As a 25 year firefighter, I have seen many, many people saved by air bags,
and not a one killed by them. I know it happens, but not very often. I have
seen a number of people killed by seat belts, however. Hard front end
collisions can cause internal injuries from the seat belt and the resulting
internal bleeding that is hard to identify and control in emergency
situations. Of course the resulting injuries from flying unrestrained into
the dash and windshield can be equally devastating, air bags can help in
these situations. In a hard side impact accident the seat belt can hold you
firmly in place and allow the impending object (pole or car) to take you out.
Again, I have been on accidents that the person would have been killed if
they were strapped in, but simply ended up on the other side of the car
because they weren't. Of course, I have been on more accidents where the
person was saved by the seat belt. I am not saying you should not use your
seat belts, just that there are good and bad situations for all safety items
such as seat belts/air bags/ABS, but mostly good. The ABS that I have on two
off my late model cars work well up here in this rainy weather. As an "old
school" driver, the hardest thing for me to learn to do is to jam the brakes
to make the ABS work instead of the instinctive feathering.
Mandatory Roadster content: I am fairly new to the "list", but it has
renewed my interest in my roadster which has been sitting in my garage for
the last 20 years (I have run it on occasion). I am ready to work on it.
70,000 miles, no rust, straight body, I bought all new crome/bumbers for it
20 years ago.
Mike
67.5 1600 Would like to up it to 2000 pushrod.
|