From: utzoo!utcsrgv!utcsstat!wagner
Newsgroups: net.auto
Title: Re: Seat belts, airbags, etc.
Article-I.D.: utcsstat.304
Posted: Mon Aug 16 10:06:06 1982
Received: Mon Aug 16 13:30:57 1982
References: utzoo.2379

Dave Martindale says that people should not have the option of
refusing to put on seat belts because of socialized medicine.
I agree that people should be made to put on seat belts, but
not for that reason.  If people are willing to risk their own
death because they dont feel like buckling up, the question
of who pays the bill is pretty irrelevant.  The best arguement
I have seen for compulsary use of seatbelts are so called
second-hand accidents.  These are accidents caused by projectiles
flying out of accident-involved cars.  People make good 
projectiles when not strapped in.  Around serious accidents 
there used to be secondary accidents that never touched the
primary accident cars.  The secondary accidents were caused
by people trying to avoid the projectiles.  It sounds silly at
first, but imagine how you would feel if you saw a person 
coming through the air near you.  Even if it werent headed 
towards you, you would probably make a bad instinctive 
decision to avoid it just in case, swerve, and cause a 
secondary accident.  In arguements during the time that seat
belts became compulsory, this was one of the bigger positions
against the obvious free will arguements - you are implicitly
endangering others.  Then, of course, if you drive much with
seat belts in bench seat cars, you know that your ability to
control the car in an emergency situation is much improved.
I even find it helps in bucket seats. 
  The biggest arguement against seat belts (other than free 
will) is that they sometimes trap people.  The old ones used
to.  I know.  I have a friend who was trapped, unconscious,
in a car after an accident.  I couldnt free her, because the
release was on the door side.  Guess where we were hit.  
Every car I have been in recently has the releasetowards the
centre of the car, where it is less likely to be fouled in an
accident.  And I dont know about the rest of you, but I always
carry a pocket knife wherever I go.  Technology is wonderful,
but a knife and a small screwdriver go a long way towards
coping with little failures like loose screws and mechanisms
that jam or tangle.  I dont know how long it would take for me
to cut a seat belt - probably a while, since they are fairly
thick and strong, but, provided the car wasnt actively on 
fire, I could probably do it within the time constraints.
I guess a flame cigarette lighter would be faster, since that
stuff does melt in direct flame.  What a morbid turn this
has taken.  Sorry, I will stop now.

Michael Wagner, UTCS