Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site watdcsu.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!watdcsu!haapanen From: haapanen@watdcsu.UUCP (Tom Haapanen [DCS]) Newsgroups: net.flame Subject: Re: PISSED OFF (seatbelts) Message-ID: <860@watdcsu.UUCP> Date: Tue, 22-Jan-85 08:56:59 EST Article-I.D.: watdcsu.860 Posted: Tue Jan 22 08:56:59 1985 Date-Received: Wed, 23-Jan-85 04:40:48 EST References: <236@calmasd.UUCP> <245@calmasd.UUCP> <932@amdahl.UUCP> <752@loral.UUCP> Reply-To: haapanen@watdcsu.UUCP (Tom Haapanen [DCS]) Organization: U of Waterloo, Ontario Lines: 52 In article <752@loral.UUCP> jlh@loral.UUCP (Your_name_here) writes: >I for one am tired of having every facet of my life regulated, liscenced, >and taxed and don't want more restrictions on something as personal as >wearing/not wearing a seat belt. The question here is whther there should be a law requiring people to wear seat belts (for their safty *and* others') or whether every person who buys a new car will be required to pay for a set of airbags. This situation has been brought to you by the Federal Government, NHTSA and Ralph Nader (not officially affiliated with K-Mart :-) ). >Oh yeah, I wore a seat belt for 5 years. Then I sold my car and got one >with integral seatbelts/shoulder straps. Well, the shoulder straps drove >me up the wall, and instead of getting used to them it just got worse. >Now, I don't wear seatbelts or shoulder straps. If I could wear seatbelts >without the shoulder straps I would, after two years of no seatbelts I >still don't feel comfortable in my car without them. Why do I have to >have shoulder straps attached to my seatbelts? Because some well meaning >do-gooder said I had to, thats why. I thought of taking a saw to my >shoulder straps, but upon reading the vehicle code I found that if discovered >I would be fined for modifying safety equipment and be forced to fix >the silly thing. Why do the shoulder straps drive you up the wall? (1) You can't move your upper body? That means you have an old car without automatic seatbelts. The new ones allow you to reach for the glovebox etc. without removing your seatbelts. (2) The shoulder strap rubs your neck? This can be very irritating. It's found mainly in American compact and full-size cars, due to the excessively silly seatbelt mounting they use. (3) You can move your upper body, but not enough? Sorry, this is what they're supposed to do. Seat belts hold you in place during sudden movements. It's better than hitting your head on the dashboard. You can buy an approved lap belt only, and unless you run into a super-zealous safety inspector, I'm sure they'd be OK. Go to your nearest competition car parts store, and look for a Deist (or equivalent) competition lap belt. Shouldn't be too hard to mount, either. DON'T MODIFY YOUR CURRENT SEAT BELTS! They were designed to work as a lap-belt/shoulder-belt combination and the stress of your weight being decelerated (in an accident) by the lap-belt alone might be excessive and the seatbelt could fail. \tom haapanen watmath!watdcsu!haapanen "All the usual silly disclaimers apply..."