From: utzoo!watmath!dmmartindale
Newsgroups: net.auto
Title: Seat belts, airbags, etc.
Article-I.D.: watmath.3309
Posted: Mon Aug 16 00:23:00 1982
Received: Mon Aug 16 00:30:28 1982

I'm curious about what people think of the following proposal:

1) All newly-manufactured cars must have SOME acceptable sort of passenger
   protection, whether it be ordinary "active" seatbelts that you have
   to put on yourself, "passive" belts that you don't have to expend any
   effort in putting on, airbags, or any other device that is effective
   enough.  The type of protection could be specified by the purchaser,
   and more than one type could be installed if he wished.
2) The driver and passengers would be required by law to USE whatever form
   of protection a particular car had (in the case of multiple forms
   being installed, one would do).  Failure to do so would prevent you from
   collecting in full for medical expenses in any accident.

Now, if you're someone who hates seatbelts for whatever reason, you're free
to go out and order airbags on your next car, and that's all you have to do.
On the other hand, this still leaves me free to get plain old "active"
seatbelts in my car, because I happen to prefer them to anything else,
since I always wear them.  There is the problem that if you ride in
someone else's car you have to use whatever he bought, but I don't think
this is that important.
	I get very upset at the idea of paying hundreds of dollars for airbags
when they don't provide as good crash protection as plain old seatbelts (not
to mention things like being better able to control a car in an emergency if
you're belted in).  Airbags are a good solution only if the driver and
passengers of that particular car are too lazy or stupid (or whatever)
to use anything else.  Passive belts (at least the two-point kind) also
seem inferior to ordinary three-point belts.
	And I don't think that people have a "right" to not use any sort
of protection at all, at least not when I'm paying their medical bills.
(Ontario has compulsory medicare.)
	Anyway, has anyone heard of such a proposal before?  What do
you think of it?

	Dave Martindale
	decvax!watmath!dmmartindale