Re: "Safety is Job One"

Ray O wrote:[color=blue]
> The people who did not want to wear seat belts merely fastened
> them behind them.[/color]
=====

That's a very good point you make. I agree completely.
But even with seat belt laws, about 25 percent of people still
don't use them, according to a study funded by the NHTSA.

In some states, the seat belt law is written such that police
officers are only allowed to stop you IF there is another
violation in addition to the safety belt violation. Not wearing
your seat belt cannot be the primary reason the officer uses to
stop you. That's the way the law is written in Missouri. Or at
least it was until 4 weeks ago. The law has now changed or is
about to change in Missouri so that officers can stop you solely
for not wearing your belt, which I think is a great idea :-)

You once wrote a few months ago that it's common sense for
drivers to wear seat belts. But it really isn't common sense
because when seat belts were first introduced in the 1960's, only
about 6 percent of drivers used them regularly. It took years of
publicity, education campaigns, and seat belt laws to bump that
statistic up to 75 percent.

Even someone like myself who *always* wears his safety belt
would sometimes wait a minute until underway on the road
to fasten it. And of course I learned you can't do that, since
my accident happened within 30 seconds of starting the car. It
happened just as I was pulling out of the gas station parking lot.

Interlocks (the car not starting unless the seat belt is fastened)
would have saved my brain from hitting the steering wheel. The
air bag, unfortunately, did NOT come out because apparently the
accident was not forceful enough. Or possibly the bag was defective
after 10 years.

Interlocks would save lives and head injuries.