Modern Living: The National Trussed

There was a time when the automobile responded without question or objection to the turn of a key, the gentle pressure of a foot, a twist of the steering wheel and the occasional injection of vital fluids. Those freewheeling days, alas, have passed. As a result of the nation’s commendable concern with driver safety, cars are no longer the mute mistresses of yore but have become instead the harridans of the highways, yowling at passengers and refusing orders until they are properly buckled in.

What transformed old faithful into a common scold was a series of federal safety regulations. As of January 1972, they required every new car to have a warning system that included a buzzer that screamed at the driver and front-seat passengers until they had fastened their seat belts. But that system was too easy to circumvent. All a driver had to do was buckle up the seat belt and sit on it or simply leave the belt unfastened and prevent it from retracting by tying a knot in it. So beginning in January 1974, the U.S. Department of Transportation required that all new cars be equipped with a Machiavellian system that made it nearly impossible to start a car unless the driver 1) sat down in the seat, 2) fastened the seat belt, and 3) turned the ignition key-in the proper sequence.

Beltsville Turkey. As a consequence of the new “interlock” system, up to 60% of drivers and front-seat passengers in new cars are now belting in. However, thousands of new-car owners are increasingly frustrated by the new system. Because any weight on the front seat activates the system, he, she or it must be buckled in before the car will start. Newspaper Columnist George Will recently bought a 22-lb. Beltsville turkey, plopped it in the front seat and found that to get his car moving, he had to belt the Beltsville. Drivers become livid when they get out of then-cars to open the garage doors and then have to buckle up again to avoid being assailed by the buzzer while they park.

Those who refuse to wear belts under any circumstances have a host of ingenious ways of deceiving the interlock. Some start the car by leaning in the window and turning the ignition key (with no weight on the front seat, the starter will kick over). Others accomplish the same deception by grasping the steering wheel and pulling themselves up while turning the key. But with both these techniques, as soon as the driver sits down, the buzzer will go off-unless he fastens his seat belt.

Drivers have gone to outlandish extremes to avoid both belts and buzzers. One Atlanta man unfastens his seat belt, and turns off his hearing aid, as soon as he starts his new Impala. In some garages, mechanics are disconnecting the interlock system at an average $15 a job.

People who wear seat belts have a 60% lower rate of auto deaths and injuries than those who do not. Yet, argue some top auto-industry executives, a more effective and less irritating way to induce people to use their belts would be to pass laws in every state making it a punishable offense to be untrussed in a car. This would prevent incidents like the one experienced by a couple parked on a lonely beach in Southern California. Seeing a pair of armed men approaching, the driver instinctively turned his ignition key to make a fast getaway. Nothing happened. Then, while the driver and his date were frantically buckling up, one mugger thrust his gun through the car’s sunroof and relieved the lovers of their money.