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From: T3B@psuvm.BITNET
Newsgroups: net.auto,net.legal
Subject: Re: Seatbelts for passengers
Message-ID: <2115T3B@psuvm>
Date: Sun, 18-Aug-85 17:32:18 EDT
Article-I.D.: psuvm.2115T3B
Posted: Sun Aug 18 17:32:18 1985
Date-Received: Tue, 20-Aug-85 21:55:12 EDT
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Xref: watmath net.auto:7734 net.legal:2120

I agree with comments made about the "sociology of seatbelt use" --
that there is a rule of courtesy that seems to operate
in passenger seatbelt use.  One seems to insult the driver if one uses
a seatbelt. One frosty morning in 1971, as a passenger in a VW beetle
on PA route 80 headed for New York, I declined to insist on putting on
my seat belt.  Rounding a curve and crossing an overpass, we went into
a skid, flipped over, railroaded upside down along a guard rail, and
came to rest, right side up and semi-conscious, teetering on the guard
rail.  The car was totalled, but we managed to creep carefully out of it
with nothing worse than some cuts, bruises, and hair full of broken glass.
When the state police arrived, they asked, seriously, where the bodies
were.  Since 1971 I use seat belts; I tell my passengers I prefer to have
them buckle up; I made a deal with my daughter that when she drives she
will use seat belts and tell passengers that her father's rule is nobody
rides in our car with her unless buckled.  A seat belt law may help to
tip the balance that will change the social rules against seat belt use.
     
-- Tom Benson
     
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