A seat belt (also known as a safety belt, or spelled seatbelt) is a vehicle safety device designed to secure the driver or a passenger of a vehicle against harmful movement that may result during a collision or a sudden stop. A seat belt reduces the likelihood of death or serious injury in a traffic collision by reducing the force of secondary impacts with interior strike hazards, by keeping occupants positioned correctly for maximum effectiveness of the airbag (if equipped), and by preventing occupants being ejected from the vehicle in a crash or if the vehicle rolls over.
When in motion, the driver and passengers are traveling at the same speed as the vehicle. If the vehicle suddenly stops or crashes, the occupants continue at the same speed the vehicle was going before it stopped. A seatbelt applies an opposing force to the driver and passengers to prevent them from falling out or making contact with the interior of the car (especially preventing contact with, or going through, the windshield). Seatbelts are considered primary restraint systems (PRSs), because of their vital role in occupant safety.
An analysis conducted in the United States in 1984 compared a variety of seat belt types alone and in combination with air bags. The range of fatality reduction for front seat passengers was broad, from 20% to 55%, as was the range of major injury, from 25% to 60%. More recently, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has summarized these data by stating "seat belts reduce serious crash-related injuries and deaths by about half." Most seatbelt malfunctions are a result of there being too much slack in the seatbelt at the time of the accident.
Seatbelts were invented by English engineer George Cayley, to use on his glider, in the mid-19th century.
In 1946, C. Hunter Shelden opened a neurological practice at Huntington Memorial Hospital in Pasadena, California. In the early 1950s, Shelden made a major contribution to the automotive industry with his idea of retractable seat belts. This came about from his care of the high number of head injuries coming through the emergency room. He investigated the early seat belts with primitive designs that were implicated in these injuries and deaths.
Nash was the first American car manufacturer to offer seat belts as a factory option, in its 1949 models. They were installed in 40,000 cars, but buyers did not want them and requested dealers to remove them. The feature was "met with insurmountable sales resistance" and Nash reported that after one year "only 1,000 had been used" by customers.
Ford offered seat belts as an option in 1955. These were not popular, with only 2% of Ford buyers choosing to pay for seatbelts in 1956.
To reduce the high level of injuries Shelden was seeing, he proposed, in late 1955, retractable seat belts, recessed steering wheels, reinforced roofs, roll bars, automatic door locks, and passive restraints such as air bags. Subsequently, in 1966, Congress passed the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act, requiring all automobiles to comply with certain safety standards.
Glenn W. Sheren, of Mason, Michigan, submitted a patent application on March 31, 1955, for an automotive seat belt and was awarded US Patent 2,855,215 in 1958. This was a continuation of an earlier patent application that Sheren had filed on September 22, 1952.
However, the first modern three-point seat belt (the so-called CIR-Griswold restraint) used in most consumer vehicles today was patented in 1955 U.S. Patent 2,710,649 by the Americans Roger W. Griswold and Hugh DeHaven.
Saab introduced seat belts as standard equipment in 1958.[13] After the Saab GT 750 was introduced at the New York Motor Show in 1958 with safety belts fitted as standard, the practice became commonplace.
Vattenfall, the Swedish national electric utility, did a study of all fatal, on-the-job accidents among their employees. The study revealed that the majority of fatalities occurred while the employees were on the road on company business. In response, two Vattenfall safety engineers, Bengt Odelgard and Per-Olof Weman, started to develop a seat belt. Their work was presented to Swedish manufacturer Volvo in the late 1950s, and set the standard for seat belts in Swedish cars. The three-point seatbelt was developed to its modern form by Swedish inventor Nils Bohlin for Volvo—who introduced it in 1959 as standard equipment. In addition to designing an effective three-point belt, Bohlin demonstrated its effectiveness in a study of 28,000 accidents in Sweden. Unbelted occupants sustained fatal injuries throughout the whole speed scale, whereas none of the belted occupants were fatally injured at accident speeds below 60 mph. No belted occupant was fatally injured if the passenger compartment remained intact. Bohlin was granted U.S. Patent 3,043,625 for the device.
The first compulsory seat belt law was put in place in 1970, in the state of Victoria, Australia, requiring their use by drivers and front-seat passengers. This legislation was enacted after trialing Hemco seatbelts, designed by Desmond Hemphill (1926–2001), in the front seats of police vehicles, lowering the incidence of officer injury and death. Mandatory seatbelt laws in the United States began to be introduced in the 1980s and faced opposition, with some consumers going to court to challenge the laws. Some cut seatbelts out of their cars.
If you want to read a lot more, go here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seat_belt
- 1 (5 ½-ounce) package salt-and-vinegar-flavored potato chips, crushed
- 1 teaspoon chopped fresh parsley
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 1/2 pounds fresh or frozen white-fleshed fish fillets, such as cod, haddock, or whiting, thawed if frozen
- 1/2 stick (1/4 cup) butter, melted
- Preheat oven to 425º. Coat baking sheet with cooking spray.
- In a shallow dish, combine crushed potato chips, parsley, and pepper; mix well.
- Brush both sides of fish with melted butter then coat with potato chip mixture. Place on baking sheet and bake 15 to 20 minutes, or until fish flakes easily with a fork. Serve immediately.
1935 – Lee Remick, American actress (d. 1991)
On December 14th, National Alabama Day recognizes the Heart of Dixie.
The 22nd state to join the union, Alabama has played pivotal roles in U.S. history, scientific advancements and its magnificent landscapes attract visitors from far and wide.
Alabama enjoys 60 miles of shoreline along the Gulf Coast. While the coastal region is dotted with swamps and bayous, it also includes beautiful sandy beaches. Move northward from the coast, and the lowlands provide the fertile soils of the Black Belt, land that long yielded productive cotton crops. The Northern half of the state is dominated by the forested hills and valleys of the Appalachians.
As the original capital of the Confederacy until May of 1861 during the American Civil War, the small town of Montgomery set the stage for the secessionist government. Nearly 100 years later, the Civil Rights Movement would find a home and erupt across the state marching its vision to the rest of the country.
Agriculture, Military and Meat & Three
Bringing diversity to agriculture at a time when the boll weevil was wreaking havoc on cotton crops, George Washington Carver provided the opportunity for successful planting and harvesting of a legume that continues to be popular not only in the south but across the United States. The peanut brought new farming methods and agricultural stability to a suffering southern industry.
Home of the 332nd Fighter Group, the first African American military aviators, the science team that helped put man on the moon, and the first African American woman in space, Alabama is another state that keeps looking to the sky.
In Alabama, and all across Southern states, the meat and three will fill you up with more satisfying comfort food than you can find anywhere other than your mother’s kitchen. The restaurant style includes a mouth-watering homemade meat of your choosing – crispy fried chicken, juicy sweet ham or tender roast beef – and then a selection of three sides. A roll and dessert are usually included as well. All this is served in a relaxed, down home atmosphere.
