Seat belts in a Tourer?

[Steve kay]

Is the Brockbank cartoon chap wondering whether he should buy a Bedelia rather than a Seven?

[Bruce Nicholls]

Inclined to agree with the general feeling on seat belts in any A7 even though I have been known to refuse to drive away when I have had passengers in Moderns say they will not wear them.
When I rebuilt my 1967 Lotus Elan Coupe which legally had to have seat belts, I did not fancy being strapped into its delicate fibreglass shell and had a full roll cage with side bars etc to which the seat belts were mounted.
Funnily I have never felt too worried about the Austin, but then I have been driving it since 1972 so perhaps familiarity breeds contempt?

[sparkeysprite]

I ride motorcycles, mainly in the warmer months now and on my first few rides in the Spring after months without riding I get on my motorbike and feel I should be putting a seatbelt on!
I feel very exposed for a few miles and then familiarity kicks in again thankfully..

[Bob Culver]

It sure must need nerve to ride a motocycle. I get up to 50kph downhill briefly on my bike most days and feel very exposed. Anything that moves or might within a huge radius seems a threat.
On closed cars some retainer for the door seems advisable. Especially as we age injuries such as falling slowly out of a car in a rounadabout or intersection collision or shunt can be very serious.
In the 1960s I used to drive 60 miles home each weekend. The traffic toll then was about 3X now with half the population. I observed two head on collisions and a roll over occur to the cars one or a few ahead. Most occupants were strewn on the road, some far from the vehicle. The initial impact was not always the main cause of trauma.
One young guy, spread on the road near his not very damaged car proclaimed "I dont want to f...... die"'...but he did. It made quite an impression on a 20 year old.