THE SAFETY CHOICE COALITION

DEDICATED TO THE PROPOSITION THAT  WHAT YOU DO FOR YOUR OWN SAFETY SHOULD BE DECIDED BY YOU AND NOT BY THE GOVERNMENT

WE ARE FIGHTING TO REPEAL:

• MANDATORY   SEATBELT LAWS

• MANDATORY   MOTORCYCLE HELMET LAWS

• MANDATORY BICYCLE HELMET LAWS

• MANDATORY AIR BAG LAWS

• MANDATORY PERSONAL FLOTATION DEVICE LAWS

• AND ALL SIMILAR   LAWS

WORKING TOGETHER WE CAN BE MORE EFFECTIVE THAN  WORKING SEPARATELY

LINKS TO OUR  PAGES:

Visit our Picture Gallery and take a look at what happens to real cars in real fatal accidents

Seatbelts have been killing people for more than thirty years. Read some of their stories.

If you still think seatbelts are a good idea you need to read our report

Read published accounts of what seatbelts do to real people in real accidents

Read what other people think of mandatory seatbelt laws

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This site is dedicated to the memory of Commander John C. Waldron and the men of Torpedo Squadron 8, and to all others who gave their lives to preserve that liberty which some are now trying to take away from us.
"We here highly resolve that these honored dead shall not have died in vain".

This web-site was last updated on May 15, 2012

seatbelts anyone?

Seatbelts, anyone?

This accident took place in France on April 13, 2012. Doesn't look much like the dummy tests, does it.
(Picture courtesy of France2 TV)

seatbelts anyone?

This accident took place in Los Angeles on April 16, 2012. Doesn't look much like the dummy tests, does it.
(Picture courtesy of KTLA-TV, Los Angeles)

More accident pictures below. Note: We have many such pictures and get more all the time, but cannot post them all due to space limitations. This is what real fatal accidents look like. For more, see below and visit our picture gallery

From a resolution passed by the Virginia state senate (S.J.Res. 194), February 23, 2012: "Whereas Jason Benning and Joshua Moore ran back to the vehicle, where they saw a baby strapped in a car seat behind the drivers seat; each of them opened a back door and attempted to wrestle with the car seat to get the child out, struggling with the seatbelts while flames were coming through the dash, until, finally, the boy was removed from the car and carried to safety". Unfortunately, heroes like Benning and Moore are not usually present in such cases.

Legislative update:

Colorado: The regular session of the Colorado state legislature has adjourned without considering any seatbelt bills. The legislature is now in special session, but no seatbelt bills are on the agenda.

Arizona: Governor Brewer has signed HB 2154. We wonder what she will say to the mothers whose children are going to burn to death as a result of this bill. The Arizona state legislature adjourned on May 3, 2012. Prior to adjournment, however, the legislature passed HB 2154 which requires children up to 8 years of age to be strapped into a death-trap seat.   NHTSA's gang of hired con artists is still at work. The vote was 38 to 17 in the House and 19 to 10 in the senate.

Louisiana: HB 197 was passed by the senate transportation committee on May 14, 2012. The bill advanced to third reading on May 15.  HB 197 would extend Louisiana's primary seatbelt law to SUV's and make it illegal to carry a passenger in a seat where no seatbelt was available. Passed by House 3/29/2012 by a vote of 89 to 1.  The bill is described as "Requires all motor vehicle occupants to wear seatbelts", but that's not exactly what it says. As a practical matter this bill would make very little difference.

HB 214 has been "involuntarily" deferred in committee, 5/3/2012. HB 214 would make failure to wear a seatbelt admissible as evidence of negligence. Introduced 3/12/2012 and referred to committee on civil law. (cf. Illinois SB 3493 above).

United States Congess:   The conference on H.R. 4348 began its deliberations on May 8, 2012. They reached no agreement and "recessed subject to call". This does not mean that they will not meet again, but as of right now, no further meetings have been scheduled. It might be pointed out that the senate substitute, S.1813, contains  congressman Bishop's revision of 23 USC 405 and 406 as proposed in H.R. 14 (see below).  

Nebraska: The Nebraska state legislature has adjourned without considering any seatbelt or booster seat bills.

Illinois:
HB 4660 has been sent to the senate transportation committee, 5/1/2012. HB 4660 was passed by the House on 3/6/2012 and sent to the senate where it was first assigned to the committee on assignments.  HB 4660 would exempt the occupants of limousines from having to wear seatbelts. Introduced 2/1/2012 and assigned to rules committee. Sent by rules committee to transportation committee, 2/15/2012. Passed by transportation committee, 2/22/2012 and sent to House floor for second reading, short debate. (One law for the rich, another for the poor. Sorry, we couldn't resist saying that.)

SB 3493 has been re-referred to the committee on assignments under rule 3-9(a). In Illinois this generally means the bill is dead. SB 3493 was sent to the committee on human services by the judiciary committee on 3/7/2012.  SB 3493 would make failure to wear a seatbelt evidence of negligence. (Note: passage of this bill would enable insurance companies to argue in court that their liability should be reduced if the plaintiff was not wearing a seatbelt. At the present time, most seatbelt laws (including Illinois') specifically state that failure to wear a seatbelt is not admissible as evidence of negligence.) Introduced 2/8/2012 and assigned to the assignments committee.

HB 4584 would require the occupants of fire trucks and ambulances to wear seatbelts. Introduced 2/1/2012 and assigned to rules committee.

House of Representatives: The Speaker of the House has agreed to the request from the senate for a conference on H.R. 4348 (S.1813) and appointed conferees for each section of the bill.

United States Senate: The senate, on 4/24/2012, passed H.R. 4348 (see below)  except that they passed S. 1813 (see below) instead. This may not seem to make any sense, but it's actually quite simple. They simply struck everything below the enacting clause of H.R. 4348 as received from the House, and substituted the text of S.1813. They then sent it back to the House with a demand for a conference.The proposed senate conferees are senators Boxer, Baucus, Rockefeller, Durbin, Johnson (SD), Schumer, Nelson (FL), Menendez, Inhofe, Vitter, Hatch, Shelby, Hutchison and Hoeven.

United States Senate: Senator Patty Murray has introduced S. 2322, an appropriation bill which would fund the Department of Transportation for fiscal 2013. This bill is similar to S. 1596 which Senator Murray introduced last year in her capacity as chairwoman of the transportation subcommittee of the senate appropriations committee. This bill would fund all of NHTSA's highway traffic murder grants at their present rate, even though no authorization bill authorizing such funding has, as yet, passed. Introduced 4/19/2012 and placed on the senate legislative calendar under general orders, calendar no. 359. The senate did not pass S. 1596 last year and hopefully will not pass this bill either. Senator Murray has, for years, been the senate's chief advocate of seatbelt coercion, booster seat coercion, and other lunacies, and is, apparently, impervious to facts, reason or logic.

United States Congress: As expected, the House has passed H.R. 4348 (4/18/2012). The vote was 293 to 127.  H.R. 4348 is a continuing resolution to keep the government's surface transportation programs going until the end of the fiscal year. Specifically, it authorizes continuing spending at the current rate for July,  August and September, after the current continuing resolution expires on June 30.  This bill would extend all of NHTSA's highway traffic murder grants at their current rate, with 23 USC 406 funded at $48,500,00 a year.

United States Congress:

H.R. 4281: The president has signed H.R. 4281. The House  passed the continuing resolution for highway funding, H.R. 4281 on 3/30/2012. The vote was 266 to 158. The senate passed the bill several hours later.

What concerns us is that the bill extends the NHTSA highway traffic murder grants for another three months. It's a pity the committee could not have dusted off S.1525 (which is listed as a related bill), changed the dates and gone with that. The hangup on the previous version of H.R. 4281, H.R. 4239,  was conservative objections over the cost. Yet H.R. 4281 continues to fund the Highway Traffic Murder Administration at the rate of almost a billion dollars a year, continues to fund bribes to states to  use the police to force motorists to do something that is liable to kill them, or their children, and it even increases the money for "high visibility enforcement". "High visibility enforcement" is what the Gestapo used to do under Adolf Hitler. George Orwell, in his worst nightmare, never envisaged anything so obscene.  And yet these bills were proposed by the republican majority! The ultimate irony is that the correponding democratic continuing resolution, S. 1525, proposed by senator Boxer of California, would actually have eliminated the most egregious provisions of the republican bills.

S. 1813 and H.R. 7:    S.1813 was amended on the senate floor prior to passage by the senate, at the request of the majority leader, senator Reid of Nevada. The amendment proposed by the senator was described as "being of a perfecting nature". The amendment was adopted by unanimous consent, meaning there was no vote and no debate. The majority leader requested unanimous consent, and since no one objected, the amendment was adopted. But when we read the amendment we find that it made major changes and additions to the bill. In particular, it restored funding for Chapter 4 of 23 USC, which had been omitted from the original bill.  When we read the version adopted as a substitute amendment to H.R. 4348, however, we find that it contains the changes to 23 USC 405 and 406 contained in representative Bishop's bill, H.R. 14 (see below). This would effectively kill sections 405 and 406, since no state is likely to apply for a grant under the conditions stated.
    Likewise,  a critical change appeared in H.R. 7 after it was introduced. The revised version of 23 USC 402 contained in the original bill was replaced by the original version of that section. How this happened we do not know since there was no due process, no amendment, no debate and no vote. The revised version contained in the original bill removed all the offensive, arrogant and unconstitutional language contained in that section, and  deleted all references to seatbelts, air bags, booster seats, motorcycle helmets and all the other unconstitutional and counterproductive mandates, and instead called for negociation between state and federal officials to arrive at a mutually agreeable compromise. This revision mysteriously disappeared the day after the bill was introduced, being replaced by the original (current) language of 23 USC 402.

H.R. 14: Representative Timothy Bishop has introduced yet another highway authorization bill, H.R. 14.  There are a number of things which may be said about this bill:

1. Congressman Bishop is a democrat and, while he has 115 co-sponsors, this bill is unikely to become law. The bill has been assigned to no fewer than thirteen different committees, for an indefinite amount of time. This is a ploy frequently used by the leadership when they don't want a bill to come to the floor.

2. On the face of it, this bill bends over backwards to pander to the auto safety loonies. But in order to understand the effect of a bill it is necessary to read between the lines, and behind the lines. Based on these considerations, the following points may be made:

a) In spite of the huge mass of verbiage, seemingly pandering to every crackpot idea ever come up with by the auto safety loonies, there is no money is the bill for 23 USC 406.

b) 23 USC 405 has been rewritten, and is considered merged with 23 USC 406 (under the terms of this bill). The requirements for getting a grant under the conditions set forth in this bill are so onerous that few states are likely to apply for such a grant. The total amount of money for the new joint section 405-406, now called 405, is down to $44,000,000. Of course any money spent for this purpose is an outrage, but last year the combined amount was $73.5 million, and the year before $149.5 million. So while on the face of it, the endless verbiage of this section seems to pander enthusiastically to the auto safety loonies, a careful reading indicates a continuing draw-down of the money spent for this nefarious purpose.

c) Readers may wonder why congress is so anxious to pander to the auto safety loonies, who are, after all, merely a tiny handful of individuals with no qualifications in the field. The answer is that some of these loonies are in Washington, D.C. and some of them have friends in congress, and that makes all the difference.

Maryland: HB 853 would exempt the police from having to wear seatbelts. Reported "unfavorable" by the Environmental Matters committee, 3/16/2012.
SB 460 would raise the seatbelt fine to $75 and fine drivers if anyone in their vehicle was not strapped into a seatbelt or death-trap seat. Reported "unfavorable" by the Judicial Proceedings committee. 3/5/2012
HB 343  would raise the seatbelt and booster seat fine to $75. Reported "unfavorable" by the Environmental Matters committee.

Georgia: HB 1190 would require drivers of commercial vehicles to wear seatbelts. Second reading 3/5/2012. No other action.

West Virginia:   The West Virginia state legislature has adjourned its regular session without passing the primary seatbelt law bills SB 139 or HB 2062. They did pass HB 4046, but without the provision that an occupant of a motorcycle side car be required to wear a seatbelt.

SB 139 was passed by the senate but did not come up for a vote in the House. No action was taken on HB 2062.

HB 4046 is a long bill on government organization, but it included a provision to require an occupant of a motorcycle sidecar to wear a seatbelt, which does not appear in the final bill. Passed by House on 2/1/2012 and a different version was passed by the senate on 3/9/2012. The House refused to agree to the senate version. The senate receded on 3/10/2012, clearing the way for final passage.

SB 211: A conference report on the "distracted driving" bill, SB 211, was passed by both Houses late last night, just prior to adjournment. At 10:30 p.m. last night, that is to say one and a half hours before the legislature was scheduled to adjourn, a conference committee was appointed to resolve differences between the House and senate versions of SB 211. The legislature went into recess while awaiting the report of the conference committee. The conference committee issued a report which was then passed by both Houses. We have not been able to get a copy of the conference report so we don't know what they agreed to.

SB 211 was passed by the senate on 2/7/2012. This version of the bill contained only the provision requring that all use of electronic devices (texting, cell phones, etc.) while driving be hands free. The provision is to be enforced only as a secondary offense but the fine is set at $100 for the first offense, $200 for the second and $400 for the third. 

SB 211 was amended by the House judiciary committee on 3/6/2012 by striking most of the senate bill and inserting their own language, which is pretty much the same, except that it would make the use of a hand held electronic device while driving a primary, rather than secondary, offense, and raises the maximum fine to $500. This version of the bill was passed by the House on 3/9/2012.

SB 211 was introduced by the president of the senate at the request of the governor.

Kentucky: SB 89 was signed by the governor on 4/11/2012. SB 89 was passed by the House on 3/20/2012. The vote was 61 to 33.   SB 89 was passed by the senate on 2/29 and sent to the House where it was assigned to the transportation committee on 3/7/2012.  SB 89 would extend the seatbelt requirement to vans carrying up to 15 passengers. (Present law is up to 10 passengers). Introduced by senator Harris on 1/11/2012. To Transportation Committee, 1/12/2012. Passed by transportation committee, 2/15/2012, sent to rules committee, 2/16/2012.

"Distracted driving": At the present time practically every state legislature is considering, or has considered, a bill to prohibit cell phone use while driving and  texting while driving. Few of these bills have passed and those that have are generally so watered down as to be relatively harmless. This shows the power of the insurance industry to get such bills introduced, but not necessarily to get them passed. Because of the sheer volume of such bills we are not following them individually at this time.

Iowa: HF 2202 would require motorcycle riders under 18 years of age to wear a helmet. Assigned to transportation committee, 2/2/2012.

Oklahoma: HB 2583 would extend the seatbelt requirement to the back seat. Assigned to committee on public safety, 2/7/2012. Passed by Public Safety Committee, 2/9/2012.

Washington: The Washington state legislatue has adjourned without conisdering SB 6308. SB 6308 would repeal the Washington motorcycle helmet law. Assigned to transportation committee, 1/17/2012.

Vermont: The primary seatbelt law bill, H.0150, has been assigned to the judiciary committee.  The sponsors of this bill are representatives Maxine Grad (primary sponsor), Andrew Donaghy, Martha Heath, and Margaret Cheney.  Two of the four sponsors, Maxine Grad and Andrew Donaghy, are on the judiciary committee. Maxine Grad is the vice chairwoman of the committee. The bill was assigned to the judiciary committee on the motion of representative Brennan. This bill had previously been  assigned to the transportation committee, in January of 2011, but that committee did not report it out. There was a knockdown, dragout fight on  this matter  in 2009, when representative Rodgers introduced his amendment to H.0147, to make seatbelts illegal in Vermont. That bill was passed by the House but, although introduced in the senate in 2010, was not taken up by that body. We are going to be keeping a very close eye on this situation and will let you know what develops.

Mississippi: SB 2080 has been declared dead. SB 2080 would have exempted mechanics from the seatbelt requirement when test driving a vehicle not their own. Introduced by senator Wilemon, 1/13/2012. To judiciary committee.

Indiana: SB 0213, sponsored by senator Skinner, would make the operator of a vehicle guilty of a felony if a child in the vehicle who is not "properly restrained" is seriously injured or killed in a motor vehicle accident. In other words, if the child is struck or crushed as a result of the vehicle being stove in (which is what usually happens) the operator is guilty of a felony if he did not tie the child to the seat with a seatbelt or booster seat. Introduced January 4, 2012 and assigned to the Committee on Corrections, Criminal and Civil Matters.

The SB 0257 conference report passed both Houses on 3/10/2012 and signed by the governor. SB 0257 passed both Houses, but in different form, and was sent to conference on 3/1/2012.  SB 0257 revises the Indiana motor vehicle code. Buried somewhere is this huge mass of fine print there is supposed to be a provision regarding seatbelts in antique motor vehicles, but we cannot find it in the bill. Everyone should really read this bill. It's interesting to contemplate that when motor vehicles first appeared, there were no motor vehicle laws. This did not last long as Massachusetts passed the first law in 1900 requiring that every motor vehicle be preceded by a man on foot carrying a red lantern. With this brilliant start, states have been adding to their motor vehicle laws ever since, until we have arrived at laws like SB 0257.

Idaho: The Idaho state legislature has adjourned without considering a seatbelt law.

Virginia: The Virginia state legislature has adjourned without considering a seatbelt law.

South Dakota: The South Dakota state legislature has adjourned without considering a seatbelt law.

Utah: The Utah state legislature has adjourned without considering a seatbelt law.

Wyoming: The Wyoming state legislature has adjourned without considering a seatbelt law.

Florida: The Florida state legislature has adjourned without considering any more seatbelt laws.

        Legislative updates: Note: In order to clear the decks for 2012, we have moved the legislative updates for 2011 to www.safetychoice.org/leg2011.doc

H.R. 2112 has been signed by the president. Now that  NHTSA's store of bribe money has been replenished, we can expect   that NHTSA will once again resume their vicious lobbying campaigns to get states to use the police to force NHTSA's dangerous delusions on their people.  All the bags of dirty tricks will once again be put to use: the lies, the bribes, the false witnesses, the fake videos, the made up statistics,  the hired actors posing as ordinary citizens, perjury and subornation of perjury, the phony front organizations funded and run by NHTSA posing as ordinary citizens groups, the phony web sites,  the fake stories planted in the media, the police chiefs bribed to try to intimidate their legislators,  and on and on and on.

Because congress passed the senate version of H.R. 2112 and not the House version, NHTSA will get $48,500,000 for 23 USC 406 (bribes to states to pass primary seatbelt laws) for fiscal 2012, instead of nothing as the House intended. This is still better than the $124,500,000 a year they were getting before. Given their reduced circumstances, it is likely that NHTSA will concentrate on one or two states and offer either the whole $48,500,00 to one state, or $24,250,000 to each of two states. NHTSA has operated on the principle that every state legislature has its price - that is, that for a sufficiently large bribe the legislature will sell out their constituents and take the money. This has worked for them in some states, like Florida and Rhode Island, but not in some other states - at least so far.

Accident Reports:

Seatbelts kill again (and again and again): Los Angeles.  "The mother who was badly burned after she was struck by a hit-and-run driver...has died....the SUV clipped Taylor's car....the car then flipped over and slid about 20 feet before catching fire...Taylor was able to crawl out of the burning car but was unable to save her 9 year old daughter....Both were wearing seatbelts at the time..."she's rolling in pain, on fire and her skin is falling off....I thought it was a horror movie"...Taylor had burns over 95% of her body, including her lungs." As she lay there in agony she was forced to listen to her daughter's dying screams. Compare this to the roll-over accident below in which neither the mother nor the child were wearing seatbelts, and neither was seriously injured. For the full story, visit http://www.ktla.com/news/landing/ktla-fiery-101-crash,0,2030482.story

Los Angeles, California: "KTLA News 10:09 a.m. PDT, September 29, 2011 NORTH HOLLYWOOD, Calif. (KTLA) -- A woman was arrested early Wednesday on suspicion of drunk driving and child endangerment after allegedly flipping her car with her 4-year-old daughter inside. Police say Lisette Gonzalez Avakian, 35, was driving along the 5900 block of Whitnall Highway at around 2 a.m. Wednesday when she crashed into two parked cars and flipped over. Paramedics found the girl inside the car but not in the car (booster) seat."  The woman was not in the car when the police arrived, having walked away. The fact that she was able to walk away even though the car was badly crushed indicates that she was not wearing a seatbelt. There is no mention in the report that either of them was injured. Notice that this accident, like 84% of all roll-over accidents, was a single car accident which resulted from reckless driving. (Drunk with a four-year-old in the car at 2 a.m.!)

Malibu, California October 1, 2011 (CBS news). "One person was killed and another suffered severe burns when a vehicle overturned and caught fire on the Ventura freeway in Malibu. The woman was rushed to the hospital with burns over 80% of her body".  The victims would have been wearing seatbelts. (If they had not been wearing seatbelts, you may be sure the police would have pointed this out). Imagine what would have happened if a child in a booster seat had been in that vehicle.

Highland Park, CA. August 26, 2011:

"The driver of the second vehicle collided with the rear of the first vehicle. This caused the first vehicle to catch on fire and eventually become fully engulfed in flames. The 1 (sic) year old passenger of the first vehicle became trapped in her car seat as a result of the collision. Attempts were made by the involved parties and witnesses to remove the child from the vehicle but they were overcome by the fire and unsuccessful in their attempts. The child sustained fatal injuries".  http://highlandpark-ca.patch.com/articles/police-confirm-2-year-old-dead-in-car-accident-2

Note: Under California state law, all children under six year of age must be strapped into a death-trap seat when riding in an automobile. Thanks to California state law, the mother was forced to watch her child burn to death.

New Safety Choice Technical Report: On the Effect of Seatbelts in a Real School Bus Accident. schoolbus.doc, schoolbus.pdf

seatbelts, anyone?

This accident happened in Hawaii on March 25, 2012. Five killed. Doesn't look much like the dummy tests, does it.

seatbelts, anyone?

This accident took place in Los Angeles on August 1, 2011. The car was struck by a passing motorist as it emerged from a parking lot. The car was split in half and caught fire. The occupants were burned beyond recognition.
Doesn't look much like the dummy tests, does it.
(Picture courtesy of KTLA-TV, Los Angeles).

Alert: NHTSA, having increasing trouble corrupting state legislatures, is now going after small town police chiefs.

Messages: We dont usually post messages any more but we received two on March 4 which we thought we would post. Regarding the one from Florida, you may recall that Florida resisted NHTSA for years, but each year NHTSA upped their bid. When NHTSA raised their bid to $35 million, the legislature decided to sell out their constituents and take the money. We fought them every inch of the way but lost. This was when Jeb Bush was governor and Marco Rubio was speaker. To read the messages, click here

Reports: For your convenience we have put all the links to our reports on a single page. Click on REPORTS above.

New Safety Choice Coalition Technical Report: "On the Effect of a Shoulder Belt in a Collision Involving a Longitudinal Deceleration". This report addresses the question at issue in the case of Williamson vs. Mazda Motor Co. (see below).
scourt.doc  scourt.pdf

Supreme Court decides Williamson case: (www.supremecourt.gov)The Supreme Court of the United States has decided that the Williamson family has a perfect right to sue the Mazda Motor Co. for not putting a shoulder belt in the middle rear seat of their mini van. The decision reads like something out of Alice in Wonderland. The decision quotes at length from the various imbecilities put out by NHTSA on seatbelts and air bags over the years. There is no mention in the court's decision that none of the people who put out these statements had the vaguest idea what they were talking about, that none of them were qualified in the field, that experts from the auto industry repeatedly warned them seatbelts and air bags were dangerous, impractical devices that were going to get a lot of people killed. In summary, the government forced Mazda to put seatbelts in their cars. As a result, Williamson was killed by her seatbelt. The Williamson family, instead of suing the government for having murdered Thanh Williamson, is suing Mazda for having complied with the government regulation.

Seatbelts, anyone? "Williamson... died in a 2002 accident; her family says her body jackknifed around the lap belt, causing fatal injuries". (From Williamson vs Mazda, before the U.S. Supreme Court). We dont usually post such stories anymore because seatbelts kill people every day and have claimed thousands of victims.  But published stories seldom admit that the victim was killed by her seatbelt, because of government propaganda, so we though we would post this one. Of course she did not die because "her body jackknifed around the lap belt". She died because of the force of the belt on her abdomen, in accordance with Newton's second law of motion.   You can read the transcript of the hearing on this matter at www.supremecourt.gov/oral_arguments/argument_transcripts.aspx  
Scroll down to 08-1314, Williamson vs. Mazda and click on the link.   The plaintiffs complain that no shoulder belt was available at Williamson's seating location. If Williamson had been wearing a shoulder belt, she would have most  likely have suffered three fatal injuries instead of one: burst intestines, crushed chest and broken neck, depending on how fast the shoulder belt locked. Williamson would almost certainly be alive today if she had not been wearing a seatbelt, a fact which seems to have escaped the distinguished justices; or perhaps they do not consider it relevant.

Here's a little item you might be interested in: According to an article published in the Helena Independent Record on January 21, Montana state senate bill SB 42 would strengthen Montana's drunk driving law. The sponsor of the bill, state senator Shockley, was arrested two days earlier for drinking while driving.

Only 17 states now do not have a primary seatbelt law for adults. These states are Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Massachusetts, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, North Dakokta, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wyoming and New Hampshire. Of these four, Missouri,  Utah and Vermont, have primary seatbelt laws for drivers and passengers under 18 (15 for MIssouri and 19 for Utah), thus placing the most vulnerable at risk. New Hampshire also has a primary seatbelt law for those under 18.

The smaller the number of states without primary seatbelt laws becomes, the bigger the bribe NHTSA can offer each state. Thus, states which have resisted smaller bribes may sell out their constituents for larger ones. For example, Florida, which held out for years, finally succumbed when NHTSA raised their offer to $35 million. (This was a republican state legislature with that famous conservative, Mario Rubio, as Speaker).  Texas, where governor Rick Perry has threatened to secede to escape the clutches of the federal dictatorship, has one of the worst seatbelt laws and one of the most vicious enforcement campaigns in the nation.   So the danger is very real.

        There is a lot more at stake here than just seatbelt laws. What is at stake here is the power of the government to regulate every aspect of our lives. Such power would be unacceptable even if government were honest and competent. Since it is neither, such power endangers not only our liberty and property, but our health and safety as well.  If we do not not finally draw a line in the sand and say "enough",  our liberty and safety will continue to be eroded by an arrogant, corrupt and incompetent government, greedy for unlimited power.

Seatbelts, anyone? This accident took place in Los Angeles on December 12, 2010. Three died. This is what real fatal accidents look like. Doesn't look much like the dummy tests, does it.
http://www.ktla.com/news/landing/ktla-vernon-hit-run,0,2825106.story

"People are tired of being pushed around, tired that we aren't smart enough to know what is good for us, that the only solution is the government, when it isn't the government that knows anything!" Posted by "Mario" on FOX News.

As a result of government interference in automotive safety there is now enough sodium azide in the cars on our highways to kill every man, woman and child in this country.

Driver, trapped by seatbelt, burns to death:

http://www.murfreesboropost.com/trapped-driver-died-after-vehicle-catches-on-fire-cms-20742
Based on our analysis of the government data, approximately 1,000 Americans burn to death this way every year; but such stories seldom make it into the papers because the police get paid by the federal government to promote seatbelts.

New NHTSA tactic. Since most state legislatures are now wise to NHTSA's tricks, NHTSA has adopted a new tactic of going after local government, where politicians may be less sophisticated and where a million dollar bribe may sound more impressive than at the state level. Thus, you may be driving through a small town in a state that does not have a primary seatbelt law and find yourself being pulled over for not wearing a seatbelt and fined $100 because the local town  council has passed a primary seatbelt law which applies only to that small town. One can see how this type of law would be a gold mine for a small town and the million dollars NHTSA would give the local police department to enforce it would loom large. We hope that after the mid-term election most politicians will not vote for this type of law, but everyone needs to keep an eye on their local city council to make sure this doesn't happen in their town.

Seatbelts, anyone? Doesn't look much like the dummy tests, does it. This accident took place on October 27, 2010. (Picture courtesy of France 2 TV).

Attachez votre ceinture? This accident took place in France on October 11, 2010. (Pictures courtesy of France 2 TV)

We don't usually post messages anymore, but we thought we would post this one, which gives some interesting historical information. Link to messsage

Seatbelts anyone? Doesn't look much like the dummy tests, does it.
This accident took place in Los Angeles on September 29, 2010. (Pictures courtesy of KABC, Channel 7, Los Angeles)

Note: We have moved all of our 2010 state legislative news into leg2010. If you are new to this web site you might want to check it out to see what is going on here.

New NHTSA commercial. A new NHTSA commercial says that "seatbelts are only safe and effective if properly used". It sounds to us like they're getting ready to blame the victims.

Seatbelts anyone? To see what real fatal auto accidents look like, visit our picture gallery. This one took place in Los Angeles on June 23, 2010. The driver was trapped in the vehicle and burned to death. (Pictures courtesy of KABC Channel 7, Los Angeles, California).

Government  intervention in automotive design and automotive safety has now cost the American people over $100 billion dollars and over 50,000 dead. Bear in mind that they have been at this since l963 and the FARS data base lists over 1.4 million victims. Seatbelts and air bags alone have cost the American people over $102 billion dollars just in the last ten years alone.  That's just the direct cost of these devices, not including the cost of the injuries and fatalities they cause. (See abpr6).The number of dead has to be based on an analysis of the available data, because the government has been careful to cover up the cause of  death of the victims.  They have even gone so far as to x out the death certificate numbers in the FARS data base. But there is enough data there to give one a pretty good idea of what actually happened.

Based on the government's own data, how many vehicles do you think have been involved in fatal accidents corresponding to the dummy test scenario? Would you believe none? We first looked in the data for 2001. We set the filter for front end collision with a wall at less than 36 mph. Unfortunately, the data does not give the angle of the collision. Thus our criterea could include a front end collision with a wall at any angle. Out of the 57,918 vehicles involved in fatal accidents that year, none, repeat none, corresponded to the set criterea. Just to make sure it wasn't a fluke, we ran the filter for the 2008 data. This time, out of the 50,430 vehicles involved in fatal accidents that year we came up with five, 5 that is, which corresponded to the set criterea. However, the instruction manual specifically states that all front end collisions are to be included, even if the front end only grazed the wall. Thus there is no evidence that any of the five hit the wall at a right angle. Yet most of NHTSA's "safety" criterea are based on this scenario.

Airbag Progress Report 10: In this report,  abpr10.doc, abpr10.pdf,  we extend the functionality of our computer program and include system delay, which increases the chance that the motorist will be struck by the air bag.

Air Bag Progress Report 9: How much explosive power does an air bag have? The short answer to that is "enough to kill you". More specifically, a driver's air bag has four times the power of a shotgun shell, a passenger air bag sixteen times the power of a shotgun shell.  To learn more, read our latest air bag progress report, abpr9.rtf   abpr9.pdf  abpr9.htm

Air bag report 8: The fatal flaw in the air bag theory (abpr8.doc , abpr8.pdf , abpr8.htm ). The fatal flaw in the air bag theory is pretty much the same as the fatal flaw in the seatbelt theory (puzzle1). Of course there are many fatal flaws in both of these theories, but what these tech notes show is that even in the unlikely scenario on which these theories are based, they are still fatally flawed.

Air bag progress report 3: Revised and updated. To see the latest version, click here 
Air bag progress report 6: How much has the government's interference in auto design and auto safety cost the  American consumer? Would you believe over a hundred billion dollars? Check out this report
Air bag progress report 5: Here we show, from the government's own data, that front air bags are set off in numerous cases by side impact and even rear end collisions, proving that air bags are set off by shock. If you have a late model car with six air bags and two seatbelt pretensers, all eight charges can be set off at once by an impact, which is a really scary proposition. So much for "smart air bags". To see the report, click here.
Air bag progress report 4: Read and find out what the government is forcing the auto industry to put in our cars. Click here
Airbag progress report 2. This is to keep you posted on our ongoing investigation into the effects of airbags. The findings were a shock even to us, and we're pretty cynical. To see this progress report, click here:
Airbag theory:   We took a look at the NHTSA seatbelt dummy videos and did a little calculation to see what would happen if the test vehicle was equipped with air bags instead of seatbelts. This isn't meant to be a scientific paper or anything. Just some preliminary results we thought we'd share with you for whatever they might be worth. To see the results, click here (By the way, in case any of you are wondering why it seems to work in the NHTSA and IIHS videos, if you look closely you notice that in some they've replaced the accelerometer with a contact detonator; in others they've rigged the seatbelt to hold back the dummy until the bag has inflated;  in one the bag even starts to inflate before the test vehicle has collided with anything! All of these videos are faked in one way or another. Apparently, they can't even make it work in the lab).

Seatbelt theory. Any physicist can show you the fatal flaw in the seatbelt theory in five minutes on the back of an old envelope. See puzzle1 solution.

Picture Gallery: Check out the new pictures in our picture galley. We have many more, but you get the point.

Threats and bribes: Here is what it says in 23 USC 402 (c):

"Funds apportioned under this section to any State, that does not have a highway safety program approved by the Secretary or that is not implementing an approved program, shall be reduced by amounts equal to not less than 50 per centum of the amounts that would otherwise be apportioned to the State under this section, until such time as the Secretary approves such program or determines that the State is implementing an approved program, as appropriate. The Secretary shall consider the gravity of the State’s failure to have or implement an approved program in determining the amount of the reduction. The Secretary shall promptly apportion to the State the funds withheld from its apportionment if he approves the State’s highway safety program or determines that the State has begun implementing an approved program, as appropriate, prior to the end of the fiscal year for which the funds were withheld. If the Secretary determines that the State did not correct its failure within such period, the Secretary shall reapportion the withheld funds to the other States in accordance with the formula specified in this subsection not later than 30 days after such determination."

10th amendment? United States Constitution? Oath of office? This is the kind of power congress has given to Mr. Ray LaHood.

Police State  Gestapo by order of congress: You think we're paranoid? Read what it says in S.1072, later passed by the congress as the SAFETEA Act of 2004:

Section 4110 (c) REQUIRED STATE PROGRAMS AND ACTIVITIES: Subsection (1):
"CHECK POINT SATURATION PATROL PROGRAM: A state program to conduct a series of high-visibility, statewide law enforcement campaigns......either through the use of check points or saturation patrols......A state program meets the requirements of this subparagraph only if a state organizes campaigns.....in cooperation with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration"
There. Don't you feel safer already?
"Required state programs and activities"? Where in the constitution does it say that congress has the authority to "require state programs"? This kind of legislation is specifically barred by the 10th amendment to the constitution. But we forget. The constitution is now "quaint and outmoded" and "an 18th century document with little relevance to the modern world". As for the oath of office to uphold the Constitution of the United States, "mere words of no importance".

New Video:
Check out this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VG3u3whrfcc&p Notice how the steering wheel has been driven back against her body so that she is trapped under the steering wheel. This means she hit the barrier at about 30 mph when the barrier gave way. Had the barrier not given way the steering wheel would have been driven into her body and she would have been killed. This is what a real auto accident looks like. Compare this to the dummy test videos.

Legislative updates (continued):

Note: We are moving our 2010 legislative updates into leg2010.

Check out these videos and ask yourself what would have happened if a child had been in the back seat strapped into a deathtrap seat:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=uA18FOZw5Qk    (Doesn't look much like the dummy tests, does it.)

www.youtube.com/watch?v=DP7GW-dKqlc     (Doesn't look much like the dummy tests, does it.)

www.youtube.com/watch?v=LpD1b5jVap0        (Doesn't look much like the dummy tests, does it.)

www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKzwPx8tLt0&feature=fvw     (Doesn't look much like the dummy tests, does it.)

More than a thousand people burn to death this way every year in the United States, based on the government's own data (ftp://ftp.nhtsa.dot.gov/FARS) mainly because they can't get their seatbelts open after a crash.

Fun with air bags: The best remark we have heard about air bags so far came from a spectator after watching an air bag blow a stove to smithereens. "Holy shit!" he exclaimed, "you mean they put those in cars?" To watch the fun, visit

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CzyOtuF_SA&feature=related

By the way, we have   learned that azide, like nitro-glycerin, can be set off by shock. That may explain why air bags blow up in some rear end collisions (according to the FARS data base) when they aren't supposed to. Of course that would defeat the so-called "smart air bag" computer programs, since these would only work if the bag is set off by the computer, not by the shock. We are continuing to investigate this matter.

New NHTSA administrator. David L. Strickland has been appointed NHTSA administrator. Mr. Strickland is a lawyer who majored in political science as an undergraduate, thus keeping intact NHTSA's record of never having had an administrator who knew anything about highway safety. Mr. Strickland is a former congressional staffer, thus continuing the practice of past  congresses and administrations of appointing congressional staffers to head government agencies. Mr. Strickland was on the staff of the senate commerce committee, which, over the years, has been instrumental in trying to force the seatbelt scam on the nation.

Dramatic accident videos:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4yYtZsKq0AI    and  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7XZy0rZ_dQ

    These videos bring to life the full horror of what happens in accidents where the vehicle catches fire. Such accidents are not rare. According to the FARS data base, in 2001, 1339 vehicles caught fire as a result of collisions or rollovers with fatal consequences,  in which 1629 vehicle occupants lost their lives. In 2005 the numbers were  1444 and 1766 respectively.
    Actual accident reports (see our seatbelt victims file) indicate that vehicle occupants almost invariably have trouble opening their seatbelts after  a severe collision or rollover.  In case of fire, unless the occupants are first crushed to death or killed by their seatbelts,  they almost invariably burn to death unless someone is around with a knife to cut them free before it is too late.
    Notice that in the videos, while no one mentions seatbelts, in the second video you can hear one of the rescuers shout "Get a knife!", which pretty much tells the story.
According to the FARS data base, since l996, when every state but New Hampshire had enacted a primary or secondary seatbelt law, approximately 19,600 vehicles have caught fire as a result of collisions or rollovers with fatal results, with approximately 23,800 fatalities.

No seatbelt saves lives: From Driving Freedoms, January/February 2010: "I know of someone who lived through a T-bone precisely because he was not wearing a belt. The incoming car punched through the driver's side, continuing clear through the center of his car and, had he been belted in, he would have been crushed. He was unhurt because of being unbelted and thrown to the passenger side of the car".( Letter from Warren Woodward)

Idaho tells NHTSA to go to hell: Representative Barrett tells us how NHTSA called her up and threatened to withhold $2,000,000 dollars in federal highway funds if Idaho did not pass a motorcycle helmet law. The legislature refused and the feds sent Idaho the money anyway. The moral of this story is: If you stand up to the bastards they will back down.

Atwater vs. Lago Vista: In all the long history of seatbelt litigation, perhaps no case is more important than the case of Atwater vs. Lago Vista
(532 US 318 (2001)). In l997, a gentle lady, Mrs. Gail Atwater, driving her kids home from soccer practice, was arrested for not wearing a seatbelt and subjected to verbal and physical abuse by the police. Neither before, nor after her arrest, did Mrs. Atwater do anything to bring this on, only asking the officer politely to please lower his voice as he was screaming at her, as he was frightening the children. You can find the full story by clicking on this link: LagoVista
    After four years of appeals and hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees, Mrs. Atwater's case reached the United States Supreme Court, which ruled against her 5 to 4 in a split decision. The majority opinion was written by Justice David Souter, who is, mercifully, no longer on the court. The minority, dissenting  opinion was written by Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, who has also retired. Justices Stevens, Ginsberg, and Breyer, all of whom are still on the court, joined Justice O'Connor in dissenting. In writing for the majority, Justice Souter not only ruled against Mrs. Atwater, he basically spit in her face. We would urge everyone who is interested in this issue, and who thinks they can obtain justice in the courts, to read Justice Souter's opinion. You don't have to read all of it. It's all in the same vein so after a few pages you pretty much get the idea. We know it's hard going, we know it will make you sick,   but it's a real eye opener and well worth the effort. You can find it at

http://www.supremecourtus.gov/opinions/boundvolumes.htm/532bv.pdf

The case starts on page 416 and Justice Souter's opinion starts on page 421.

Police lie about ejections, again: June 24, 2008. CBS News: "A U.S. Postal Service Worker was killed in a crash Tuesday in a crash involving her postal service truck and another vehicle.... Maria F. Gutierrez...died at the scene....Los Angeles police officer...said Guttierez was ejected from the truck...(U.S. Postal Service spokesman Larry Dozier) insisted she was not thrown from the truck.

Same old story: February 1, 2008: "Man, 22, killed in expressway rollover crash...Joshua Eugene Fuller was pronounced dead at the scene of the crash...failed to negociate a curve and lost control....Fuller was wearing a seatbelt, according to the Riverside County Coroner's Office". Note: if Fuller had not been wearing a seatbelt, he might have lived.

No seatbelt saved Tiger Woods: According to an Associated Press report out of Orlando, Florida, Woods smashed into a tree at 30 mph. Woods was not wearing a seatbelt and was not seriously hurt. Had he been wearing a seatbelt he would almost certainly have been seriously injured or killed (see Corzine accident and Puzzle no. 1 below).

Same old story, again: CBS News, 2008 (note: we are trying to get an exact date for this one) "Man, 23, killed in rollover crash... single vehicle rollover-crash...driving at 80mph to 90 mph...according to (CHP Police Officer) Low, who said the victim was wearing a seatbelt".  Note: This is a typical rollover fatality. Single vehicle accident, excessive speed, reckless driving. Type of vehicle not specified but probably an SUV.

Mandate alert: It looks as though the NHTSA mandate to put automatic stabilization systems on all new cars by 2011 still stands. In addition to driving up the price of new cars, these devices represent a clear and present danger because if they malfunction, as some of them will, they can throw a car out of control and cause a serious accident. These devices are advertised as preventing roll-overs, but we know from the government's own data that roll-overs happen mainly to drivers driving vans and SUVs in a reckless manner. There can, therefore, be no justification for forcing these devices on the entire motoring public.
   
    New video: They say California is the future. Take a look at what the future looks like if we don't stop them:

California motorcycle helmet stop

Note: We edited this video to show only a small part of the stop. The "criminal" was actually detained for about a half hour. The arresting officer obviously thought that anyone who would wear a motorcycle helmet which did not, in his opinion, conform to California state law, must be a dangerous criminal, and so he called for backup. The backup officer made his contribution to the proceedings by glaring at the offender in a hostile and threatening manner while the first officer was filling out the paper work, taking photographs, and going through all the other lengthy procedures necessitated by such a serious crime.

The police are doing this because the California state legislature passed a motorcycle helmet law. The reason they passed this law was because they received massive bribes (federal grants) from NHTSA for doing so. NHTSA did this because they were ordered to do it by congress. Congress ordered them to do it because they received massive bribes (campaign contributions) from the insurance industy. The reason they did it in this roundabout way was because they hoped we wouldn't be able to trace it back to them. Otherwise they could just have passed a federal motorcycle helmet law.

The police state at work. If you don't know what "primary seatbelt law" means, take a look at this video. (Remember, if you get in an accident wearing a seatbelt, your seatbelt can kill you).

Congressional interference in highway safety has now cost the lives of around 40,000 Americans. Because of bureaucratic lies, cover-up, fraud and deceit, the exact number will never be known. But that the number is large is not in doubt. This is what happens when legislators think that we the people are children and they are our parents. Politicians are not necessarily smarter than the rest of us. A little humility will go a long way toward preventing this kind of thing in the future.

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While congress continues to appropriate money to force Americans to wear seatbelts, Americans continue to be killed by seatbelts.

School bus accident: Idaho Statesman, September 24, 2009. "...On Wednesday,  the 17 year old senior (Heckathorn) died when his pickup truck hit a school bus head-on....Police chief said   neither the bus driver nor any of the...kids on the school bus were hurt...It does not appear that excessive speed was a factor...ISP Captain Steve Richardson said...Heckathorn was wearing a seatbelt and his airbag deployed, according to ISP (Idaho State Police) reports". Note: As usual, the report does not say what the cause of death was. Heckathorn could only have been killed by one of three things: The seatbelt, the air bag, or being crushed to death as the truck was stove in. Because of the great difference in momentum between the school bus and the pickup truck,  the rate of deceleration of the bus would have been much less than that of the truck, crushing the truck and even pushing it backward (or aside), depending on the speed of the two vehicles, which is not specified. Needless to say, none of the kids on the bus were wearing seatbelts, since there weren't any.  If the bus driver was wearing a seatbelt, we're willing to bet you he has a tummy ache, at the very least. For the full story, visit

http://www.idahostatesman.com/newsupdates/story/910823.html

Seatbelts kill: NewsOK, the Oklahoman, and KXII Channel 12 News Oklahoma, November 10, 2009. Dale Bannister, 73 was fatally injured when his car, a 2008 Chrysler, went off the road, struck a guard rail, rolled over twice and hit a bridge support. Bannister was wearing a seatbelt. Note: If the car rolled over twice, Bannister must have been travelling at a high rate of speed when his car left the road. He would have been fatally injured when the roof caved in, crushing his skull and breaking his neck. The seatbelt would have acted like an anvil, holding his body in place as the roof caved in.

Seatbelts kill: (from myspace death.com, November 14, 2009) "Police suspect (that Carey) fell asleep at the wheel on October 21, 2009, causing him to overturn the Jeep Wrangler (he was driving). The belted (Sean K.) Carey died  at the scene as a result of his injuries, according to Idaho State Police". (Carey was killed when the jeep fell on top of him, crushing him to death. If he had not been wearing a seatbelt he would have been thrown clear and would almost certainly have survived.)

http://www.mydeathspace.com/.../Sean_Carey_(19)_fell_asleep_at_the_wheel_of_his_Jeep,_causing_it_to_overturn

Seatbelts kill: (from the Del Valle News (Texas), October 21, 2009) "Edwin Aviles....failed to yield to a Chevy van....the van struck Aviles...who was pronounced dead at the scene. (Aviles) was wearing a seatbelt, DPS officials said. The driver of the van was not injured." (If the driver of the van had been wearing a seatbelt, you may be sure that the police would have said so, and he would have been seriously injured.)

Seatbelts kill: (from Richmond Times Dispatch, October 26, 2009) Jeronimo Mendez, drunk and speeding, crashed into a sign and was killed. Medez was wearing a seatbelt, police said. For the full story, visit

http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/site_elements/tags/tag/virginia+state+police

Ejections save lives: (from NewsOK, The Oklahoman, November 10, 2009). Nicole Venegas was driving her pickup truck down the street at a high rate of speed when she struck a group of parked cars. The truck became airborne, flipped over, and landed on its top. Four of the five occupants were thrown out (they were probably riding on the bed of the truck) and survived, but Venegas remained in the truck and was killed (No doubt she was crushed to death when the roof caved in). The survivors were taken to a local hospital and treated (which sounds as though their injuries were not serious). For the full story, visit

http://newsok.com/separate-wrecks-claim-4-in-oklahoma/article/3416083?custom_click=pod_headline_northeast-oklahoma-news#ixzz0XYGA9ILG

Collision in South Dakota: A Toyota pickup truck driven by Richard Chell collided with a Jeep Cherokee driven  by Nicholas Helgeson. Helgeson was uninjured, Chell was killed. Guess which one was wearing a seatbelt. That's right, Chell, who was killed, was wearing a seatbelt. Helgeson, who was uninjured, was not.  For the full story, visit

http://www.rapidcityjournal.com/news/article_4eaf5f64-cbe2-11de-a3de-001cc4c002e0.html

Head-on collision in Minnesota: In one car the driver was wearing a seatbelt and a small child was strapped into a booster seat. In the other car neither of the two occupants were wearing seatbelts. Guess who died and who survived. That's right - the driver wearing the seatbelt and the child in the booster seat were killed. The two men who were not wearing seatbelts survived. Police claim that one of the two survivors was "ejected" and taken to the hospital "in critical condition". The other suffered only minor injuries. We are always suspicious of police claims of "ejection". We've seen too many that turned out to be false. For the full story, visit

http://www.startribune.com/local/69533172.html

Boise mother backs over toddler: (Boise TV 2 news flash, November 4). No, this isn't last week's. This is a new one. That's the second one in as many weeks, that we know about, both likely the result of the mother's visibility being blocked by the government mandated head-rests.

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Mother backs over toddler (ABC news headline). You have to wonder how many others have been run over because the driver's vision was blocked by the government mandated headrests. The trouble with the people who write these mandates is that they are just plain stupid. They don't stop to think.

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Crushed to death

Burned to death - trapped by their seatbelts and booster seats

This accident took place on the Taconic State Parkway on Long Island, New York, On July 26, 2009.

    As you may recall. "highway traffic safety grants" is a euphemism for bribes paid to states to force their citizens to use seatbelts, booster seats and motorcycle helmets, as demanded by the insurance industry. It's rather interesting that they no longer mention air bags.  Apparently, after air bags had killed hundreds, and probably thousands, of motorists, it finally dawned on them that air bags are not a good idea. Since seatbelts have killed more people than air bags, one has to wonder why they have not given up on seatbelts as well.

    To read the legislation, visit http://www.senate.gov/pagelayout/legislative/b_three_sections_with_teasers/active_leg_page.htm and click on H.R. 3288.

    To see how much the insurance industry is paying members of congress, visit http://www.opensecrets.org/industries/indus.php?ind=F09

The entire United States Congress is in the pay of the insurance industry. It now looks as though all of these so-called "safety laws" (bicycle helmet laws, motorcycle helmet laws, "personal floation device laws", booster seat laws, seatbelt laws, air bag laws, etc.) are there because the insurance industry  bribed the members of congress, which in turn bribed state and local government with our tax money. It is a staggering display of arrogance and ignorance. 

When the Congress of the United States  forces the American people to spend more than $60 billion dollars on seatbelts, airbags, booster seats, and other crackpot inventions, plus fines and bribes, and puts their lives at risk, because the insurance industry is under the illusion that this will save them (the insurance industry) a few dollars, that is simply not acceptable.

To see who is behind this, check out www.iihs.org. IIHS is run by Adrian Lund, a social psychologist with no technical training, who has, apparently, fallen for every crackpot scheme ever put out by NHTSA.

Hearings: On May 18, the Energy and Commerce Subcommittee of the House of Representatives held a hearing to justify the inclusion of the auto "safety" clauses of the expiring SAFETEALU bill in the new one. Unless they are stopped, the same murderous lies will be included in the new bill and thousands more will die. For a list of the members, visit http://energycommerce.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=160&Itemid=61 Write to Chairman Waxman or the members of the committee,  if any of them are in your state, and ask them to repeal 23 USC 405 and 406, and take seatbelts out of 23 USC 402.
To read the testimony presented at this hearing, visit:

http://energycommerce.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1624:energy-and-commerce-subcommittee-hearing-on-auto-safety-current-mandates-and-emerging-issues&catid=122:media-advisories&Itemid=55

This testimony is going to be used to try to extend legislation which has caused the death of thousands of Americans and will kill thousands more if it is not stopped.  All of the witnesses basically regurgitated the same tired old falsehoods being peddled by NHTSA. All of the witnesses belonged the establishment which is trying to preserve the status quo. It was particularly disappointing that the committee gave a platform to Jeffrey Runge and Joan Claybrook, both of whom have repeatedly made false statements under oath, and, by their advocacy of seatbelts,  share in the responsibility for the deaths of thousands of Americans. They continued to make false statements under oath at this hearing. Particulary disturbing was the testimony of one Robert Strassburger who, supposedly has a degree in Mechanical Engineering. If Mr. Strassburger is a competent Mechanical Engineer, then he must have known that some of the statements he was making were false. That would make his testimony perjury and subject him to five years in jail. 
It is a pity that the committee did not give a platform to opposing points of view, given what is at stake. For our  reaction to this testimony, see our Response.

The Subcommittee on Highways held a hearing last summer on this matter which you can watch by clicking on the link on the committee web site.

http://transportation.house.gov/hearings/hearingDetail.aspx?NewsID=702

The hearing lasted about two hours and it is enough to make your blood run cold. None of the participants, neither the members nor the witnessess, had the vaguest idea what they were talking about, yet all spoke as if they were great experts, and all took for granted that they had a right and an obligation to use  police and propaganda to force their ill informed opinions on the public. The testimony of Mr. Poits, the NHTSA representative, was absolutely staggering in its falsity and mendacity. We urge you to watch this hearing, even though it will turn your stomach. Take a shot of whiskey before you watch it, and keep a bucket handy in case you have to throw up.

Insurance companies responsible for seatbelt coercion? It now seems that it is the auto insurance companies who are behind the campaign to force motorists to wear seatbelts. They apparently believe that if they can force everyone to wear a seatbelt it will save them money. They got this silly idea from IIHS, who got it from NHTSA, who got it from Congress, who got it from Joan Claybrook, who probably got it from the same guy who thought Corvairs were prone to roll over. 

It might be a good idea if everyone wrote to their insurance company at this time and asked them to stop promoting seatbelt coercion. Here are the addresses of the principal auto insurance companies:

Seatbelts, anyone? New Haven Register, June 16, 2009. "... David Servin died at the scene and Krakowski...died a short time later after being extricated from the car. ....The car was so badly crushed we thought it was a hatchback of some kind...The way the car was mangled, that police car had to be going really fast" (The victims were hit by a police car).

Seatbelts, anyone? The Guardian, UK, July 1, 2009: "Girl, 14, rescued after plane crash...only survivor...told her father how she was thrown clear...(only injuries were) a fractured collarbone and cuts and bruises to her face"

More seatbelt fatalities:

New Haven Register, June 16, 2009. "(17 month old) Montez Turner, Jr. died in the crash when the Ford Escape in which he was riding flipped over" This child almost certainly died because it was strapped  into a booster seat. You may be sure that if the child had not been in a booster seat, the police would have mentioned it. The booster seat elevates the child and holds it in place, thus guaranteeing that the child will be crushed to death when the roof caves in. (For further information on what booster seats do to children in roll-overs, see puzzles 2 and 3 below).

Tulsa World, June 9, 2009:   "....Salter died in a one vehicle collision...when his 2002 Freightliner left the road...and struck a tree. Salter was wearing a seatbelt (state troopers) said". Note: A Freightliner is a big truck. We don't have enough crush data on big trucks to know if Salter was crushed to death or killed by his seatbelt. If he was not crushed to death, he was almost certainly killed by his seatbelt. If he was going 40 mph or less when he hit, he would most likely have survived, had he not been wearing a seatbelt.

Colusa County Sun Herald, June 10, 2009: "Diego Valdez was killed...when his l991 Dodge drifted off the road and struck a tree...(CHP Officer) Owens said... Valdez was wearing a seatbelt and shoulder harness, he collided head on with a tree at an unknown speed, sustaining fatal injuries as a result of the impact". Based on our research, if Valdez was going over 45 mph when he hit the tree, he would have been crushed to death. If he was going under 45 mph he would have been killed by his seatbelt. If he was going 40 mph or less when he hit, he would most likely have survived, had he not been wearing a seatbelt.

Las Vegas Review Journal, January 25, 2009: "...Gonzalez was killed in a single vehicle, roll-over accident...the accident report stated that the left half of the Explorer's roof was crushed inward and the entire roof was buckled and bowed. Gonzalez seatbelt was found partially extended. Gonzalez, who sustained head injuries, died of blunt force trauma". It's the old story - classic rollover - head bashed in when the roof collapsed; seatbelt prevented her from taking evasive action. In this case "seatbelt partially extended"  may indicate that she was trying to avoid the blow. It's a wonder she was able to extend it at all - the seatbelt would have locked in the roll-over. But people have great strength in desperate situations. Had she not been wearing a seatbelt, she would most likely have survived. Her family are suing the Ford Motor Company because the seatbelt didn't save her, "among other things"!

The NHTSA lobbying machine at work. The following excepts are from the results of a Pro-Quest search:

1."Marchetti Memorial Foundation Urges Florida Media to Help as State Legislature Considers Life-Saving Seatbelt Law Changes. Anonymous, U.S. Newswire, Washington, April 24. NHTSA research shows that...." Notice that this press release, which was, supposedly put out by a grieving family in Florida, was actually written by "Anonymous" and released over something claiming to be "U.S. Newswire" in Washington, D.C. Notice that the first word of the press release is "NHTSA".

2. "Marchetti Memorial Foundation Urges Florida Media to Help, as State Legislature Considers Life-Saving Changes. Anonymous, PR Newswire, New York. Copyright PR Newswire Association LLC, April 24, 2009. Tampa, Fla., April 24 /PRNewswire/ Tampa, Fla. - The Katie Marchetti Memorial Foundation is urging news media across the state to lend their editorial support to help pass important changes to Florida's existing safety belt law to save lives and reduce highway injuries. FAILURE OF THE STATE'S LEGISLATORS TO PASS SUCH  LIFE-SAVING MEASURES BY JUNE 30 WILL DEPRIVE FLORIDIANS OF $35.5 MILLION IN FEDERAL FUNDS FOR ROAD IMPROVEMENTS"
The statement pretty much speaks for itself. Notice that this one, also written by "Anonymous", was released by something claiming to be "PR Newswire" out of New York.

It is simply too nauseating for words. Exploiting the grief of the Marchetti family (assuming they are genuine) to force this blood-soaked scam on the people of Florida.  It is NHTSA which is responsible for this.

The story  in the Orlando Sentinel of May 4, 2009 quoted one Eric Bolton, said to be a spokesman for NHTSA. The falsehoods which Eric Bolton fed to the Sentinel are absolutely breathtaking. ("Seatbelts are the most important safety feature....reduce risk to front seat occupants by 45%....etc.,etc.) It is the classic Big Lie technique of Adolf Hitler, except that it is very difficult to prove in a court of law what a person knew and when he knew it.  So we have to call them falsehoods rather than lies.

Today's amusement for engineers: Visiting the "safety" page of the "Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers"  we are told that they have now decided to put "force limiters" on seatbelts. We know it isn't really funny, but you may as well laugh as cry.

Puzzle A car smashes perpendicularly into a concrete wall at 30 mph. We've never actually seen such an accident but since NHTSA seems to base almost all its design criteria on this scenario, we thought we would use it. A passenger in the vehicle, weighing 150 pounds and restrained by a seatbelt, comes to a stop in one foot. (This is based on NHTSA crash test videos which show about a foot of crush at the front of the vehicle). What would be the force of the seatbelt on the passenger?
Since NHTSA is now pushing "Anton's Law" requiring children up to 8 years old to be placed in booster seats, we offer you an alernative. Instead of an adult passenger, assume it is a child weighing 60 pounds in a booster seat which comes to a stop in one foot. What would be the force of the restraining  straps on the child?

Puzzle answers: The force on the 150 pound passenger would be 4,509 pounds.  The force on the 60 pound child would be 1,804 pounds.  We have posted the solution so you can check the answers for yourself.

Puzzle Answers:

For the complete report on the solution to the puzzle below, click on puzzle2.html or puzzle2.pdf

Puzzle contest: In our previous puzzle, we showed what the booster seat straps would do to a child in a head-on collision. What would the booster seat straps do to a child in a roll-over? In their analysis of a roll-over accident, Yamaguchi, et. al.*, find an angular velocity of 4.89 radians per second when the roof edge strikes the ground after the vehicle has rotated  over 90 degrees. Assuming a typical four-year-old (Anton) in a booster seat in the vehicle, with what force would the child's neck be driven into the edge of the shoulder belt?
*Yamaguchi, G.T., et. al., "Development of a Computational Method to Predict Occupant Motions  and Neck Loads During Rollovers" SAE Technical Paper Series, 2005-01-0300; Biomechanics 2005 (SP-1929); Presented at the SAE 2005 World Congress, Detroit, Michigan, April 11-14, 2005.

Note to those who want to use the police to force seatbelts on the American people. If you dont know the answer to this puzzle, maybe you shouldn't be pontificating about seatbelts.

Puzzle No. 3: It takes a high degree of centrifugal force to cause a 4,000 pound SUV to roll over. If a vehicle occupant, such as a child in a booster seat, is tied to the vehicle, then that occupant, too, would experience a high degree of centrifugal force. What would be the force on a child in a booster seat during the first 90 degrees of an SUV rollover?

Solution to Puzzle No. 3: The graph on the left shows the force on a child sitting on the inside of the rotation for rollovers at speeds ranging from 59 to 95 fps (40 to 65 mph). The discontinuity in the solution indicates a vault. The graph on the right shows the direction of the force in the transverse plane: omega is the angle in radians which the force makes with the perpendicular to the side of the car; a negative value indicates that the force component perpendicular to the seat is downward -i.e., towards the seat, and a positive value indicates that the force component is upward - that is, away from the seat and against the straps. Notice that when the force is highest,   just before vault, all the force is directed against the straps.

For the full report, click on one of the following links: puzzlesol3.pdf  puzzlesol3.htm    puzzlesol3.doc (Note: this is a 55 page report).

Legislative news: We have moved most of the 2009 legislative news to leg2009

Attention, activists: If your state does not have a primary seatbelt law, check your state budget bills. NHTSA is trying to get legislators to slip primary seatbelt laws into state budget bills, hoping they won't get noticed among all the pages of fine print, or, if they do get noticed, hoping that they won't get taken out. This is a rule violation in most states, since legislation is generally not allowed in appropriation bills.

Fatal car crash pictures. For years we had to do a lot of work to find pictures of fatal car crashes (see our picture gallery and the pictures further down on this page). No more. Now you can find scores of pictures of fatal car crashes on youtube, under such titles as "World's worst car crashes", "Super insane car crashes", "Deadly car crashes", Horrible car crashes", etc., etc.. Contrary to what the titles imply, this is what most fatal car crashes look like. The FARS data base tells us that that the average car involved in a fatal crash was travelling at 56 mph and the average car involved in a fatal head-on collision was travelling at 66 mph. Collisions at these speeds are enough to reduce most cars to scrap and to crush the occupants to death.

Seatbelts = death: Fayetteville Observer, 3/19/09. "...Williams was driving... when his SUV plunged into the Lumber river. His two passengers drowned. ...(they) were wearing seatbelts and were unable to escape."

No seatbelts  = minor injuries: Boston Herald, 3/23/09. "...two car crash.... travelling in close proximity at a high rate of speed (drag racing)...lost control at the same time and crashed into several trees...Dias, in front seat (of one of the cars) was killed. Neither Brandon nor his two passengers (in the other car) were wearing seatbelts. All three were treated for minor injuries and released." (Note: They do not say if Dias was wearing a seatbelt which means he probably was).

No seatbelts = minor injuries: "Jane (Clark)...hit a lamp post with such force that she knocked it over and overturned her small car.....She ruined the car but crawled out with nothing more serious than some ugly bruises". From "Kenneth Clark" by Meryle Secrest, page 88. (The car she was driving, a Wolseley Hornet, was not equipped with seatbelts).

Seatbelts kill: Toronto Star, March 16, 2009: "Total Horror:  ...Police yesterday recovered the bodies of Carolyn Bray and Joeline Robinson from the lake...The pair were riding in a two seat utility vehicle... carrying Robinson's niece in the back.... Bray's cart hit a pressure crack in the ice and went under. Jeni Robinson managed to jumpoff the back but Bray and Joelin, belted in and unable to free themselves as they were swallowed up by the frigid water, disappeared under the ice."

Seatbelts worthless: San Francisco Chronicle, October 16, 2008. "... the vehicle veered off the road, crossed a 30 foot shoulder, hopped an 18 inch embankment, and tumbled down more than 600 feet in darkness....The next morning rescuers found the three men, their seatbelts fastened, inside the vehicle. They were dead. The Jeep (Cherokee) was "rolled up to a ball" (Officer) Covello said. The cause of death for all three was blunt force trauma. An unsafe speed for conditions was a likely factor in the incident, (Officer) Covello said."

Seatbelts worthless: Daily Press (Virginia), December 30, 2008. "Owen Walter Carter.....driving a 2002 Chevrolet...ran off the road and struck a tree. (Police Sgt.) Cotten said Carter died at the scene. He was wearing a seatbelt".

Seatbelts?: Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, March 22, 2008: "Two men were killed in a violent crash on Route 22...State police...said...Charles Maines...was driving "in a careless an unattentive manner". He lost control of his car...crossed over into oncoming traffic, striking a...minivan driven by Gerald A Wilson...Both men were trapped in their vehicles and (their bodies) had to be extricated by hydraulic equipment."

Ejected?: Western Morning News, Plymouth (UK) October 18, 2008. "Andrew Kelly received fatal injuries when his car and two others were in a collision...Emergency services battled for nearly two hours to free Mr. Kelly from the car". (Note: If he'd been "ejected" he might have lived.)

These are not exceptional cases. This is how most fatal automobile accidents happen.

Seatbelts kill. To understand what is going on here, you might want to read, or re-read, our essay, Seatbelts Kill

Seatbelt whiplash: An interesting story on ABC news on December 23, 2008.  http://abcnews.go.com/Health/story?id=6515671&page=1 A car slammed into a dump truck. The neck of a nine year old boy sitting in the back seat, strapped in by a seatbelt, was broken as a result of his head having snapped forward. The story gives few details, but the accident must have taken place at a relatively low speed because the mother was not, apparently, seriously injured. The story dwells on the fact that the doctors were able to save the child's life even though such injuries are usually fatal. The story is important because of the dearth of real world data on this type of accident. It shows that even in the type of accident for which NHTSA promotes seatbelts, even at low speed, the whiplash alone can prove fatal to a child.
Note: Since younger children are more vulnerable to such injuries, and booster seats strap the child in more firmly than seatbelts, this story illustrates the extreme danger that booster seats pose to small children in the type of accident envisaged by NHTSA. (cf. "Anton's Law").

From KIDO radio in Boise Idaho, December 1, 2008. KIDO radio reports that a woman "lost control of her car" and smashed into a tree. The car was so badly crushed it took the paramedics two hours to extract the woman's body, according to KIDO radio.

FROM YAHOO AND AP, November 27, 2008. www.yahoo.com  "SUV plunges off Colorado highway, killing 7". We quote from the article in case it has been removed by the time you see this. We trust Yahoo and AP will forgive us. "Johnstown, Colorado - An SUV plunged off an overpass and hit a concrete embankment in a fiery crash Thursday morning, killing all seven people inside it......'Not only is the SUV burned, it has a lot of crushed deformation from hitting the concrete' (Colorado State Trooper Gilbert) Mares said". Think about this. Those who were not killed instantly as a result of being crushed to death were burned alive.
Seatbelts, anyone? Dummy tests anyone? Welcome to the real world, senator Murray.


Rollover accident in France, November 8, 2008:



Driver killed. Head bashed in by collapsing roof.  Seatbelt made it impossible for him to evade the blow. We have so many of these pictures now that this is deja vu, but we need to keep reminding people until the seatbelt laws are repealed. (France2 TV screen shot).

 

Automobile seatbelts, air bags and booster seats are crackpot inventions thought up by amateurs who didn't know what they were doing.

This van ran into a bus. Driver and passenger crushed to death (france2 TV screenshot, 3/15/08)

Collision in France. Seven crushed to death. Remains of  minibus (france2 TV screenshot, 3/24/08)

Collision in France. All occupants crushed to death. (france2 TV screenshot, 5/11/08)

This is what happens to real cars in real fatal collisions

Fatal collision in France on June 10, 2008. It's the same in every country. We show these pictures from France2 because they are the best source of such pictures.

Here is another fatal collision which took place on 5/11/08. All occupants crushed to death.

This fatal collision took place near Eagle, Idaho on August 3, 2007. Doesn't look much like the dummy tests, does it.

seatbelts, anyone?

According to the FARS data base, 90% of all cars involved in fatal accidents are "severely crushed". This information is in the public domain and can easily be verified by applying an SAS filter to the data. The FARS data base is the official United States Government record of all fatal accidents which have taken place in this country since l975.

Another car went into a pond on May 11, three occupants, only one got out. The others almost certainly trapped by their seatbelts, as we have seen so often before.

Solar energy is nonsense. Wind power is nonsense.  The only way this country can meet its energy needs without polluting the air is with dams and nuclear power plants.

If Patty Murray's seatbelt  money passes again this year, it is likely  that the seatbelt scammers (NHTSA's nationwide lobbying machine)  will  be up to their old tricks again next year, to promote the seatbelt scam - the lies, the bribes, the false witnesses, the phony front organizations, the fake videos, the false stories planted in the media, the phony demonstrations, perjury and subornation of perjury, and all the rest of their bag of tricks. No doubt they will act "agressively" and "with zeal", to quote from Patty Murray's instructions.

For a brief bio of  Patty Murray and her "qualifications", visit www.safetychoice.org/earlier_news.htm

Comment: It seems strange that a government which is spending hundreds of billions of dollars to protect us from "terrorists" is at the same time spending hundreds of millions to force us to do something which has killed more people than all the world's terrorists put together.

Seatbelt kills girl on Christmas eve: http://www.northumberlandnews.com/news/article/91401

Another "ejection" story: On April 11, 2008, CBS news reported that the driver in the Caldwell accident was "ejected". Unfortunately for CBS news, this accident happened just down the road from our office and there was an eye witness who actually saw the accident. The witness stated that the car was on fire and that she found the driver behind the car. Naturally the driver would have gotten out of the car if she was able, seeing that the car was on fire. There is not a shred of evidence that she was "ejected" , and if she had been ejected it would be very hard to explain how she wound up behind the car, consistent with the laws of physics. Notice that the toddler would have burned to death, trapped in his death-trap seat, if our heroine had not been on hand to pull him from the flames. We don't know where CBS news got their misinformation, but we can guess. For the full story, including a video link to the eyewitness account, click on the link below:

http://www.idahostatesman.com/newsupdates/story/350107.html

News Item: Accident in Fresno, California. From CNN, Novermber 3, 2007. FRESNO, Calif. -- A man was arrested Saturday on a drunken driving charge after two people were killed and dozens more injured in a massive morning pileup in dense fog that involved more than 100 cars and trucks, the California Highway Patrol said.....CHP Officer Paul Solorzano Jr. described the scene as "something out of a movie, walking up and seeing all the cars mangled and crushed." (emphasis added. ed.)

Take note:An air bag is like a bomb. If it goes off it can kill you.

Beware of "safety" devices invented by amateurs.

See how and why NHTSA gets states to pass primary and other seatbelt laws

Booster seats claim two more victims (from www.cnn.com, October 18, 2007):

Two children trapped in a sinking minivan are alive (but in critical condition, ed.) thanks to the efforts of five good Samaritans who jumped into a retention pond near Walt Disney World and saved them. "The van completely became submerged. It was really, really scary," one of the rescuers said."For the quick reaction that these good Samaritans had, they saved these kids' lives," Florida Highway Patrol Trooper Kim Miller told CNN affiliate WKMG-TV of Orlando."It is anyone's worst nightmare. We know what can happen if kids are under water."The Nissan Quest plunged into the pond off U.S. Highway 192 on Wednesday afternoon when a spare tire blew out, causing the driver to lose control, the highway patrol said.The westbound van was carrying five people. The driver, Ermarie Otereo, 24, and two passengers, Sulane Suero, 21, of Orlando, and Ivan Rivera, 6, of Kissimmee, were able to escape the submerged minivan, WKMG reported.But Niomy Rivera, 3, of Kissimmee and Derek Rivera, 1, of Kissimmee, were trapped under water for as long as seven minutes, the station said.Witnesses said Otereo was screaming for help, saying her babies were in the car, The Associated Press reported.The good Samaritans saw the sinking van and jumped in to save the children."I screamed for a knife ... and I went in and cut up the seat belts on the car seat to get the baby out," rescuer Elliott Ramos told WKMG. "I was feeling the baby's body. He was motionless, so I'm trying to put my hand underneath the belt, so I could cut it without injuring the baby," Ramos told CNN affiliate WESH-TV of Orlando. "I was just fearing for somebody's life ... I was praying to God, please let these babies live, please let these babies live. Thank God we got them in time."Another rescuer, Robert Wright, told WESH he was on his way to pick up his children when he saw the van go out of control and plunge into the pond. Wright said he didn't think twice about stopping to help."The mother was yelling that her babies were in the car," Wright said. "The van completely became submerged. It was really, really scary. You couldn't see anything. It was totally black underwater. We couldn't get the seat belts loose from the kids. It was pretty bad," Wright said. All of the occupants were taken to hospital, AP reported. Niomy and Derek Rivera were in critical condition at Florida Hospital South on Thursday.

Here is what the Senate Appropriations Committee had to say in their report:

"The Committee believes that it is critical that the Secretary and the Administrator be engaged in this effort and directs the agency to submit quarterly reports on the actions taken by the agency to work towards the implementation of primary seat belt laws in all States."

Take note: If you are wearing a seatbelt and you are involved in a head on-collision like the ones shown in the NHTSA crash test videos, the seatbelt will exert a force on you equal to 30 times your body weight. That means that if you weigh 150 pounds, the seatbelt will exert a force on you of 4,500 lbs. Fourthousandfivehundred pounds. In other words, YOU WILL DIE.

Newton's Laws of Motion  have been officially repealed by the United States Congress.   It's true.  Read 23 USC 153, 157, 402, 405 and 406. Nevertheless, they continue in force. Since Isaac Newton is dead, he cannot be forced to recant, as was Galileo. So the Congress is taking refuge in denial.

Comment: Why are the two most important data points, the cause of death and the cause of the accident, missing from the FARS data base? Surely, if you want to find ways to save people's lives in auto accidents, the first thing you want want to know is what caused  their death. Yet NHTSA has not done this. Surely it would be better, rather than spending billions to promote crackpot schemes, to prevent the accidents from happening in the first place. In order to do this, would you not want to know what is causing the accidents? Yet NHTSA has not done this.  If you are going to create an agency to improve highway safety, would you not want to have a director who knew something about highway safety? Yet, in its entire fortyone year history, NHTSA has never had a director who knew anything about highway safety.

---

 

August 5, 2007 was  the fiftieth anniversary of the first seatbelt hearing held in the U.S. Congress. This hearing set the tone for most of the subsequent hearings on this subject which have been held since then. The witnesses were carefully chosen for their willingness to say that  it was a great idea and their readiness to state the most absurd falsehoods under oath in support of that idea.

 

 

From the House Appropriations Committee report on HR 3074:

"Child safety and child booster seat safety incentive grants.--Section 2011 of SAFETEA-LU established a new incentive grant program to make grants available to states that are enforcing a law requiring any child riding in a passenger vehicle who is too large to be secured in a child safety seat to be secured in a child restraint that meets the requirements prescribed under section 3 of Anton's Law (49 U.S.C. 30127 note; 116 Stat. 2772). These grants may be used only for child safety seat and child restraint programs.

The Committee is disappointed that NHTSA failed to determine state eligibility in a timely fashion and, as a result, awarded less than half of the authorized funds for this program in fiscal year 2006. The Committee encourages NHTSA to work aggressively to award available Section 2011 funds to all qualified states.

Actually, the only state which passed Anton's Law last year was Hawaii. It certainly wasn't for want of trying by NHTSA. The total amount appropriated for this "law" for fiscal 2006 was $6,000,000.   Half of $6,000,000 is $3,000,000. Did Hawaii get the whole $3,000,000?

The corresponding senate bill is S.1789

The sponsor of S.1789 is senator Patty Murray of Washington, the same Patty Murray who chaired the transportation sub-committee of the senate appropriations committee, which reported out this bill. (See excerpt below).
HR 3074 was only introduced in the House on July 18, 2007 so its passage on July 24 represents something of a speed record for this type of bill. Since this is the biggest pork barrel in the budget, there is usually a bitter fight over who gets what.

Here is what the senate appropriations sub-committee (chaired by senator Murray) wrote in their report:


"Seat Belt Usage.--Seat belts have proven to be one of the most effective tools in reducing highway fatalities. NHTSA estimates that seat belts saved 15,632 lives in 2005 and that an additional 5,328 lives could have been saved if motor vehicle occupants had been wearing seat belts. Strong seat belt laws coupled with strong enforcement has proven effective in improving seat belt usage and saving lives. However, today only 26 States and the District of Columbia have primary seat belt laws. The enactment of primary seat belt laws has been on the National Transportation Safety Board's `Most Wanted' list for States since 1998. Under a provision in SAFETEA-LU, the Secretary and the Administrator have the ability to go to States to work for the implementation of primary seat belt laws. In testimony before the Committee, the Secretary stated that she had personally gone out to States to encourage the enactment of primary seat belt laws.

The Committee believes that it is critical that the Secretary and the Administrator be engaged in this effort and directs the agency to submit quarterly reports on the actions taken by the agency to work towards the implementation of primary seat belt laws in all States."

This statement is absolutely staggering in its falsity, mendacity, and arrogance. Let's just take their statements one at a time:

1. “Seatbelts have been proven to be one of the most effective tools in reducing highway fatalities.” As we, and others, have shown, with massive evidence and documentation, based on years of research, which you can find on this web-site,  seatbelts increase, not decrease the fatality rate in automobile accidents. As we know after the most careful and exhaustive investigation, the “proof” that the committee report refers to does not exist. The statement is an out and out falsehood.

2. “NHTSA estimates that seatbelts saved 15,632 lives in 2005 and that an additional 5,328 lives could have been saved if motor vehicle occupants had been wearing seatbelts.” A careful investigation of this “estimate” reveals that it is purely a product of the writer’s imagination. It is an out and out fabrication based on nothing but thin air.

3. “Strong seatbelt laws have proven effective…in saving lives”. In four years of research we have not been able to find a single verified case of a person’s life ever being saved by a seatbelt in an automobile accident. As best we can tell, based on the available evidence, seatbelts kill approximately 2,000 people a year in this country. (See our report, “The Truth About Seatbelts”, on this web-site).

4. “The enactment of primary seatbelt laws has been on the National Transportation Safety Board’s Most Wanted List since 1998”. According to the NTSB web-site, “State Mandatory Seatbelt Use Laws” was added to their “Most Wanted List” in l991 and  removed in l994. Nowhere does it indicate that it was put back in 1998, or at any other time.

5. “Under a provision in SAFETEA-LU, the Secretary and the Administrator have the ability to go to States to work for the implementation of primary seat belt laws.” We have read “SAFETEA-LU” very carefully and  have not found such a provision, which would, in any case, violate the spirit, if not the letter, of the congressional ban on federal employees lobbying state legislatures.

6. “In testimony before the Committee, the Secretary stated that she had personally gone out to States to encourage the enactment of primary seat belt laws.” We were not aware that she had done so, but if she did, we believe it would be in violation of federal law. It would certainly be inappropriate, in our opinion, and exceed her mandate.


Notice that, as before, the subcommittee  took  it upon itself to lecture and instruct NHTSA in its duties before the full committee, let alone the full senate, never mind the House of Representatives or the President of the United States, had a chance to consider their report.

Re Anton's Law in the U.S. Code: You may think this is all legastistic gobblediguk, but this is what leads to that flashing red light in your rear view mirror and that siren telling you to pull over.
We thought you might like to read what your congress has enacted into law. This is from 49 USC 30127 note. This stuff isnt easy to find. In fact, they would probably rather you didn't find it. This note was referenced in House report 109-203,  which was the final conference report on HR 3, and is now P.L. 109-59. You will find the reference in section 2011(a).

"(h) Booster seat study. .....not later than 12 months after the date of the enactment of this Act (Nov. 1, 2001) the Secretary of Transportation  shall initiate and complete a study, taking into acount the views of the public, on the use and effectiveness of automobile booster seats for children, compiling information on the advantages and disadvantages of using booster seats and determining the benefits, if any, to children from use of booster (seats?) with lap and shoulder belts compared to children using lap and shoulder belts alone, and submit a report on the results of that study to the congress "

Well, now isn't that nice. What could be fairer than that. Unfortunately, our euphoria is cut short by the next paragraph:

"(i) Booster seat education program. The Secretary of Transportation within one year after the date of the enactment of this act (Nov. 1, 2001) shall develop a 5 year strategic plan to reduce deaths and injuries caused by the failure to use the appropriate booster seat in the 4 to 8 year old age group by 25%"

Note: We have already shown how booster seats kill children in fire, in water, and in head-on collisions, as shown in the famous NHTSA dummy test videos. See THE GREAT BOOSTER SEAT SCAM below for more.

THE GREAT BOOSTER SEAT SCAM.  Read our report which blows the lid off the booster seat scam.

Read our  paper: "Seatbelts Kill: The True Story of the Seatbelt Scam" (html works  rtf  word  text)

CORZINE ACCIDENT: From the New York Times: (May 6, 2007) "....there are no records among the five cassette tapes and three compact discs, totaling nearly two hours, of conversations   involving Mr. Corzine's driver , Trooper Robert J. Rasinski. Nor does anything refer to the fact that the caravan was going 26 mph above the posted speed limit of 65, or that Mr. Corzine was not wearing a seatbelt." They may have been careful to delete any references to Trooper Rasinski,  but they slipped up in one vital place: There was a question of why, if the governor was wearing a seatbelt, there was no mention of an injury to his stomach, which he surely would have suffered if he was wearing a seatbelt. The tapes give us the answer. The EMT says, "he's complaining of excruciating pain in his leg, abdomen and chest" (emphasis added).
New Jersey:  4/12/07: Governor Corzine of New Jersey was critically injured in a car accident on 4/12/07. According to news reports, he suffered a broken collar bone, six broken ribs on both sides, a broken sternum, a broken lower vertebra, and a broken leg, but no head injury. Colonel Fuentes, the head of the New Jersey state police was quoted as saying that he did not know if the governor was wearing a seatbelt "but he often does not".
CORZINE ACCIDENT:   4/16/07. The seatbelt scammers, in their desperate effort at damage control, are putting out so many confliciting stories that they are undermining their own credibility.   One report, published  in the New York Times, USA Today and Bloomberg, even asserted that "the unbelted governor was thrown from the front seat to the back seat" which would be very interesting, if true, since it would disprove Newton's first law of motion.  Another report stated that the SUV hit the guard rail sideways, even though the pictures clearly show that it hit the rail head on. Another report stated that the Dodge Ram hit the passenger side of the SUV, even though the pictures show no damage on the passenger side except possibly at the very front, which cannot be clearly seen in the pictures.
As to what actually happened, all we can say for sure, as shown in the photographs of the accident, is that the SUV hit the guard rail head on and broke through it, and that the SUV jack-knifed by about 15 degrees. (5/1/07: The media are now showing a doctored picture of the SUV, making it look as though the accident took place in daylight, where the retouch artist has taken out the 15 degree jack-knife).

4/30/07. A press report appearing in all the media at this time claims that governor Corzine apologized for not wearing a seatbelt. If you read the quote carefully, however, you note that all he said was that he set a bad example. In what way he did not say. Driving at 91 mph is certainly setting a bad example. The problem for the seatbelt scammers is that the governor's injuries are consistent with wearing a seatbelt and not consistent with not wearing a seatbelt.



Notice that the upper body and waist injuries to the governor, as described in the press and on the tape, coincide exactly with the seat belt.
(The forces were calculated by accepting the published figure of 30 mph at which the SUV hit the guard rail. This was based on the following considerations: The pictures clearly show that the vehicle stopped in its own length, 17 feet, after hitting the rail. According to our calculations, this means the vehicle stopped in 0.77 seconds after hitting the rail for an average deceleration rate of 57 feet per second squared, or 1.77g. However, the deceleration rate when the vehicle hit the guard rail must have been much higher, so the maximum force on the governor would have been much higher).

Here's a little item you might enjoy (or maybe not): Twin Falls, Idaho, May 4, 2007. Two canoeists went out to retrieve the body of a suicide victim. When they came to shore with the victim the sheriff was waiting for them. He wrote them a ticket for not wearing a life preserver.

Here's a little statistic you might not have been aware of. Accoding to NHTSA, 55% of drivers involved in fatal collisions have previous convictions for reckless driving. Since there are usually two drivers involved in a fatal collision, that would indicate that most fatal collisions are caused by drivers with previous convictions for reckless driving.
Cars do not cause accidents. Drivers cause accidents.

The following picture and story appeared in the Idaho Statesman on April 21, 2007. Visit www.idahostatesman.com





It's hard to open your seatbelt when you're hanging upside down from the belt.

Note: This is probably how Bethany Ashmoore's babies died, trapped upside down in their "child safety seats" with their heads under water (see our newspaper gallery on this website). More such cases in our seatbeltvictims file.

Thought for the day: In the event of a side impact collision near the front or rear of a vehicle, an unbelted driver or passenger may be thrown against the side of the vehicle and suffer a bruised arm; a belted driver or passenger may be thrown against the shoulder belt and suffer a broken neck.

Here's an interesting little fact you might not have known. Today's "emergency locking retractors" will not only lock up in a deceleration but also in a roll-over, thus preventing you from taking any evasive action to prevent your head from being crushed as the roof caves in. Of course roofs dont usually crush if you roll over into water, so the belt  just keeps you pinned upside down while you're drowning.

FMVSS 208: Since many seatbelt laws state that they apply only to seatbelts meeting FMVSS 208, we thought we would post FMVSS 208 so you could read it for yourself and determine if your seatbelts comply with FMVSS 208. Remember, though, that FMVSS 208 has changed frequently over the years and most seatbelt laws do not state which version of FMVSS 208 your seatbelts need to comply with.

Legislators: How many of you have actually read the FMVSS  that you are forcing on the American people? How many of you actually understand them? You are taking them on faith. But they are not worthy of your faith. The bureaucrats are  making these standards so long, convoluted and incomprehensible that you won't bother to read them and, if you read them, that you won't understand them. Most of these so -called "standards" are both inane and insane. Some of it is just plain gibberish.

Congress:  Over the last ten years, congress has spent more than a billion dollars to foist the seatbelt scam on the American people. Is this really what we want congress to spend our money on?

23 USC 157. Over the years, the seatbelt scammers have gotten their  false claims enshrined in the U.S. Code in not just one, but five different places - implicitly and explicitly - in order to sell seatbelts and justify ripping people off for not wearing them. These are 23 USC 153, 157, 402, 405 and 406. 153 and 157 came from earlier authorization bills but they have never been repealed. Since we have not previoulsy posted 23 USC 157 we thought we would call it to your attention.

1. Although, when this section was drafted, they had not yet thought of referring to seatbelts as "safety" belts, notice the heading: "Safety incentive grants for the use of seatbelts". The psychological trick is to state the falsehood as an accepted fact. Thus, the use of the word "safety" is supposed to make you think that seatbelts will make you safer, and dissuade you from questioning this assertion.

2.Notice the words "incentive grants". In other words, they are offering bribes to states, using your tax money, to bamboozle and coerce people into using seatbelts.

3. Notice paragraph (a)(6): "Savings to the federal government". Again, the falsehood is stated as an accepted fact. This section goes on to state: "The term 'savings to the federal government' means the amount of Federal budget savings relating to Federal medical costs (including savings under medicare and medicaid programs under titles XVIII and XIX of the Social Security Act (42 USC 1395 et seq)), as determined by the Secretary." This pseudolegalistic drivel is supposed to make you think that forcing people to wear seatbelts is going to save the federal government money. (Notice it doesn't say it will save you money). The false claim is made explicit in paragraph (b) (2)(B) where it says, "The amount that is equal to the savings to the Federal government due to any increase in State seatbelt use...." In other words, take for granted that such savings exist. Dont try to present any evidence (there isn't any), don't try to persuade people, just state the falsehood as an accepted fact and hope no one will question it.

4.Notice the words, "as determined by the Secretary". In other words, the Secretary (of Transportation) can give, or withhold, millions of dollars in these pork barrel grants to states as he sees fit.

5. Notice section (f): "Innovative Seat Belt Project Allocations". In other words, they are going to give states millions of dollars of your tax money to think up new ways to bamboozle and coerce people into using seatbelts. Sub paragraph (5) says the amount of allocation "shall not be less than $100,000 per year". This is supposed to make you think it's small potatoes. But notice no upper limit is given. And when you look at the totals authorized for Section 157, it came to fivehundredfortysix million dollars.

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We have added the full text of the revised version of 23 USC 406 to our documents section. It is important to study 23 USC 402, 405 and 406 carefully to understand what is motivating state legislatures, state transportation departments,  and state police, under pressure from NHTSA, (which is under pressure from congress) to promote the seatbelt scam. (23 USC 402 and 405 can also be found in our documents section).

We have also added a link to William Holdorf's paper, The Fraud of Seatbelt Laws, to our documents section. We already have a link on this page. This paper is worth reading again just to remind us of the sordid history of the seatbelt scam. Mr. Holdorf tells us how airbags entered the picture. Air bags are every bit as dangerous and impractical as seatbelts. Notice that congress took the advice of two lawyers, Elizabeth (now senator) Dole and Joan Claybrook, neither of whom knew a stress tensor from a hole in the ground, and went against the advice of competent engineers who tried to explain to them that airbags were not a practical proposition.

From Friedl Pfeiffer's biography: "I had been driving through a downpour to Hailey, about 12 miles from Sun Valley, when my car started to fishtail. I fought the slide until the car flipped over, throwing me right through the convertible top and into the sage brush. I was lucky to survive with only a few bumps and bruises.... but the yellow convertible was gone for good". (From "Nice Goin" by Friedl Pfeiffer, p80)
Note: If Mr. Pfeiffer had been wearing a seatbelt, the car would have landed on top of him and he would have been killed. As it was, he survived with only a few bumps and bruises. SEATBELTS KILL! Stop the seatbelt scam!

FOR MORE ON LEGISLATION, CLICK HERE

The ultimate source of all seatbelt harassment campaigns. We thought you might like to see the High Visibility Enforcement clause of HR 3 as it finally emerged from the conference committee. This is now the law of the land. See Sec.2009.

The Process:

1. Congress passes the laws instructing the Secretary of Transportation to promote the seatbelt scam and other Orwellian schemes, and appropriates hundreds of millions of dollars for the purpose.
2. The Secretary assigns the job to the Director (Administrator) of the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration.
3. The Administrator carries out the instructions of the Secretary, organizing and directing his huge propaganda and lobbying machine to try to get states to pass these Orwellian laws, funded by hundreds of millions of dollars of taxpayer money for bribes and expenses.

Once again, please tell your senators and representatives to repeal 23 USC 153, 157, 402, 405 and 406.

Nausea. This NHTSA document, which is intended for state police and transportation departments, will show you what is behind the "click-it-or-ticket" campaigns. 
    

The Manitoba study.  Respectable scholars, working independently, have concluded, after careful study of the available data, that seatbelts are harmful. They are: Professor Adams of London University, based on the european data, Professor Schreier of the University of Connecticut (retired), based on the American data, and Professors Levine and Basilevsky, at the University of Winnipeg, based on the Canadian data. No government has put forward any evidence to refute these studies.

Why is it important to fight the seatbelt laws? (Read on)

 

                                                                                 (earlier news)