Quote:
Originally Posted by burnin oil
I normally stay out of these debates but I think Ogre is correct. At some point engineering will be a failure and being free to move around is a good thing. I do wear a seat belt in the newer vehicles but I don't think twice about jumping in the 57 with no belts either. Usually I chuckle at the factory seat belt in my 72 and think this is only incase I get pulled over. Who ever thought a ratcheting lap belt was an improvement over the old school lap belt? If that day ever comes I just will have to trust the frame. Every instance is different and there is just no way to account for them all.
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All I am going to say to that is that 75% of the deaths in car wrecks in this area are due to being thrown out of the car, Three in the past week in this area including a 3 year old who had unbuckled his seat belt while in a proper car seat and distracted his grandmother. He was thrown out the window in the accident. Had a beautiful young woman who worked with my wife get thrown out of her Durango in 1 car roll over a few years ago and get killed. You could honestly have rolled that rig on it's wheels and driven it off.
The first week I had my 48 in 1973 I almost got thrown out of the truck making a slow turn two blocks from the house, the drivers door flew open and all that saved me was the fact that I was going real slow, there was nothing in the way and I had my arm out the door and was able to hang on to the door with my arm with my right hand gripping the wheel and my right foot trying to push the brake. That was right by the local girls softball field and if that had been in the late afternoon there may have been a line of cars and or a bunch of kids there. It isn't just a head on impact that you have to worry about but primarily keeping your butt behind the wheel and staying in control in older rigs.