Date:         Thu, 09 Nov 1995 12:34:00 -0800 (PST)
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         "Maher, Steve (SD-MS)" <SMAHER@PO2.GI.COM>
Subject:      RE: Seat Belts


>Its true that seat belts, like air bags, can cause injury.

Yes, it is. It is also true that, when you jump out of an airplane,
the straps of your parachute can bruise you, cut off circulation
temporarily, or even strangle you if you wear them wrong or deploy
the chute wrong.

One alternative, is to not wear a parachute when jumping from a plane.
But I'll keep wearing mine, thanks. Seat belts, too.  :^)


>There
>was a lot of net.wisdom, prior to the net, yet, that seat belt injuries
>were more dangerous than what happens when you don't wear 'em, that
>you'd be trapped in a burning vehicle, that it was safer to be tossed
>out the window (!) etc.

These are politely known as "old wives' tales" (with apologies to the
senior married ladies out there). They are 95% bunk. There are literally
millions of studies, example, etc. documenting the results of belt usage
vs. non-usage.

For every person who gets trapped in a car by a seat belt
(as opposed to by a jammed door or whatever), there are hundreds who
were saved from serious injury by belts... and thousands who had no
trouble releasing the belts after a crash. For every person who gets
thrown clear of a flaming/exploding vehicle and survive where they
wouldn't have if NOT thrown clear, there are hundreds who are thrown
UNDER an overturning vehicle, or who are bounced from front to back
to side inside the vehicle and killed.

Until I can predict exactly what will happen in my next crash, I'll
keep wearing the belts-- the odds are MUCH more in my favor.

Steve Maher   smaher@gi.com   '71 VW Transporter w/7 sets of belts
                              -80 V6anagon-- if it doesn't have belts,
                                 it will soon