By Tara Woodside

May 21, 2007 5:31pm

Bush Drives Without Seatbelt

ABC News’ Tara Woodside Reports:  President George W. Bush was caught on tape Sunday driving his pick-up truck in Crawford, Texas without a seatbelt. 

The tape shows the president casually cruising on his ranch in his white Ford pick-up truck with NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer in the passenger seat.  Bush smiles for the camera, his seatbelt visibly unbuckled. 

In Texas, it is illegal to drive on public roadways without a seatbelt.  However, the law is different on private property.

"If he was on private property, he was not breaking the law," said Tom Vinger, spokesperson for the Texas Department of Public Safety.

Ironically, this is the start of National Seatbelt Week, a campaign by the government’s National Highway Transportation Safety Administration, to get Americans to buckle up.   

This incident comes just one month after New Jersey Governor John Corzine was seriously injured in a car accident in which he was not wearing a seatbelt.   Corzine paid a fine for violating state law in not wearing his seat belt and issued a public apology for setting "a poor example."

User Comments

Well if the press has to dig for something to pick on with President Bush, then they have to dig. It is correct that no seatbelt is required on private property, but unfortunately that is not mentioned by the newswoman reporting this in the clip. Once again the press can’t take the high road and pose anything positive. Having grown up in rural Texas, I never wore my seatbelt on the farm either. It’d be nice if the press would start looking for the positive things in life and in America instead of treading on the negative and bringing the moral of this nation down. Negativity breeds negativity. What if there was more positive thinking in this Nation? You think we could prosper and be a better Nation by thinking and acting in a more positive frame of mind. Hmmmm, something to ponder.

Posted by: Susan | May 22, 2007, 9:25 am 9:25 am

I hope he continues to do so.

Posted by: izardofwaz | May 22, 2007, 10:37 am 10:37 am

Susan is right, as izard underscores. It is a most positive thing for Mr. Bush to drive without benefit of his seat belt. Not positive for him, perhaps, but certainly it is cause for every patriot, indeed, every person of conscience in the world, to hope.
Here’s hoping he doesn’t take someone useful with him, like Sec’y Gen Scheffer. That WOULD be unfortunate.
BTW, do others feel, as I do, that Susan’s affirmation could have been expressed less negatively? She might have dwelled upon the sylvan glory of a Bushless future, rather than kvetching about some reporter, whose only fault was that she reported the facts. I understand that facts often appear negative to the negative minded, like Susan, but do they – does she – have to share?

Posted by: shieldvulf at playful | May 22, 2007, 10:49 am 10:49 am

Well, at least he didn’t murder anybody with his truck like his wife did.

Posted by: Contard | May 22, 2007, 10:55 am 10:55 am

There was news a few weeks ago about Georgia exemtion of pickup truck from the mandatory seatbelt law. Many farmers are complaining about changing the law to no longer exempt pickup trucks. Many states also have seatbelt violations as secondary laws rather than a reason to stop drivers for violations of only the seatbelt law.
Generally, the heavier the vehicle, the more important it is to use seatbelts. This is due to the conservation of momentum law of physics. The momentum of a moving vehicle will be transferred to all the loose objects in the vehicle when the vehicle stops due to a collision or application of brakes. The summ of the total momenta remains constant. Since the masses of the loose objects in the vehicle are considerable less than the vehicle itself, their velocities would have to increase.

Posted by: Earl F. Parrish | May 22, 2007, 11:09 am 11:09 am

If it is on private property it isn’t against the law. Hell, Bush’s opinion is that is if HE does it, it isn’t against the law. No matter WHAT he does. Moron.

Posted by: Via | May 22, 2007, 11:12 am 11:12 am

im perfectly fine with him NOT wearing a seatbelt! im so for that!!!!

Posted by: Mary Lou Hamm | May 22, 2007, 11:25 am 11:25 am

dont you see? he’s proving guiliani’s anti crime theory! in reverse! guiliani always said that if you arrest the people committing tiny crimes (spitting on the sidewalk, urinating in public) you would also find the people who did the bigger crimes becasue, well criminals are criminals. bravo W!

Posted by: d jones | May 22, 2007, 11:35 am 11:35 am

Earl’s discussion of physics is wrong. The momentum is not transferred to the contained objects. Instead, more braking is needed to stop a heavy object than a light one.
Suppose you’re standing on an open platform travelling at 30 MPH. Suppose that platform stops suddenly. Your body continues forward at 30 MPH. It makes no difference how heavy the platform is.
The bottom line is that seatbelts are more important as speed increases, not as vehicle size increases.

Posted by: Larry D | May 22, 2007, 11:39 am 11:39 am

At least bush didn’t start a needless war, get thousands of our troops killed and mortally wounded—ooops, I guess he did.

Posted by: Lou | May 22, 2007, 12:07 pm 12:07 pm

See, Bush is a REAL cowboy, that’s why he don’t need no seatbelts! Except on a horse…because he’s scared of horses…and that’s why there aren’t any on his “ranch.”
Wanna bet he wears the seatbelt when Laura drives?

Posted by: rail | May 22, 2007, 12:12 pm 12:12 pm

“This is due to the conservation of momentum law of physics. The momentum of a moving vehicle will be transferred to all the loose objects in the vehicle…”
No, the momentum is not transfered. Your own body has it’s own momentum from it’s forward motion which, if not impeeded by a seatbelt will send you through the windshield as easily in a Prius or a Hummer or a Mack. You will be hurt and, if you have no health insurance, you will be costing the rest of us money as you use the emergency room.
As for Bush, this is so in character. However, please ABC, I would rather you report on the real damage this lawless administration has visited upon America. You’ve been asleep at the wheel these past six years and silly little stories about Bush not leading by example, while amusing are yet another diversion from the unAmerican thuggery of his administration.

Posted by: Serge | May 22, 2007, 12:17 pm 12:17 pm

So we spend billions of dollars protecting George and he won’t even protect himself
He falls off his bike, runs into walls, gets lost during emergency evacuations and fondles non-gay men and now won’t wear a seatbelt.
George, what would happen if Laura decided to resurrect her habit of driveby intersection encounters with men she is angry with…..

Posted by: deVere15th | May 22, 2007, 12:23 pm 12:23 pm

I agree, posting a silly story about George Bush not wearing a seat belt is… well… silly. However, I have to disagree with poster Susan. I can’t think of anything positive that George Bush has done for this country. I don’t care who the next president is. I don’t care what party the next president comes from. I don’t think one can get any worse than Bush. But, then again, we said that about Nixon.

Posted by: Mike | May 22, 2007, 12:46 pm 12:46 pm

Bush is a danger to himself, both with pretzels and pickup trucks. May he continue to drive without a belt AND eat pretzels at the same time.

Posted by: tim | May 22, 2007, 12:48 pm 12:48 pm

All this discussion on physics and momentum transference is all lost on Bush because he doesn’t believe in science.

Posted by: John | May 22, 2007, 1:37 pm 1:37 pm

“Well if the press has to dig for something to pick on with President Bush, then they have to dig.”
Where to begin, Susan, where to begin?
This is what the press does INSTEAD of looking into the more egregious crimes of this administration, but then I don’t want to bring down your “moral”(sic).
Hint, hint, 911 was an inside job, wink, wink, nudge, nudge.
Almost nap time, I’ll let you get back to pressing issues.

Posted by: frank parker | May 22, 2007, 1:39 pm 1:39 pm

Busted: President Bush Kicks Off National Seatbelt Week By Driving Without A Seatbelt (Video Provided)

Cowboys dont wear seatbelts when they ride their hosses, so why would anybody expect a cowboy to wear one in their pick em up truck?
BUSTED
Bush Drives Without Seatbelt
ABC News Tara Woodside Re…

Posted by: The Gun Toting Liberalâ„¢ | May 22, 2007, 1:48 pm 1:48 pm

P=MV
The momentum is directly proportional to the product of the mass and velocity.
If the momentum and mass are constant, then the velocity has to increase. The total momenta is the sum of the individual momenta of the various masses in the closed system. A very large mass has its velocity suddenly drop to zero. Its momentum also decreases to zero. The total mass does not change. You have smaller masses continuing in motion. When you have a seatbelt on, you stop along with the vehicle. The loose objects continue in motion. That is why the bullet travels faster than the rifle.

Posted by: Earl F. Parrish | May 22, 2007, 1:54 pm 1:54 pm

When you’re Bush, it’s *all*
private property. His property, to
be precise.

Posted by: freddy | May 22, 2007, 2:10 pm 2:10 pm

Positive, Susan?
All well and good except for the fact we have a nation of corrupt individuals who have made a habit of breaking every constitutional, international and human rights law in the book from the War in Iraq with lies, and fabricated “intel” to the warrantless wiretapping, annullment of habeus corpus, accepted policies on torture, Abu Ghraib, the corrupted Dept of Justice, Tom Delay, Jack Abramoff, Tom Ley, Enron, KBR/Halliburton/Blackwater, global warming, 3425 American dead (and counting), Walter Reaed Hospital scandal, Religious fanaticism and hatred, Duke Cunningham, John Dolittle, etc. etc. etc… Dream on Ms.

Posted by: JAG | May 22, 2007, 2:14 pm 2:14 pm

Absolutely mindless reporting. NO law broken.

Posted by: Bob Johnson | May 22, 2007, 2:34 pm 2:34 pm

stop the Presses! the MSM has detected a presidential faux pas. you guys are absolutely worthless. with all the national and international laws this administration has broken and this is the best you can do? its no wonder abc is headed down the ratings drain.you deserve it!

Posted by: Levon | May 22, 2007, 2:40 pm 2:40 pm

Earl,
The excess momentum of the vehicle does not accelerate the free bodies contained in it. Take the case of the truck going 30 mph. It hits another vehicle coming the other way or even a wall. The collision is inelastic. The momentum of the vehicle itself goes into cancelling the momentum of the other vehicle, collapsing and shattering structures that are constrained as part of the vehicles and creating heat. The free body (driver) carries a piece of the total momentum that is always the same at 30mph, driver’s mass times the velocity. So they always fly through the windshield at 30mph if the vehicle stop is immediate. Speed relative to the windshield will be slower if their vehicle overruns the opposing structure for a period of time, but relative to the ground, they will be moving 30 mph until they hit the windshield which will slow them down slightly and rather gruesomely as they exit.
Consider: As the collision starts, the vehicle immediately begins to slow as it absorbs energy through heating and demolition. Meanwhile, the free body continues at speed. To accelerate it to a higher speed, the vehicle would have to apply a force to it (mass times acceleration) for some small period time, but the body has already lost contact with the seat which is now moving slower than both bodies were moving an instant before. No contact, no opportunity to push with additional force. The free body continues forward with the same momentum it had previously. Maybe less if it hits something on the way forward.
I hope that helps clarify the experiment.

Posted by: Gary E. Later | May 22, 2007, 3:34 pm 3:34 pm

It is important to note that Bush hardly ever has to drive anymore.

Posted by: Travis | May 23, 2007, 10:35 am 10:35 am

What we need is someone to do some good (and personally dangerous) investigative reporting on some of Bush’s real crimes. If ever a President needed to be impeached, fairly tried, and then jailed for the rest of his life – this is the guy. And not for driving a PU without a seatbelt. This is a very bad man, folks.

Posted by: bob crawford | May 24, 2007, 8:35 am 8:35 am

If President Bush is running Farm Tags on his pickup he DOSNT have to wear a seat belt.Farmers and Ranchers who run Farm Tags on their pickups are exempt from Seat Belt laws.

Posted by: D.S. O | February 25, 2009, 8:42 pm 8:42 pm

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