Seatbelts

Someone's a bit grumpy today.

I can't wait for someone to die in the story because the seatbelt jams.

Oh no, just do not put in any Takata Airbags

I'm sorry, but seat belts in a 1400 meter long space ship is just dumb. Especially since they have inertial dampening systems, and for the most part, don't ram into things.

How many seat belts do you see on ships at sea?

In all fairness if a spaceship crashes then chances are the speed of the crash would be such that the seat-belts would be the least of your concerns. The fact that to date all the Aurora's crash's have been slow enough not to be fatal is astonishing.

Actually @Ryk ... ships (and boats) that I have been on, out on patrol (USCG) usually had seat restraint systems for the bridge. Granted, there was no inertial dampening system in place ... but yes, there were seatbelts on ships at sea.

Always sleep feet forward when underway, never know when the watch may screw up and ground the boat and even at 6 knots neck injury is possible...

Honestly this topic is making me think of the scene from Star Trek: Enterprise's series premier back in 2001 when the crew is bouncing around on the bridge and the character of Hoshi Sato tells Captain Archer that he may want to recommend seatbelts when they return to Spacedock. Or the deleted scene from Star Trek Nemesis where Captain Picard receives a new command chair that has deployable restraints. Even funnier was that that same prop command chair was later used on Enterprise as Captain Archer's command chair in Season 4.

Small ships that operate in high seas, yes. Pretty sure something the size of an aircraft carrier doesn't use seat belts.

It really just comes down to likelihood of need. Could the ship depressurize and kill everyone inside? Sure, it's possible. But it's so unlikely that handing out a pressure suit to everyone on board, and then having them wear them during general quarters is absurd. Any event that would cause the entire ship to depressurize would most likely kill everyone on board anyway.

Same thing for seat belts. Do you live with the design and functional restrictions of the use of seat belts on the remote chance that you will lose all inertial dampeners and ram into an immovable object at speed?

If you stop and think about the physics of space flight, seat belts seem even more ridiculous. Using them in Star Trek is much like making the stars move on the view screen to impart a sense of motion to the audience. Understandable decisions, but silly nonetheless.

Thinking about it, in star trek when they were traveling from star to star, the stars on the view screen (If you could still make out stars at the speed they were travelling) were moving to quickly past them for the speed they were travelling.

Also Why did all of the stars on the view screen look the same. as they were traveling over great distences they should have seen different types of stars "fly" past.

Still have fond memories of startrek (TNG) if I don't think about the tropes...

In science fiction, the use of seat restraints does make sense when the ship in question either doesn't have a method of artificial gravity or is operating in a zero-gravity environment or when maneuvering a high speeds. The use of lightweight pressure suits does make sense too. One notable example is David Weber's Honor Harrington novels were military crew wear "skinsuits" when their ships enter battle. It not only increases the likelihood of the crew surviving, but it on occasion allows the crew to continue to operate the ship's remaining operational combat systems even in the vacuum of the now decompressed compartment.

But, in the end it's entirely up to the author on what does and does not work in the universe they created. So, if Mr. Brown says that ships in his universe don't use restraints they don't use restraints. End of story.

Eagles use restraints and pressure suits. Falcons use restraints and pressure suits. Shuttles use restraints (and sometimes pressure suits). Scout ships use restraints (and sometimes pressure suits). Gunships use restraints (and sometimes pressure suits).

There are pressure suits aboard the Aurora, to be used by people working in high-depress-risk areas, and by damage control and rescue personnel. But rather than pressure suits for everyone, there are areas of the ship that can be sealed off and used as shelters. (A good example are the quarters, everyone of which can be used as an emergency shelter.)

With the larger ships being basically a hull inside a hull, (both of which are considerably thick) and artificial gravity and inertial dampeners, pressure suits and restraints for all is just a needless expense and complexity. It's all about need vs cost. (Not just financial, either.)

I look at it this way. If I were playing golf, I COULD get hit in the head with a golf ball, develop a massive subdural hematoma, and die. (It can happen, I've run such calls.) However, the odds of that happening are slim enough that I don't feel the NEED to wear a helmet while on the course.

When operating in space, one has to accept a certain amount of risk. You mitigate the risks that warrant mitigation when you can. But when do you decide enough is enough. A pressure suit can develop a leak. It can get torn by something sharp. It can run out of air, or the system could fail. Do we need to give them an extra life support pack, just in case? How about a pressure suit within a pressure suit? After all, we gave them a hull within a hull, right?

To me, it makes perfect sense that a world rushing into technologies that they don't fully understand, in an effort to build ships to defend themselves as quickly as they can, would probably not waste time with safety items that would be highly unlikely to be needed. That's just the way I see it, given the current setting. That may change in the future, as the story universe evolves and matures, in oh so many different ways.

Needless to say though if you are in a moving car/truck/bus/etc buckle up.

in one battle both Jessica and Nathan survived ONLY because they had just returned from battle on the surface and were wearing battle armor/skin suits.  I kinda expected Nathan to order all hands to wear the battle armor at General Quarters after that but I guess it didn't occur to him.