> Of course in practice almost nobody actually uses these.

The damn government can’t tell me what to do.

Sigh, I see plenty of people driving with the seatbelt behind them, which means they make the choice to ignore the advice. Imagine having to take action without being constantly told to.

As other comments have mentioned, we’re dumb.

Some deliberately do it out of principle, despite knowing it's dumb. I have a family member who refuses to wear his seat belt simply because the government shouldn't tell him what to do. He knows it's safer, and knows that he'll get a ticket if he's pulled over, but won't do it, purely out of this weird, dogmatic anti-authority.

In the field of aviation, they study aeronautical decision making (ADM), and hazardous attitudes that prevent good decision making. The FAA identified the so-called 5 Hazardous Attitudes[1], and number one on the list is "Anti-authority". I wouldn't be surprised if this attitude is causal of accidents and negligence in other activities like boating and driving.

1: https://www.aopa.org/news-and-media/all-news/1999/september/...

Given how the country was essentially founded by "anti-authority" and still somewhat values freedom highly, it's not so surprising. IMHO it's not a bad thing as long as it's done in moderation.

>... plenty of people driving with the seatbelt behind them ...

There is a gadget which had some diffusion here (the manufacturer explicitly states that it is not tested/approved and actually prohibited for human use, but we all know how it is used in real life), tellingly called "Zitto" (would translate to "shut-up"):

https://www.lampa.it/it/articoli/72397-zitto-2-extension?gr=...