One of the trade mags recently carried a report of the death of a Swedish gentleman called Nils Bohlin. An event ignored by the media in this country as far as I know, rather surprisingly for a man who is accredited with saving around one million lives and many times that in serious injuries.
His claim to fame was the invention of the three point safety belt, standard fitment and a legal requirement on all cars for many years. So, any one out there who has survived death or serious injury because of Mr Bohlins work, raise your caps.
Personally, I would be happy to see a full safety harness, as worn by racing drivers to now become the norm. Just as easy to get in and out of, much more secure, and it might let us do away with that frightening bl**dy airbag!
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I think a full safety harness is a bit ott for everyday driving myself!
And let's face it, those harnesses are only any good if you are strapped in so tightly as to be uncomfortable and movement restricting on long journeys.
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Never tried a harness myself, but with modern inertia reels I would thing the ability to shift position as you drove would be the same as with three point belts.
I always wonder about the twisting action that might be imposed on the body in a violent crash by conventional belts.
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I thought the built in strength of full harnesses was due to the fact they are fixed and not inertia reel types.
Then again, maybe Im wrong?
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"Just as easy to get in and out of, much more secure, and it might let us do away with that frightening bl**dy airbag!"
well, 1 out 3 is not bad.
Much more secure - YES. (I use one as co-driver in a rally car.)
easy to get in and out of - definitely NOT.
Downside(s) - removes rear seat legroom AND
(I am told) VERY uncomfortable for the ladies -
2 vertical shoulder straps pulled as tight as you can bear?
Hmmmm.
"might let us do away with that frightening bl**dy airbag!"
- that's only there because Americans would NOT use belts.
A thought - can somebody invent DOUBLE diagonal straps?
SAFER, and not too uncomfortable for the ladies.
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I'll concede to you on that, Trevor.
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I think the problem with Americans not wearing belts is the fact that a large proportion of them are so overweight that the belts are difficult to get on. I can imagine some person with a rotund enough rear would make it impossible to find the seat belt buckle in the first place.
If you used a four strap belt in an x (cross your heart??) shape with the release in the cross over point then it should be easy to get and out of as either side would just fold up out of the way. Well endowed ladies might struggle with losing the buckle so some sort of retrieval mechanism might be in order before anyone trying to get them out of the belt was accused of trying to fondle their wares.
teabelly
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.A thought - can somebody invent DOUBLE diagonal straps? SAFER, and not too uncomfortable for the ladies.
They have.
The BMW 125cc scooter-with-a-roof has a doubel diagonal seatbelt arrangement - IIRC both have to be locked to enable the bike to go.
This roof/strapped-in arrangement means that (here, at any rate) the rider doesn't need a helmet.
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