Stickshifts and Safetybelts

So I am a little bit OCD when it comes to wearing my seat belt and locking car doors. I can honestly say that I can count on one hand the number of times I have ever ridden in a car without wearing my safety belt in all of my 28-years. Do you remember in high school when the first kids to get their driver's licenses would shove as many people in their car as they could? Well, I still always managed to be on the bottom of the pile in the back so that I could wrap the middle belt around me. And if I am ever in a car that does not have the power locks that lock automatically when you shift to drive, I instantly lock all of the doors I can reach for the duration of the ride. It seriously is a compulsion.

So that leads me to taxi cabs. I probably take a cab to or from somewhere 1-3 times a week, so why is it that I NEVER wear a seatbelt while riding in a cab??

Actually, no one I know in Chicago ever buckles up in a cab. EVER. In fact, many times the doors are not even locked while I traipse around the city in those checkered sedans. Doubly Disturbing! Yet, I am aware of this and it still doesn’t bother me. At least not enough to regularly buckle-up in them. Does my mind trick me into thinking that there is an invisible protective force field around me while I’m cabbing it? I find it strange that I almost go into convulsions at the thought of riding with my husband around town without being properly restrained, but I will let the craziest drivers in town weave me in and out of crowded street without a care in the world.

Hmmm. It’s funny how the mind works.