Date: Tue, 15 Jun 2004 05:40:56 -0500
Reply-To: John Rodgers <jh_rodgers@BELLSOUTH.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: John Rodgers <jh_rodgers@BELLSOUTH.NET>
Subject: Re: Non-Family Hauler
In-Reply-To: <001c01c45271$d1535ce0$19dc7744@computer>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=windows-1252; format=flowed
Chip Turpin wrote:
>"But I don't feel that the lap belts that are in my 87 & 86 vans are so
>unsafe that they can't ride in it. They might not be perfect, but they are
>a lot better than none at all."
>
>
>I can tell you this much, a lap belt "only" is very unsafe in the back seat. What happens is when you have a front on collision the body folds all the way down to the knees or further and can very likely cause permanent spinal injuries. If you are in the front you would hit the dash and this would keep you from folding to the knees. I have seen studies done on 60 minutes or 20/20 or one off those shows that determined it was safer to not wear a lap belt in the back seat. I'm not telling anyone not to wear a rear lap belt, that's your decision. Just food for thought. Personally, I never wear a lap belt alone.
>
>Chip
>
>
>
Lap belts are a saftey illusion!!!!! Damn dangerous!! Only good for
keeping the dead or broken body frm being flung from the vehicle making
recovery easier. There is no alternative to a three point restraining
system used properly.
In her teenhood, a girl I was raising ( not mine, but I claimed her as
daughter and loved her to death) pulled a sneaky (she was a challenge as
a teen ager) one weekend, and with a girlfriend took off in the
girlfriends car for a weekend junket. Well, my girl was doing the
driving coming home, and being busty, had slipped the seatbelt shoulder
strap down for comfort. Driving in the wee morning hours she dozed off
at the wheel. She suddenly awoke, realized she was crossing the
centerline and being a novice driver she jerked the steering wheel. The
Pathfinder, having a high CG and narrow wheel base, flipped over
instantly. The driver door popped open and because the seatbelt was not
worn as intended, my girl was flung from the car and landed in the ditch
alongside the road with the vehicle on top of her upside down. The only
thing that kept her from being crushed to death was the fact that there
was an embankment - actually a rock cliff - and the ditch was between it
and the road shoulder and the vehicle was up against the cliff and the
road shoulder and she was in the space just underneath. Her friend,
asleep at the time, but with full seat belt worn as it should have been,
remained in the car. The friend had contusions and a broken arm, and my
girl broke her patella into three pieces and had numerous cuts,
bruises, strains and abrasions. She was lucky to have lived. All
recovered, but she will always have trouble with that knee every time
the weather changes, and will have arthritis in it later in life. She
learned a lesson.
She tried to do it all as a teenager, and now that she is grown,
married, and has three kids of her own, I feel sorry for her
kids.....they can't get away with anything!!! And they definitely can't
get away with anything where a car is concerned!
Regards,
John Rodgers
88 GL Driver
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