Should I add seat belts to 1920's touring car?

[Stude Light]

From another engineer.....seat belts are an obvious improvement for lower speed impacts, say up to 25 miles an hour.  It will keep your young back seat occupants from flying head first into the robe rail during a frontal impact.  At higher speeds, I'm not sure how much, if any, improvement would be seen due to the many issues noted (energy of seats and other unsecured parts, ability to properly install seatbelts, anchor points, etc.). I hate to consider rear or side impacts with or without belts as there is just no protection in these cars.

 

Personally, I chose not to install seatbelts and I'll tell you why.  I look at risk mitigation. I am a helicopter flight instructor and have about 4000 accident free hours of which most is instructing. Statistically speaking, flying helicopters is one of the most dangerous things you can do - especially instructing since it seems all students are focused on trying to kill you.  However, if you remove all the accidents caused by pilot error, statistically it becomes one of the safer ways to travel.  I approach each drive in my antique car the same way as a flight.  I try to remove as much risk as I am in control of so, when driving I leave more room in front of me to another car, try to signal those behind me a few times to ensure I get their attention before stopping, anticipate lights, watch more intently at intersections, sometimes I slow down when going through intersections, basically I try not to put myself in bad situations. 

 

When I took my young family driving in my Class C motorhome I knew (after seeing how poorly they are constructed) that any accident would be really bad for anyone travelling in an RV.  When we were driving in heavy traffic (cities), everyone had to be in a belted seat.  Once we got on the highway, beds, table, bathroom were all available as the risk of an accident was really low.  Besides if we got in an accident at 70 mph we would all be dead regardless of seatbelts (have you ever seen an RV in a highway accident? - not good).

 

Everything we do has some level of risk and I'm willing to take that risk in order to enjoy things in life.  I try to mitigate as much risk as I can control and accept the fact that sometimes bad things happen. I pray I won't ever be in that situation but I cannot control that.

 

Now, you could consider the car seats that they were promoting in my 1923 Automobile Trade Journal.....

 

 

Scott

[oldcarfudd]

I was the driver of the Cadillac in Chase392’s post.  An old repair failed, the right front wheel spindle broke, and the wheel came off.  This was on a 1907 single-cylinder car, so it was a slow-speed accident.  I thought I ought to get off the road, so after slowing to about 15 mph (from about 25), I allowed the car to drift to the right.  Until then, I seemed to have pretty good control.  But then the un-wheeled spindle got to the unpaved shoulder and dug in.  The rear of the car slewed to the left, and my wife (who was sitting on the left in this right-hand-drive car) was pitched out into the road.  She hit the left side lamp on the way out; this caused her to half-roll, and she landed on the back of her head, unconscious.  I was holding the steering wheel, and stayed in the car.

 

The first driver to arrive on the scene was emergency-trained, and he took my wife to the hospital.  She had a concussion, from which she recovered over about the next month.  But she had also injured her rotator cuff, for which she had surgery six weeks ago; she’s doing well, but lost the ski season and won’t be back on a horse for a while.  I’m not sure she’ll ever ride in an antique car again.

 

Fortunately, this was on a dead straight road with no traffic in either direction.  In this case, a seat belt, even minimally installed, would have kept my wife in the car.  But on a twisting road, or one with a ditch or a curb instead of a shoulder, or in the event of a collision with another car, that high, narrow, short-wheelbase Cadillac could easily have rolled.  There is nowhere in that car to do a serious seat belt installation.

 

The world is not a risk-free place.  We are skiers.  We used to fly gliders.  We have toured both in Europe and in North America on bicycles.  My wife does horseback tours all over the world.  We accept some risks because we enjoy the rewards.  And we are well aware that we have been damn lucky.

 

Gil Fitzhugh the Elder

[maok]

Being obviously aware of the risk of injury and or death, it always amazes me how members on the forum talk about driving the old cars at speeds well above 40mph. Sure your car maybe capable. But should you? We always believe we are in control, its the unknown that you should take into account. Mechanical failure, brakes, steering, suspension, etc. Other careless drivers and the condition of their vehicles.

 

All car accidents are unique, in my unqualified and dodgy opinion, installing seatbelts has its merits,  increasing your chances of survival in certain accidents. We always hope that the accident we maybe involved in is minor.

 

My car does not have seatbelts, I rarely drive above 30mph.

[8E45E]

11 hours ago, Stude Light said:

When I took my young family driving in my Class C motorhome I knew (after seeing how poorly they are constructed) that any accident would be really bad for anyone travelling in an RV.  (have you ever seen an RV in a highway accident? - not good).

 

 

Yes:  http://forum.studebakerdriversclub.com/showthread.php?57298-Big-RV-vs-train-in-Brownsburg-and-he-lived

 

Craig

[John_S_in_Penna]

11 hours ago, maok said:

...it always amazes me how members on the forum talk about driving the old cars at speeds well above 40mph. ...

My car does not have seatbelts, I rarely drive above 30mph.

 

For our region's AACA newsletter, I am currently

working with a car owner who has an interesting story.

In 1939, he bought a 1918 Cadillac to use as a second car,

and after 77 years he still has the Cadillac!

He has regularly driven that car over 27,000 miles,

and typically at its comfortable speed of 50 m.p.h.

Years ago, he said, he had it up to an indicated 75 m.p.h.,

which was probably an actual 65 or 70, and the car

didn't feel overtaxed.  He likely has more experience

with 1918 Cadillacs than anyone else living today.

"It doesn't feel like an old car to me," he said, because

after so many years he is very familiar with it.

 

And Jay Leno has written that he drives his older cars at speed,

which he feels is fine as long as they are restored to their

original specification.  He has had his Duesenbergs up to 100,

he said. 

Edited February 14, 2017 by John_S_in_Penna (see edit history)