Safety Last.

[Marm Toastsmith]

When people ask me about my attitude to the lack of safety features in the older cars I own I just point out that a ride a motorcycle.

 

Yeah right. I walk too. And ride a bike (no helmet, and historically often while drunk). And get the bus. No seat belts on the bus.

 

Where has the idea come from that driving a car is a dangerous activity? People are idiots.

 

Besides, we need more deaths from accidents. Evolution has effectively stopped, the population is spiraling out of control. Big "safe" cars are destroying the environment.

 

It's mostly a western thing, and a recent phenomenon. One day we'll look back and see we were wrong.

 

I love driving with no seatbelt.

[Talbot]

It has been suggested that removing all seatbelts and placing an 8" sharpened spike in the centre of the steering wheel would improve road safety many times over.

It would, with the proviso that it is fitted to *every* car.

[JeeExEll]

 

 

 

1979. Scottish vanner on holiday, I think in France.

Yellow Lucozade wrappers sellotaped to headlights coz rules and regulations.

[Guest Hooli]

Yeah right. I walk too. And ride a bike (no helmet, and historically often while drunk). And get the bus. No seat belts on the bus.

 

Where has the idea come from that driving a car is a dangerous activity? People are idiots.

 

Besides, we need more deaths from accidents. Evolution has effectively stopped, the population is spiraling out of control. Big "safe" cars are destroying the environment.

 

It's mostly a western thing, and a recent phenomenon. One day we'll look back and see we were wrong.

 

I love driving with no seatbelt.

 

Liked except for the last line. I don't as I slide about in the seat too much & feel less in control as a result.

[wuvvum]

This is the horn/indicator switch assembly with the tube that enables it to remain stationary when the wheel turns. It belonged to my Sunbeam 90, and was one of the reasons I sold the car.

The tube is so long that it cannot be fitted or removed from inside the cramped 4 door cabin, and even though the wheel is close to the dashboard the steering box is 6 feet ahead, just behind the front bumper.

Though these cars are robust with a strong chassis it was not the lack of seatbelts that bothered me, but the prospect of having the entire column and gear lever rammed into my chest .

IMG_20190117_130125463.jpg

 

Surely that's an argument against wearing a seatbelt?  If you see that an accident is inevitable you can hurl yourself across the front split bench out of the way of the steering column - you couldn't do that if you were held in place by a belt.

[Angrydicky]

This is the horn/indicator switch assembly with the tube that enables it to remain stationary when the wheel turns. It belonged to my Sunbeam 90, and was one of the reasons I sold the car.

The tube is so long that it cannot be fitted or removed from inside the cramped 4 door cabin, and even though the wheel is close to the dashboard the steering box is 6 feet ahead, just behind the front bumper.

Though these cars are robust with a strong chassis it was not the lack of seatbelts that bothered me, but the prospect of having the entire column and gear lever rammed into my chest .

IMG_20190117_130125463.jpg

 

A Polish lady told me that one car produced in her country was infamous for it's robust bonnet, which had the distressing habit of remaining intact during frontal impacts, and slicing the front occupants in half.

Fortunately there are plenty of old cars that,by these standards, are adequate for daily use. They should be seen in a more positive light given that the latest technology seems to be heading towards enabling drivers to operate their vehicles in a virtually comatose state.

Ah yes, the old 1950s chest spear. To be fair to the Sunbeam, most steering box equipped cars of the era are the same. I guess the thing to do in the event of an unavoidable accident is to throw yourself down on the passenger seat (having no seatbelts helps with this). But I've never come that close to a front impact in mine so I've no idea if you would think to do that in a split second.

[martc]

It would, with the proviso that it is fitted to *every* car.

 

Definitely, would also need to ban corks and rubber bungs.

[cros]

I'm not well up on this sort of thing, but wouldn't pin too much hope to avoiding the steering wheel by diving into the passenger footwell when that brick wall leaps out at me. I don't find all old cars equal, some had the steering box behind the front axle and that would seem to be a worthwhile feature. The Morris Minor owners club did a bit of homespun research on the fate of their cars in accidents years ago; they fared rather better than such an old design might be expected to, not least because the steering rack is located very far back. This may have been because the car was originally laid out to take a flat 4 engine.

On the seatbelt front, if the 'b' pillar is too far forward, the effectivness of front belts is very poor; the A30/35 owners club advise putting the top attachment right at the back of the car on 4 door models which might make it even more difficult to get grandad onto the back seat.

I'm happy to acknowledge that the latest cars are safer than anything that has gone before but I'm still not having one.

[Zelandeth]

Worst lack of seatbelt incident I can recall was in a very late Volvo B58 coach (1979 I believe). The driver's seat was primarily constructed of duct tape. I discovered - approximately 50% of the way around a roundabout - that the coefficient of friction between said duct tape seat covering and my trousers was approximately zero...as I suddenly found myself trying very hard to both spin the steering wheel clockwise so I didn't plough into the car waiting patiently at the second exit while also holding onto it for dear life so as to not tumble out of the seat and end up in the bloody door well.

 

My mate who witnessed this thought it was bloody hilarious - especially that in the midst of that nonsense, apparently I still found time and enough brain power to still indicate properly.

 

Most of the vehicles I've driven have been retrofitted with belts if they didn't have one, and I have to admit to feeling very vulnerable on the odd occasion that I have been out without one.

 

Pre war stuff is probably the exception, but mainly because the speeds involved are usually sufficiently low that it's not so much of an issue. Biggest danger there is someone hitting you, and in that scenario I don't see a belt as being much help.

 

Having been in an accident at 60-ish mph which was not my fault and according to the police "almost entirely unavoidable" - and seeing visible evidence for several weeks of the effort the belt did to keep me safely in the seat gave me something of a renewed respect for the engineering of the mechanisms and mountings.

 

I admit to really needing to do some reading on how steering wheel airbags are a good thing though, given in that impact my head didn't go anywhere near the wheel (if it had due to deformation, my head hitting the steering wheel probably would have been the least of my worries)...and the only guy I know who's been in an accident anywhere recently was my father who ran into a low wall in poor light at a relatively low speed. He was totally uninjured save for the broken nose and lacerations to his forehead - both due to the "interaction between the airbag and his glasses" according to the doctor's report.

 

Not saying they are a bad thing, just that I realise that I'm clearly missing some critical data...which I really need to go find now...

[Mally]

My life has been saved by a seatbelt.

Well, ok, obviously I can't say for certain that I'd have died without it. It's highly likely though.

Me too,

There's a photo on here somewhere.

Ok it was in a stock car, but same principle applies.

I feel vulnerable on a bike, but never used to.

It's an age thing.

[Junkman]

I shit on all that safety bollox.

When your number is up, you go. When it's not, you stay.

 

Besides, we're all getting nuked anyway, so unbuckle and enjoy life until then.

[wuvvum]

I have to say the first time I drove a 7.5 tonner with no seatbelts it took a bit of getting used to.  Especially as it was a Leyland Roadrunner and the windscreens on those are fugging huge.  And my first drive of it was through the centre of Rotherham on a Saturday afternoon.

 

Agree with Zel though - I've never had the same feeling when driving pre-1960 stuff - even cars quite capable of keeping up with traffic like the Sunbeam Talbot 90 (although I might have felt differently had I been aware at the time of the design of the steering column).

[cros]

I shit on all that safety bollox.

When your number is up, you go. When it's not, you stay.

 

Besides, we're all getting nuked anyway, so unbuckle and enjoy life until then.

I think you mean we're fucked.

[Junkman]

Well, dah.

 

And no fucking safety horseshit will change it.

[Junkman]

You know, those people, who drive their fucking 27 airbagged NCAP 17 ABS ESP adaptive CC lane change assisted patronising shits, have taken out a Euro AA and RAC assistance package, travel insurance, abroad NHS card, scam protected credit card, child restraints, so the children become one with the car, unemployment insurance for their mortgage and God knows what other insurances to cover all their insurances in case they let a fart, to Bad Kleinkirchheim to go skiing on those ever so slightly inclined slopes for wimps? 

 

I wish they get buried by an avalanche.

 

We are living on a hostile planet. Life is dangerous. Get fucking over it.

[Junkman]

Remember the Ozone Layer?

In ye goode olde dayse, there was a hole in it, which was supposed to kill us all.

Pretty much like the Waldsterben, just different.

 

Yawn.

 

I somehow prefer a good old discussion about the Ozone Layer to that Brexit bullshit, though.

 

Don't forget to wear your fucking seatbelts!

Safety, you know.

 

Oh, and don't forget to not emit a lot of CO2. It's a dangerous pollutant.

 

We are doomed.

[Eddie Honda]

I don't as I slide about in the seat too much & feel less in control as a result.

^^^^ Underdeveloped arse cheek muscles there.

[PhilA]

My Chieftain has lap belts. They are aftermarket, and I'm not sure how well attached to the car.

 

The steering column is secured very well to the chassis. The dashboard is made from solid metal.

 

My plan is never to crash it.

 

 

Phil

[Marm Toastsmith]

Remember the Ozone Layer?

In ye goode olde dayse, there was a hole in it, which was supposed to kill us all.

 

Yeah, then they/we stopped using CFCs and the hole shrunk again.

It turned out they could still make essential* products like Lynx and Mr Sheen without CFCs.

 

Remember Global Warming?

We were supposed to stop chucking out loads of greenhouse gasses.

Er....

Oops.

 

As it happens I wouldn't mind living in a little wooden shack with no power and growing my own vegetables. But the world won't really let me. And even if it would, mrs m wouldn't come with me.