I take a somewhat fatalistic (and tongue in cheek) view on this general
subject.
If you're driving a run-of-the-mill British sports car of the pre or post
war era and have a serious accident at speed:
1. You're likely to be harpooned in the chest by a non-collapsible steering
column (wearing a seat belt or not), and/or
2. Be thrown forward to mash your face on seriously non-friendly switchgear
(if your not wearing a belt)
If the car rolls over with the top down (while wearing a proper lap and
diagonal), the windscreen frame will collapse and within a nanosecond, the
same will happen to your head. Okay, you can fit a rollover bar but who on
earth wants one of those? Sorry, not me - its so fatalistic in appearance.
Not wearing a belt allows you to bend sideways and use cockpit space -
providing you don't have a passenger doing the same thing at the same time.
I like my lap and diagonal belts, I wear them - but then, I don't drive old
British sports cars (very often) but I do drive old British saloons and
neither variety was built in the days when anyone really bothered about the
efficacy of crumple zones. Perhaps its safer to spend all day in bed? In my
case, that's dangerous too. My home on top of a hill is 300 years old and
there's a massive oak beam above my head, so if lightning should strike or
the roof is blown off ?
But we're all going to die one day anyway and whatever precautions we take
in this mortal coil, that Big Man upstairs will probably find a way round it
and catch us unawares.
Jonmac
"I have only once followed a rigid, cholesterol-free diet and it was the
most ghastly afternoon I can ever remember" Denis Norden
---
Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.
Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
Version: 6.0.766 / Virus Database: 513 - Release Date: 17/09/04
|