ding ding ding seatbelt warning

[Gaz_2005_Passat]

Please somebody tell me how turn the seat belt warning off, i wear my seat belt but passengers who get in my car dont (im a taxi driver). sometimes its such a short journey its not worth them putting it on they say. any help would be cool, cheers!

[james_tiger_woo]

It's a safety and not to mention legal feature - if your passengers want to not wear a seatbelt, I'd suggest advising them to at least get in the back.

What happens if one of your family gets in the front seat of your car, doesn't put on their seatbelt and you have an accident?

Personally, I won't set off until my girlfriend puts on her seatbelt if she's in the car - I'm weaning her off her habit of getting in someone's car and not putting on her belt.

Sorry if this seems a bit preachy, but that's my 2 pence worth.

I'm sure it can be done, but I sincerely doubt you'll find a dealer that will do it for you.

[Quatrelle]

I could tell you how to get round it very easily, but I won't, for the reasons jtwoo states. No one goes anywhere in my car without a seatbelt, even in the back - I don't fancy someone coming over the top of my seat in an accident.

Point out to your passengers that it is you who will be fined...might help persuade them.

[DaveNN]

I could tell you how to get round it very easily, but I won't, for the reasons jtwoo states. No one goes anywhere in my car without a seatbelt, even in the back - I don't fancy someone coming over the top of my seat in an accident.

Point out to your passengers that it is you who will be fined...might help persuade them.

I have the rear seat belts coupled up...even when there's no one in the back (have you noticed that, after a service, the garage does this too?)...the reason???
In the event of a decent rear end shunt, whatever's in the boot/hatch can come flying through to the passenger cabin & plough into the back of the driver/front seat passenger.
The belts just give a bit extra support to the back & seat squab.

[Yeti_Racer]

Under the seat there are some plugs, trace the 2 wires from the seat belt clasp, to a 2 wire plug and disconnect it.

P.S. I also taxi a Passat, and you can't tell drunks that the constant beeping is them not wearing their belt.

[james_tiger_woo]

I have the rear seat belts coupled up...even when there's no one in the back (have you noticed that, after a service, the garage does this too?)...the reason???
In the event of a decent rear end shunt, whatever's in the boot/hatch can come flying through to the passenger cabin & plough into the back of the driver/fron seat passenger.
The belts just give a bit extra support to the back & seat squab.

I thought that was to prove that the belts work....

My solution to this is to keep nothing in the boot :)

[DaveNN]

I thought that was to prove that the belts work....

My solution to this is to keep nothing in the boot :)

I've tried that.....but dead bodies tend to stink out the cabin!:D

[DaveNN]

I thought that was to prove that the belts work....

My solution to this is to keep nothing in the boot :)

It was a Saab dealer who first pointed this out.....does make sense.
I still miss having the ignition down near the gear lever too!:Blush2:

[Quatrelle]

Under the seat there are some plugs, trace the 2 wires from the seat belt clasp, to a 2 wire plug and disconnect it.

P.S. I also taxi a Passat, and you can't tell drunks that the constant beeping is them not wearing their belt.Just make sure you don't disturb anything else, otherwise you'll have the airbag warning light giving you the occasional ding instead....;)

[djsky]

I recall hearing somewhere, that Taxi drivers were encouraged NOT to wear their seatbelts, and it is not a legal obligation for them to wear it either, but it is for their passengers. Possibly something to do with being able to get out of the car and chase after non-payers? Or perhaps to make them drive more carefully as they would be the first through the window in an accident... no offence to taxi drivers...

[Gaz_2005_Passat]

Taxi drivers are only exempt from wearing their seatbelts only when they feel threatened in their car, this is the only time it is legally acceptable, knowing this from a stinging £30 experience lol.

I understand that seatbelts are for safety, I always wear mine now, but you try telling a drunk 20st bloke and his 3 no neck mates in the back to put their seat belt on, its not possible.

I would say 75% of people put it on, but why would I argue with people on a weekend to put it on, if they are over 16, their not my responsibility. it sounds selfish maybe, but you ask any taxi driver if they demand the passenger belts up as soon as they get in his cars (we do with children),

James_tiger_woo I was not asking to be preached at, about road safety :aargh4::aargh4:, as I know it already, and I agree with everything you say regarding it :beerchug:, but what im asking is how do you turn off the seatbelt noise, more so in the front passenger seat as it must be possible.

Thanks to all who posted.

[james_tiger_woo]

I apologise for preaching - It's just that I had a friend, who didn't wear a belt, nearly killed because of it....

[Stuart W]

Taxi drivers are only exempt from wearing their seatbelts only when they feel threatened in their car, this is the only time it is legally acceptable, knowing this from a stinging £30 experience lol.






If you got a ticket then the person who gave you it either didn't know the law or you weren't exempt for some other reason, because the exemption you mention doesn't exist.

Taxi/Hackney Carriage drivers are exempt when carrying passsengers or while looking for work, thus unless the driver is off-duty he's exempt. (It may be different if driving out-of-area without a passenger, but I think that's a grey area).

Private hire drivers are only exempt while carrying a passenger.

[Stuart W]

I recall hearing somewhere, that Taxi drivers were encouraged NOT to wear their seatbelts, and it is not a legal obligation for them to wear it either, but it is for their passengers. Possibly something to do with being able to get out of the car and chase after non-payers?

Taxi drivers are generally exempt, and private hire drivers are exempt under more limited circumstances, but I've never heard any recommendations NOT to wear seatbelts, indeed quite the opposite.

There are arguments either way, but most obvious is the danger posed to drivers themselves - a recent case in my neck of the woods involved a driver who died after coming off the road late at night, and the Sheriff in a Fatal Accident Enquiry recommended that the exemption could be lifted for drivers in rural areas.

http://www.thecourier.co.uk/output/2008/01/26/newsstory10852501t0.asp

On the other hand, a recent case in Gorton, Tameside saw two idiots try to choke a driver with his seatbelt and attempt to get his keys, but they were distrubed by a passer-by and they made off with some cash and the driver's mobile phone.

I'm not sure what the official rationale for the exemption is, but the threat from passengers is certainly a very popular on in the trade.

[Gaz_2005_Passat]

I got the ticket off a traffic officer, he explained that only in times of myself fearing for my safety was i allowed to legally remove my seat belt. This was 2 years ago so maybe its changed since then.

[lesleystoddart]

This reminded me of a recent story in our local paper -

http://www.thecourier.co.uk/output/2008/01/26/newsstory10852501t0.asp

[Stuart W]

I got the ticket off a traffic officer, he explained that only in times of myself fearing for my safety was i allowed to legally remove my seat belt. This was 2 years ago so maybe its changed since
then.

The rules have been the same for years as far as I know.

Are you taxi or private hire, and what precisely were you doing at the time?

I'm sure that if you ask your local trade, licensing office or police then they would provide much the same answer as me.

[lesleystoddart]

Taxi drivers are only exempt from wearing their seatbelts only when they feel threatened in their car, this is the only time it is legally acceptable, knowing this from a stinging £30 experience lol.





The link I put in the post above you Stuart gives an indication that this may not be the case, maybe there are regional differences or maybe there have been changes. This is a quote from the article -

"In his determination, Sheriff Evans said members of the public are required to wear seatbelts at all times, but not so a licensed taxi driver.
He said that, as far as he is aware, the regulations obliging drivers to wear seatbelts do not apply to licensed taxi drivers, and the belt does not have to be worn while a taxi is used for seeking hire, answering a call for hire, or carrying a passenger for hire."

[Stuart W]

The link I put in the post above you Stuart gives an indication that this may not be the case, maybe there are regional differences or maybe there have been changes. This is a quote from the article -



The seatbelt regulations are nationally applicable, and I don't think there have been changes for a number of years.

The Cupar case is instructive, but it's interesting that the sheriff didn't even seem to know the national rules definitively, as suggestsed by the passage you quote, and another passage in the article suggests that he didn't know Fife Council's own rules on seatbelts; indeed, I doubt if they could make rules that would override the national rules.

On the Saturday night that the article was published (Sunday morning actually) I was driving into Cupar down the long straight hill from Pitscottie and although I was doing around the speed limit, another taxi, which had been a good few hundred yards behind me leaving Pitscottie, was soon up my exhaust pipe and eventually went careering past me.

When we got to Cupar he turned into Tarvit Drive, and I almost had to slow up for this, thus his driving achieved little more than gaining him a couple of seconds, but this is the way some drive - getting past the car in front is an end in itself, particulary if it's another taxi.

Perhaps unsurprisingly this happened at exactly the same time of the week as the fatal accident (early Sunday morning) and this is what the authorities should be more concerned about rather than the seatbelt rules per se.

[lesleystoddart]

Speaking to a taxi driver last night funnily enough (also in Fife), confirmed he never wears a seatbelt in his car. He was a one man business and said his taxi is also the 'family taxi' too. Having the 'taxi' sign above, he never gets stopped.

But you're right, and I don't want to tar every taxi driver with the same brush, but I get taxi's regularly, usually after nights out travelling from Dunfermline and the way some of them drive you would think they had a death wish, only I really don't want to go with them! They frequently drive at excessive speeds and go straight over roundabouts etc. Many of them use the back roads which are winding and bumpy and they completely ignore the speed limits, if I have made a comment about the speed they usually just laugh or grunt. Wish there was an alternative but there's not.

[Gaz_2005_Passat]

Another happy customer!!