There were always seat belts in planes as long as I can remember which would be the 1950s. Race car drivers wore seat belts too so they wouldn't die in racing. But, people didn't usually wear seat belts even if they were installed in cars when they bought them. I even think my Camaro might have had seat belts in 1968 at that time. However, I didn't wear it because I didn't see the need. In 1989 I got my first seat belt ticket while living in Hawaii on Maui and then when I moved back to the SF Bay area I got another one. I was tired of having to pay for seat belt tickets so I started wearing them even though I hated doing this because I felt trapped in whatever car I was driving in. This is my personal experience with seat belts in my life.
Not having to wear seat belts was a completely different psychological experience growing up than what people experience today. I remember watching a stationwagon filled with people flying above my head in my father's car. I was about 8 or 9 years of age on the Ventura Freeway on the way to Malibu with my Dad and Mom. I asked my Dad if we were going back to help these screaming people. However, I know now they all died now. They must of hit a car on the other side of the freeway and it had catapulted their car over the center divider because they were now traveling 70 miles per hour through the air into oncoming traffic that was also going 70 miles per hour the other direction. Now I understand my father's tight jaw as he said, "NO" to me asking about helping those people. Then I didn't understand. Would any of these people have survived this accident with seat belts? Likely not. But, it does give one the idea that some types of accidents people would survive with a seat belt on and not instead be thrown from the car which almost always is certain death in these kinds of accidents.
So, are seat belts good? I'm not sure how to answer this question if one isn't having an accident that day?
Because think about all the times you don't need to be wearing a seat belt and how trapped you feel having to put those things on. Think about how psychologically traumatized many children feel trapped in their car seats all those years. So, are seat belts a good thing?
Maybe the day you have an accident they are a good thing. The rest of the time they are a terrible nuisance. However, in a plane I always keep my seat belt on because I have seen people hit the ceiling especially stewardesses more than once and get injured. So, I always keep my seat belt loose while flying even if it is a calm flight.
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