DAMN MAN!! Glad you hear you made it out of the situation okay! I haven't had that happen to me, but haven't had to buckle up very often, while driving. I'll consider myself warned!
I've had the linkage (3 spd manual here) bind up on me a couple times while driving down the road - and it's forced me to pull over and make traffic go around. That aggravates me to no end! Usually only happens when the truck is cold.