Have You Noticed How Seat Belts Have Become Our Second Skin?

My 100 meter drive without...

Quite a few times a month I am seen hanging about outside the local doctor's rooms. Nothing nefarious. No, I chauffeur those who aren't able to go by themselves to the doctor. It's rather nice, because often when I take them back we sit and have a cup of coffee accompanied by a slice of cake.

As a lot of the ladies who drive with me are a bit on the frail side, I usually double park my car, hop out and run to their side to open the car door and so forth. When I know they are safely on their way in, I hop back into my car and drive about 100 meters before doing a u-turn to my perch. A parking spot, I suppose, but one where I can see the front door of our doctor's rooms.

Just the other morning, I did this without putting on the seat belt. Country lane, not much traffic and so forth. Well, let me tell you, that it felt very strange indeed. Not having the seat belt keeping me in place made me feel as if I was starting a roller coaster ride ( no, I don't drive badly )! Even turning to look over my shoulder for traffic was an experience in weightlessness.

How on earth did we all grow up so well without a seat belt? Not that I am ancient, but I seem to remember that the cars we had as kids were sans seat belt. And head rest, come to think of it. Oh yes, really.

A lot of us ( eh, adults of a certain age ) when we were young, were bopping merrily around on the back seat either shifting from one window to the other or doing the required sibling punch up. Not a seat belt in sight. Come to think of it, our parents up front had ample room to lean back and sort us out. No seat belt to restrain them!

Oh, and can you believe it, we sometimes used to ride in the front seat, unrestrained and hardly able to see over the dashboard. It wasn't that our parents were neglectful or doing anything wrong. A seat belt was more of a luxury on most cars, than a standard. Gosh, there were no laws about driving only fastened with a seat belt either. No, that came later.

By the way, can you remember what the first seat belts were like? Kind of like a big belt attached to the door frame. Never a proper fit. Either they were too loose or too tight.

Apart from the other day, I am religious about putting on my seat belt before driving even an inch. It is that automatic reach over our shoulder to pull the belt into place. Years ago, I was driving around in America and I have to say that they were one up on the rest of us. The minute you put the key into the ignition, the seat belt came over automatically. It had a touch of Star Trek to it....

....Wow, if that was back in the 90's, can you imagine what it is like now! But I forget, the cars of the future will drive themselves and maybe that will free us of the need for seat belts yet again. A loop in history perhaps?

Biggi