Seatbelts...
When I was a little kid... My parents had a Green, 1977 Ford Granada. I loved that car, it was the same age as me. It had front and rear seatbelts like pretty much every other car on the road, but we never wore them... like pretty much every other family on the road. On road-trips, I would lay out in the back window hat-shelf to sleep. I remember getting pulled over once and the officer asked why my father wasn't wearing a seatbelt and was told it had just been taken off. When he asked why we weren't wearing them either, my father clarified that he had just told us to take ours off as well... Seatbelts just, weren't a consideration for my father and by extension, us.
In the late 80's, my father was on a business trip and, for whatever reason, when he got in that Cadillac... he put on his seatbelt. There was an accident and that Cadillac became a sub-compact... And the only thing that saved his life, was that seatbelt. Suddenly, our car didn't move until everyone was wearing seatbelts.
Watching the news a few weeks ago, there was an accident on a south-side elevated expressway, where a car hit some black ice and spun-out, hit the guardrail, spun the other way, hit another and the smashed door flew opened, spun the other way and came to a stop. When police arrived, they couldn't find the driver... A witness SWORE she'd seen something fly out of the car and over the edge, but it was about 125' down and they couldn't see anything from the expressway. Half an hour later, they finally went down to check and found the driver... He actually survived, albiet in critical condition and with a lifetime of scars and pain.
rcleopard made an excellent point in one of his posts that no matter how great a driver you are, no matter how much in control you believe you are... At some point during an accident, you become just another passenger. And after reading about the 50+ vehicle pileup in New Hampshire (Click here for local station, WMUR's coverage... No, really... W-MUR...) and a text that exile17 sent out... I was thinking about how true that is...
The idea of flying cars scares the hell out of me... I've seen the way my fellow drivers share a 2-D plane, the idea of them coming at me from above and below as well?!? HELL NO!!! Logically, it's for that same reason that I wear a seatbelt... As much as I trust myself and my friends, I don't trust the other drivers out there. But on a more basic level however... I'm not comfortable driving without a seatbelt on. Even with anti-lock brakes, Reinforced steel doors beams, extensive crumple-zones, pre-tensioners for all five 3-Point Seatbelts as well as steering wheel and dashboard airbags, side airbags for both front-seat passengers and side-curtain airbags for all outboard passengers... Nothing is as comforting as that simple belt and the click of steel.
Poll Seatbelts...
In the late 80's, my father was on a business trip and, for whatever reason, when he got in that Cadillac... he put on his seatbelt. There was an accident and that Cadillac became a sub-compact... And the only thing that saved his life, was that seatbelt. Suddenly, our car didn't move until everyone was wearing seatbelts.
Watching the news a few weeks ago, there was an accident on a south-side elevated expressway, where a car hit some black ice and spun-out, hit the guardrail, spun the other way, hit another and the smashed door flew opened, spun the other way and came to a stop. When police arrived, they couldn't find the driver... A witness SWORE she'd seen something fly out of the car and over the edge, but it was about 125' down and they couldn't see anything from the expressway. Half an hour later, they finally went down to check and found the driver... He actually survived, albiet in critical condition and with a lifetime of scars and pain.
rcleopard made an excellent point in one of his posts that no matter how great a driver you are, no matter how much in control you believe you are... At some point during an accident, you become just another passenger. And after reading about the 50+ vehicle pileup in New Hampshire (Click here for local station, WMUR's coverage... No, really... W-MUR...) and a text that exile17 sent out... I was thinking about how true that is...
The idea of flying cars scares the hell out of me... I've seen the way my fellow drivers share a 2-D plane, the idea of them coming at me from above and below as well?!? HELL NO!!! Logically, it's for that same reason that I wear a seatbelt... As much as I trust myself and my friends, I don't trust the other drivers out there. But on a more basic level however... I'm not comfortable driving without a seatbelt on. Even with anti-lock brakes, Reinforced steel doors beams, extensive crumple-zones, pre-tensioners for all five 3-Point Seatbelts as well as steering wheel and dashboard airbags, side airbags for both front-seat passengers and side-curtain airbags for all outboard passengers... Nothing is as comforting as that simple belt and the click of steel.
Poll Seatbelts...