'll live another day, would you not take these 5 minutes?

[dgzl]

> For me, it's simple. I want to live.

Some people like risky activities because they don't want to live. It's a cultural thing.

[todd8]

I just checked the stats for seatbelt use in the United States. Interesting, in most states it’s over 90% to 97%, but in New Hampshire it’s only 70%. New Hampshire (I always liked its Live Free or Die motto) has no law requiring seat belt use. See https://crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov/Api/Public/Publication/8124...

[coldtea]

>For me it's like saying "sure you won't remember to fasten the seatbelt on your car, ride after ride, once you are an experience driver?". Well, you can be damn sure I will ;)

I'm not sure about this example. All around the world tons of people don't fasten the seatbelt (and many more wouldn't do it if there weren't fines).

[perl4ever]

That doesn't mean it can happen at X% probability to everyone. Seatbelts on modern cars, of course, have warning lights and beepers. I never put my belt on before turning the car on, but I never take a trip without it. It's not really a matter of memory, because if I found myself driving without a seatbelt and no memory of how it happened, I'm still conditioned to feel naked.

I wonder if there are really a lot of people who are sensitive to the risk of a fine but not the risk of injury or death.

[coldtea]

>Seatbelts on modern cars, of course, have warning lights and beepers. I never put my belt on before turning the car on, but I never take a trip without it

A popular accessory in some countries is a seat-belt "buckle" without the belt. You use it to silence the "seat belt unfastened" beepers.

https://www.ebay.com/bhp/seat-belt-alarm-stopper