ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade General Discussion Area Poll: Manual or Auto??

It's all about raking in the money rather than any real concern about our safety. I don't want to go way off-topic on what would soon become a long rant, since I object to the laws most passionately. If anyone feels the same way though, have a look at the following website which is run by my good friend Nedd Kareiva in Chicago:
www.seatbeltchoice.com



I've never had anything to do with Saabs. So where is it?

We had an old jet-black Rover 60 c.1955, hand-built way back before British Leyland ruined them and fitted Lucas horns to the workforce, ( so they didn't give a hoot either ). It had a puny 60 b.h.p. x 4 cylinder 2-litre engine, with overhead inlet-valves and side-valve exhaust for some strange reason. Under the dash lurked a large black bakelite knob, next to 4 on the floor. Turned 180 degrees it engaged 'freewheel', that is, the car automatically coasted if you took your foot off the throttle, to "save petrol". This monster two and a half ton slug was a joy to drive, in leather-cosetted comfort, sneering down on lesser mortals in crappy Ford Populars through ones split-screen, (as they overtook one with effortless ease in first gear), but go down a steep hill in freewheel and the fun soon faded, along with the brakes!


Alan

Saab never bothered to lock the steering column, they locked the gearbox in reverse, hence the ignition switch was between the seats.

Coffe makes a terrible lock lubricant, don't ask me how I know.

TW

Probably the same way that I once discovered that sticky sweet orange juice isn't the best contact lubricant for a 4-way power strip!

Never tried auto... we always had a Mitsubishi van with column steering.

As long as I remember I had to put on a seat belt and I just feel uncomfortable without one.

Also don't like seat belts, rarely wear one If cruising past a cop, (who have a tendancy to squint to see if you have one on.) I slip off one suspender, and it kinda looks like one. My wifes Escort has auto shoulder straps, of which are broken. So you have to wait for it to let you out of the car sometimes, or as you attept to get out the clasp will smack you ing the head.

As for steering wheel locks, I recently took my Savana in to have the steering lock fixed, only to find out it never had one.

Ouch, thankfully auto shoulder straps are really rare here, I hate them! I am able to fasten my seat belt myself...

One thing I want to add... it's true, sometimes seat belts harm in accidents, but in a far higher number of cases it's one or two broken ribs with the seat belt and being dead without. I'd definitely prefer the broken ribs!
A friend of my parents was driving in Italy in an old R4 and the girl on the passenger seat didn't wear a seat belt, the driver did. The driver got out mostly unharmed, the girl was thrwon out through the windscreen and died after being in coma for several months.

Austria, Germany, and many other European countries enacted seatbelt laws around the mid-1970s. Czechoslovakia appears to have been the first European country to pass such a law, around 1970.

The various Australian states were also early adopters in the 1970-71 period, with New Zealand following soon after (1972, if I recall correctly).

The U.K.'s first mandatory belt law was introduced 1983, and the various U.S. states started implementing them from the end of 1984 onward, but were much slower overall. A large number of states still have only a secondary belt law, not primary (i.e. the law says buckle up, but you can't be stopped and ticketed for it unless you've done something else first, like speeding, running a light etc.).

New Hampshire is the only remaining state in which it's still perfectly legal to drive unbuckled. Live Free or Die!