# Before there were seatbelts.



## Ronni (Oct 30, 2020)

It isn't only GenerationY/Millennials that got to ride in the back of station wagons


We Baby Boomers got to do the very same thing...ergo, we were cool WAY back, before most of those genY’ers were born!  (That's me on the left)


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## Chet (Oct 30, 2020)

No seat belts and no center consoles to keep you and your honey apart.


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## JustBonee (Oct 30, 2020)

I  remember life with no  seatbelts   ....  As a little kid (5-6)    I flew into my uncles front windshield on a Sunday morning trip to church  ..   cracked the windshield,   and I had a doozy of a headache.


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## Ruth n Jersey (Oct 30, 2020)

No seatbelts when I was growing up. When we went for a Sunday drive I would sit between my mom and dad in the front then crawl over the seat to the back for a nap.
I'm not sure when seat belts became a law in New Jersey but my son was born in 76 and my daughter in 78 and when we brought them home from the hospital I got in the car first and the nurse handed me the baby. 
These days you have to have the proper seat attached in the back seat.
When my kids were small I'd put a blanket in the back of our hatchback Pinto and let them play as we drove. 
I never gave it a thought. When I think of it now I break out in a sweat.


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## Aunt Marg (Oct 30, 2020)

This is how we rolled when I was young and growing!


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## Aunt Marg (Oct 30, 2020)

Had a great uncle who had a car that had lots of room like this... and yes, I spent all my time doing what this kid is doing when I went somewhere with him! LOL!


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## needshave (Oct 30, 2020)

I have a funny store for you. When I was about five or six, we were having a family outing with my uncle and his family. They had a station wagon, much like what was shown in the opening article. The family decided they were going to make home made ice cream. We had to go get ice so jerry my cousin and I got in the back seat of the wagon and we went over to the city to get ice. Once there we got this big chunk of ice, it was about 12-16" square, along with some other items. Additionally they were going to make a picnic table so we stopped and picked up 2x4's as well.  SO, the seat was folded down to make a flat cargo area, the tailgate was dropped , the 2x4's were slide in on each side and the ice was in the middle. Jerry and I was to set in the middle and hold everything in place as we went home.  There was a hugh winding hill between this location and our house. The hill was/is hugh, I remember my father down shifting twice to get up the hill. Well jerry and I was back there playing around, not paying any attention and when uncle down shifted and then accelerated again everything shifted, including us. We caught the 2x4's, but not the ice. The ice went sliding down the hill and my uncle slowed down as we watched cars coming up the hill trying to swerve to miss the ice as it picked up speed going down the hill. My father took us home and he went back after ice. We became first acquainted with a lot of four letter words that day. 
But we finally did make ice cream.


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## Gaer (Oct 30, 2020)

I was a pretty wild driver and remember my right arm flying out to hold my child when I had to stop the car!  hahaha!  
and when i was a kid, I'd tie my sled on the back of a car in the winter so i could slide all over the road!
Things seemed a lot more fun back then, didn't they?


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## Ronni (Oct 30, 2020)

Our yearly vacation when I was little consisted of long car rides to destinations that my Dad and Mum wanted to visit.  They'd fold down the back seat in our station wagon and put a bed back there.  I'd spend most of the drive lying in the back reading.  It was heaven!!  

Of course, if any of MY kids wanted to do that, they'd have been subjected to a 10 minute lecture about how dangerous/against the law/lunatic that idea was.  Times sure do change!


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## Aunt Marg (Oct 30, 2020)

I remember making a trip to Vancouver as a young child, dear aunt behind the wheel, mom acting as co-pilot, and along the way, mom periodically reaching over the front bench seat to pluck baby sister from the back of the car to feed or change her.

So comical thinking about it now, but there dear aunt would be, talking a mile a second, and all while roaring down the open highway fudging the speed limit, and all while everyone else in the car did their own thing.

Anything went back in those days.


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## fmdog44 (Oct 30, 2020)

Metal dashboards "BONK!"


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## jujube (Oct 30, 2020)

Loooooong car trips in old station wagons without airconditioning.......4-6 kids in the back fighting and my mother reaching back and swatting anyone she could reach. Somebody always got carsick.

Ahhhh....the good days......


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## hollydolly (Oct 30, 2020)

It didn't become mandatory to wear seatbelts in the UK until 1983... and then only front seat belts. Then in '89 the law changed to make it mandatory for _children_ to wear seatbelts in the rear... and not until '91 did it become illegal for adults not to be strapped up in the rear..

When I was a kid we'd always travel in the back of the car without seatbelts ..very much like Ronnie's picture. I dread to think what might have happened if we'd been rear ended..


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## needshave (Oct 30, 2020)

Ronni said:


> It isn't only GenerationY/Millennials that got to ride in the back of station wagons
> View attachment 131114
> 
> We Baby Boomers got to do the very same thing...ergo, we were cool WAY back, before most of those genY’ers were born!  (That's me on the left)
> View attachment 131115


Ronni,
2nd photo down, is that a Studebaker Station wagon?


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## Sassycakes (Oct 30, 2020)

Aunt Marg said:


> Had a great uncle who had a car that had lots of room like this... and yes, I spent all my time doing what this kid is doing when I went somewhere with him! LOL!



*This really brought memories back of when I was young. My older brother got drafted into the Army during the Korean War. Every weekend we would drive to the Army base where he was stationed.
My older sister would fall asleep on the back seat and the only place for me was in the back window. *


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## 911 (Oct 30, 2020)

Seatbelts being installed in cars became mandatory in 1968, but it didn’t become mandatory in PA to wear them until 1987.

In PA, not wearing a seatbelt is a secondary offense, meaning that the driver will be ticketed for not wearing a seatbelt, as well as each passenger, but only if they were stopped for a first degree offense, such as speeding, running a red light or stop sign, etc.


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## Ronni (Oct 30, 2020)

needshave said:


> Ronni,
> 2nd photo down, is that a Studebaker Station wagon?



I have no idea. All I cared about was that we could ride in the back lol.  My dad was very partial to Fords, I remember that.  I know we had several Ford Falcons, but that doesn't look like it says Ford Falcon on the tailgate, does it?  It seems like it says S........S........whatever that might mean.


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## needshave (Oct 30, 2020)

Ronni said:


> I have no idea. All I cared about was that we could ride in the back lol.  My dad was very partial to Fords, I remember that.  I know we had several Ford Falcons, but that doesn't look like it says Ford Falcon on the tailgate, does it?  It seems like it says S........S........whatever that might mean.


Thanks, I collect antique cars and that one caught my eye and my question was generated. I will try to investigate...I will let you know what and if I find it.


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## Aunt Marg (Oct 30, 2020)

Sassycakes said:


> *This really brought memories back of when I was young. My older brother got drafted into the Army during the Korean War. Every weekend we would drive to the Army base where he was stationed.
> My older sister would fall asleep on the back seat and the only place for me was in the back window. *


I'll bet it didn't hurt your feelings one little teensy-weensy bit. 

Twas the best seat in the house as far as I'm concerned. LOL!


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## win231 (Oct 30, 2020)

Before there were seat belts,
Drivers & passengers learned (the hard way) that in a crash, they become projectiles who faced surgeries & long, painful recoveries....if they recovered.


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## Fyrefox (Nov 2, 2020)

I can remember when seat belts were optional equipment, and my parents got a vehicle with the belts in the front.  I asked them what would stop me riding in the back seat in the event of an accident, and they said the backs of their seats would stop me.  Fortunately, I never had to find out!

I can also remember how hot those large early metal seat belt buckles became after baking in the sun during the summer months!


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## MarciKS (Nov 2, 2020)

I remember riding in the back of the Subaru with my brother. We'd get trounced around back there pretty good but we had fun. My grandparents had a baby late in life and I remember them coming to get us and we had pillows and blankets in the back seat and we slept on the way home for my visit there in there summer.


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## fmdog44 (Nov 2, 2020)

How many air disasters were avoided by wearing seat belts?


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## Damaged Goods (Nov 3, 2020)

911 said:


> Seatbelts being installed in cars became mandatory in 1968, but it didn’t become mandatory in PA to wear them until 1987.
> 
> In PA, not wearing a seatbelt is a secondary offense, meaning that the driver will be ticketed for not wearing a seatbelt, as well as each passenger, but only if they were stopped for a first degree offense, such as speeding, running a red light or stop sign, etc.



When did the shoulder belts come into play?


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## 911 (Nov 3, 2020)

I remember those crash dummies named Vince and Larry.


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## win231 (Nov 3, 2020)

Damaged Goods said:


> When did the shoulder belts come into play?


Around 1968.  At that time, they were uncomfortable & had to be constantly adjusted & tightened.


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## Aunt Marg (Nov 3, 2020)

Each and every one of us here should count our blessings for having survived any accidents or life-threatening incidents back in the day, when no one concerned themselves with seatbelts or safety.

Same goes for how we used to ride in the back box of pickup trucks.

I was I high-school and a group left for lunch one afternoon. In keeping with the times, they piled into the back of a students truck and off they went. A while later the driver rolled the truck, and one student died.

I get shivers sometimes when I think of all the times I rode in the back of pickup truck boxes, in the rear of station wagons, in the rear and front seat of cars, and riding the best seat in the house. So grateful I lived to tell about it, because some didn't.


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## Damaged Goods (Nov 3, 2020)

win231 said:


> Around 1968.  At that time, they were uncomfortable & had to be constantly adjusted & tightened.



OK '68 makes sense.  I bought a new Camaro in '67 and don't recall shoulder restraints.

I recall seat belts in some cars around '61.  They went around the lower abdomen and many safety engineers opined that there was potential for abdominal injuries while not protecting the head.


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## fuzzybuddy (Nov 6, 2020)

Aunt Marg said:


> Had a great uncle who had a car that had lots of room like this... and yes, I spent all my time doing what this kid is doing when I went somewhere with him! LOL!


OMG!!!!!! *I completely forgot about this. Yup, that used to be my favorite sleeping place when we went on long trips. What's so amazing is how unbelievably irresponsible this is, today;  yet back then, it was so unbelievably common, nobody thought it was dangerous.*


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## Aunt Marg (Nov 6, 2020)

fuzzybuddy said:


> OMG!!!!!! *I completely forgot about this. Yup, that used to be my favorite sleeping place when we went on long trips. What's so amazing is how unbelievably irresponsible this is, today;  yet back then, it was so unbelievably common, nobody thought it was dangerous.*


Indeed, times have changed, and for the better, that is in the way of safety.

Those like us, Fuzzy, grew up in the best era of all as far as I'm concerned, be got to enjoy life as few kids will ever know today.


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## Pappy (Nov 6, 2020)

Oh yes, the big old bench seats and no seat belts. Much more fun with your sweetie sitting next to you real close. And, of course parking.


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## Hangaround (Nov 11, 2020)

Fyrefox said:


> I can remember when seat belts were optional equipment, and my parents got a vehicle with the belts in the front.  I asked them what would stop me riding in the back seat in the event of an accident, and they said the backs of their seats would stop me.  Fortunately, I never had to find out!
> 
> I can also remember how hot those large early metal seat belt buckles became after baking in the sun during the summer months!


I’d forgotten that. It was like applying lava putting then on


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## Aunt Marg (Nov 11, 2020)

Fyrefox said:


> I can remember when seat belts were optional equipment, and my parents got a vehicle with the belts in the front.  I asked them what would stop me riding in the back seat in the event of an accident, and they said the backs of their seats would stop me.  Fortunately, I never had to find out!
> 
> *I can also remember how hot those large early metal seat belt buckles became after baking in the sun during the summer months!*


Yes, I remember that, too, just as I do how sizzling hot the vinyl seating itself would be when sitting down on it for the first time in a pair of shorts.


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## FastTrax (Nov 13, 2020)

www.nhtsa.gov/risky-driving/seat-belts/

www.cdc.gov/motorvehiclesafety/calculator/factsheet/seatbelt.html

www.defensivedriving.com/blog/a-history-of-seat-belts/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seat_belt

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seat_belt_use_by_country

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seat_belt_laws_in_the_United_States

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seat_belt_legislation

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crash_test_dummy

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nils_Bohlin


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## FastTrax (Nov 28, 2020)

Smart bear



www.iihs.org/topics/seat-belts

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Seat_belts

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five_point_harness

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nils_Bohlin


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## win231 (Nov 28, 2020)

Ruth n Jersey said:


> No seatbelts when I was growing up. When we went for a Sunday drive I would sit between my mom and dad in the front then crawl over the seat to the back for a nap.
> I'm not sure when seat belts became a law in New Jersey but my son was born in 76 and my daughter in 78 and when we brought them home from the hospital I got in the car first and the nurse handed me the baby.
> These days you have to have the proper seat attached in the back seat.
> When my kids were small I'd put a blanket in the back of our hatchback Pinto and let them play as we drove.
> I never gave it a thought. When I think of it now I break out in a sweat.


In a Pinto, seatbelts wouldn't make any difference.  The kids were sitting on top of an unprotected gas tank.


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## fmdog44 (Nov 29, 2020)

Early open wheel car racing was stupidly dangerous. Drivers were positioned with no rollover protection from the shoulders up.
Millers at Milwaukee – Vintage Indy Car Event July 8, 2017 - Bing video


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## Aunt Marg (Nov 29, 2020)

fmdog44 said:


> Early open wheel car racing was stupidly dangerous. Drivers were positioned with no rollover protection from the shoulders up.
> Millers at Milwaukee – Vintage Indy Car Event July 8, 2017 - Bing video


Love the old classic cars, but OMG how dangerous.


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