mat@hou5d.UUCP (06/15/84)
After pushing for a mandatory seat belt law, (a very smart idea)
Nwe York State has done something DUMB: there is now, or shortly
will be, a law requiring insurance companies to give discounts to
cars with passive restraint systems -- airbags and automatic seatbelts.
None hold you as well as a three-point harness during an emergency
maneuver, and cars with automatic seatbelst or airbags won't have the
three-pointer.
While I'm no longer New York resident or licensed, I am incensed over
this. The official purpose of the law is to encourage the manufacture
of automobiles with passive restraint systems. Well, I don't want the
passive restraint system. I'd rather have a car that will shut off if
it's put into gear with the driver's belt unfastened. I don't like that
idea, but it's better than not having the harness at all.
One bright note for all of us who have gotten stuck in the left lane of
an almost empty roadway surrounded by idiots doing 35 in a 50 zone
(like on an interstate). A few weeks ago I was behind such a jerk, and
I was waiting for a chance to move right (there was a little right lane
traffic doing about 40) when a light truck pulled up reeeeaalll close and
started blinking the high beams. I muttered ``take it easy, fella' '', and
then I saw the red light bar on the truck ... decided to take the very
first opportunity to move right. As I passed, I saw the truck doing the
the flashing highs routine. He continued until I was almost a quarter mile
ahead, then turned his reds on. A statie! (chortle, chortle). I didn't
hang around to see what happened to the slowpoke.
--
from Mole End
Mark Terribile
(scrape..dig) hou5d!mat
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