kwmc@hou5d.UUCP (01/28/84)
Just over a year ago, Britain made it mandatory to wear seatbelts. My undersatnding is that the number of auto related deaths and serious injuries has dropped dramatically. Although I cannot give source for these statistics. Ken Cochran hou5d!kwmc
rlr@pyuxn.UUCP (Rich Rosen) (01/30/84)
re: mandatory seatbelts impinging your personal freedom
Here are some other freedoms that are being impinged.
1) The right to drive a formula racer on public highways at 175 MPH (in order
to get past those slow-moving imcompetent idiots that are going only 85).
2) The right to ignore other posted traffic signs ("Why should *I*, a skilled
driver, have to stop at an intersection just because there's a red sign there
to stop those not as intelligent as myself?").
3) The right to move in any direction on any road regardless of posted
directional signs ("Who is the government to tell me which direction I should
drive?")
...and so on...
If you don't like the rules on public roads, don't drive on them. (Or become
a bureaucrat and change them. Those a**holes who feel their freedom is
endangered by such tings deserve such a fate.)
--
Pardon me for breathing...
Rich Rosen pyuxn!rlrrsp@opus.UUCP (01/31/84)
In reference to the article suggesting other restrictions on highway use be lifted.... I take a libertarian view of mandatory seatbelt laws. I do *NOT* want to see use of seatbelts dictated by law. I *DO* want to see non-use penalized by voiding *ALL* insurance benefits to non-using victims in the at-fault vehicle. Maybe anyone not using seatbelts should lose insurance benefits. That way we have a choice to be stupid or not. And as a few of us have noticed, societal attempts to legislate common sense fail! Russ Panneton NBI Inc. Boulder CO ..!nbires!opus!rsp
wetcw@pyuxa.UUCP (T C Wheeler) (02/01/84)
OK, Alright. You have convinced me. I intend to use my seatbelts. Just one thing, how do I get my brain to respond and tell me to hook up? I sign off the net with good intentions, but by the time I get to my car, after mulling over the day's problems through the parking lot, I forget. Give me some good mind joggers. Maybe some others can use them too. I am writing a note to put on the dash right now. Any others will be appreciated. T. C. Wheeler
stanwyck@ihuxr.UUCP (Don Stanwyck) (02/01/84)
T.C.Wheeler asks, "How do I remember to put on my seat belt?". Well, if your car is newer than ~1976, or is a first half 1974, you have a buzzer or bells that go off for at least five seconds after you turn the car on. This should be adaquate reminder. If you have disconnected such, I hope you don't have cause to pay for your foolhardiness. (You can always reconnect them....) If your car is older than that, try a sticker in the center of the steering wheel that says "Buckle up" or some variation thereof. (I have both the sticker and the buzzer.) For your passengers, put a nice note on the dash right in front of them that says "Please fasten your seatbelts", or something similar. (I also have one of these. My auto club gave it to me.) You may also remind your passengers of the seltbelt presence. I remind passengers, but I have not yet gone the step of requiring my adult passengers to wear them. I guess I believe that once I have suggested it (and I have almost never been turned down) I have let them know how I feel. Most passengers, I discover, don't need a verbal reminder, as when they see me put mine on they generally decide it might not be a bad idea. Good Luck, and stay alive by buckling up......... -- ________ ( ) Don Stanwyck @( o o )@ 312-979-3062 ( || ) Cornet-367-3062 ( \__/ ) ihnp4!ihuxr!stanwyck (______) Bell Labs @ Naperville, IL
warren@ihnss.UUCP (Warren Montgomery) (02/01/84)
Some netters must be too young to remember our national experiment in behavior modification, when the government dictated in the early 70's that cars would not be able to start without having the seatbelts buckled. After the minor surgery to bypass this interlock became the most commonly performed auto service, and a lot of people complained that they had to buckle up their grocery bags and other inanimant objects (yes, these cars had weight sensors to figure out whether or not the passenger seat was occupied and needed it's seatbelt fastened, congress repealed the requirement. Most cars still have warnings though if you start the car without buckling up. This is quite sufficient to give you no excuse just because you forgot. If your car doesn't have one, you can probably buy a suitable buzzer from an auto parts store, or build yourself a warning device from Radio Shack parts. As for locking your doors, asside from making it harder for people (e.g. small children) to open the door by accident while the car is moving, and for discouraging attacks in bad neighborhoods, I would be surprised if there were any benefit. There is an obvious problem in making it harder to get out in case of a crash, especially if you are unconscious. I've also seen no particular benefit in locking your doors while leaving the car in most cases, unless you have something inside that attracts theives. I doubt that the door lock is any real deterrent to a determined thief. It does make it impossible for a good samaritan to turn off your lights if you forget. -- Warren Montgomery ihnss!warren IH x2494
nxn@ihuxm.UUCP (Dave Nixon) (02/02/84)
The slogan used in the UK during the government sponsored "belt-up" campaign was (is?) "clunk-click every trip" as Jimmy Savile puts his seatbelt on (Jimmy Savile is the UK equivalent of an amalgam of Johnny Carson, Rodney Dangerfield, and Bozo the clown). Try using this as a prompt for a week. Interesting, spell doesn't like "seatbelts." Dave Nixon ihuxm!nxn
gam@proper.UUCP (Gordon Moffett) (02/03/84)
From: nxn@ihuxm.UUCP (Dave Nixon)
Interesting, spell doesn't like "seatbelts."
New topic: spell should be REQUIRED to have `seatbelts'. Yea or nay?
--
Gordon A. Moffett
{ allegra, decvax!decwrl } !amd70!proper
hplabs!intelca!proper!gamjeh@ritcv.UUCP (James E Heliotis) (02/04/84)
To the person who wants to get into the habit:
All I can say is, keep trying, and eventually you will feel naked without it.
That is what has finally happened to me.
If you live with someone, get him/her to commit to this also, and remind each
other.
Jim Heliotis
{allegra,seismo}!rochester!ritcv!jeh
rocksvax!ritcv!jeh
ritcv!jeh@Rochester
#! rnews 476
Relseifert@ihuxl.UUCP (D.A. Seifert) (02/08/84)
I remember the great '74 experiment in behaviour modification.
I would occasionally catch a ride home from school with the
owner of a shiny new '74 Vega. Being designed and built by the
wonderous firm of *GM*, it took a good 5 minutes to get the
stupid belt buckled. Pull the belt too fast and it locks,
pull it too slow and it locks. Once the belt comes to a stop
you cannot pull it out any further unless you let it
a l l r e e l b a c k i n a n d s t a r t o v e r .
The procedure is: pull out *lots* of belt, at the precise speed
that the system likes, hold the reel end with one hand to keep it
from retracting back in, and use your other hand to fasten the
buckle end, then let the slack retract. Meanwhile, my friend
is sitting there leaning on the ignition key glaring at me
for being so slow (I guess after a couple thousand times you learn
to do it a little faster).
Moral: you can kill any idea (good, bad, or in-between) with
a sufficiently lousy implementation.
On the other hand, Volkswagon has a fairly reasonable passive
restraint system. One end of the shoulder harness is fastened
to the door, the other end (with inertia reel) is next to the
handbrake lever. There is no lap belt. (There is a knee-bumper
thing to prevent submarining.) Open the door, get in, and
*poof!* the belt is there. Real convienant for those times
when you're jumping in and out of the car a lot and normal belts
are a pain. The only real disadvantage is that there isn't a lap
belt, so it doesn't hold you in place as well during high-g
activities. Seems like they could do the same thing with a lap
belt?
--
_____
/_____\ from the flying doghouse of
/_______\ Snoopy
|___|
____|___|_____ ihnp4!ihuxl!seifertburt@axiom.UUCP (Burt Janz) (02/09/84)
Whattsamatter? Whatcha mean, you can't remember to buckle up. ISN'T THAT F***ING BUZZER REMINDER ENOUGH!?!?!?!?!