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Importance of Seatbelts
In the UK there are laws restricting the number of passengers limousines are allowed to carry. Unless a limousine is registered as a bus, for example a stretch Hummer or Navigator, it can only carry eight passengers.
This has to do with the weight ratings of the vehicles and their ability to carry the extra weight of the extra passengers, but it is also to do with safety restraints. Putting seatbelts in a luxury stretch limousine is a bit like wearing your sneakers to a black tie dinner - they're comfortable and better for your feet but they just look terrible. The same idea is attached to seatbelts - they are necessary for passenger safety but they ruin the lines and upholstery of the interior.
However unsightly the seatbelts are, they have been proven to save lives and it is the responsibility of the chauffeur to ensure their passengers are all wearing their seatbelts.
We have all seen accidents on the side of the road and while the ambulance is in attendance, there is a white sheet pulled all the way up to the top of the stretcher - the driver or passenger has been catapulted into the window or out of the door because they were not restrained by a seatbelt.
When you speak to the ambulance drivers and paramedics, they will always attest to the number of accidents they have been to and the people who survive the car accidents are most often the ones who were wearing their seatbelt, even if they were doing the correct speed limit.
There are plenty of stories about people in accidents and while the two cars involved in the accident are damaged, the people wearing their seatbelts walk away while the people who weren't, don't.
So while a seatbelt may seem like an unwanted hindrance when riding in a limousine, it is not there for decoration, in fact it is there despite it - it is there to save your life so make sure that your ride in a limousine is a safe one.
