Air Bag and Seat Belt Update

Seat belt use in automobiles has always been a controversial subject.  Safety advocates point out that seat belt use can save lives, while opponents of seat belt use consider it an issue of personal freedom.  49 states now have laws requiring seat belt use by all front seat occupants.  New Hampshire is the only state that does not, although seat belt use is required there by occupants under the age of 18.  As of January 1, 2012, all vehicle occupants in passenger cars in Illinois must wear belts, regardless of where they are sitting in the vehicle. (Governors Highway Safety Association)

Studies have shown that air bags, used in conjunction with lap and shoulder safety belts, can prevent fatalities in the event of automobile crashes.  The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates that belt use alone prevents 45% of traffic fatalities, air bag use alone can prevent 13% of fatalities, and combined usage can prevent a full 50% of traffic fatalities.

On July 7, 1984, the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 288 was issued.  This standard required all vehicles manufactured after April 1, 1989 for sale in the United States to be equipped with a driver's side air bag Supplemental Restraint System.  This standard was amended in 1998 to require passenger side front seat air bags, with the provision that the passenger side restraint can be depowered, or turned off.  The depowering provision is due to studies that showed that people of small stature can be injured or killed by air bag deployments. 

Many automobiles now come equipped with multiple air bags, besides the required dual front seat air bag systems.  Cars now come equipped with side air bags to protect from side collisions instead of just frontal crashes.  I recently saw a TV commercial for a car that comes with 11 air bags, including the industry's first rear air bag!

The air bag requirement has necessitated a change in the way people drive, namely in the methods of steering and the recommended hand positions on the steering wheel.  The old hand-over-hand method of steering is no longer recommended because air bag deployment can cause serious injuries to a driver with his/her arms crossed in this fashion.  Similarly, the previously recommended hand positions of 10 and 2 o'clock have been amended to 9 and 3 'oclock, also due to the possibility of arm injuries during an air bag deployment.

I studied this issue in detail while in my senior year at Saint Ambrose University when I submitted a term paper for my Seminar in Socio-Economics class in the fall of 1978.  The summary of that paper that was distributed to the entire class for discussion follows:  (In case you were wondering, I got an "A" on both the paper and the class.)

Passive Restraints - A Cushion of Safety

November 21, 1978

 

Because of consumerists such as Ralph Nader, and an increasing amount of government regulation, the automobile industry has been practically forced to build safer cars.  The result has been not only changes in the structure and design of automobiles, but also the modification of the passenger compartment in order to provide more protection to passengers in the event of an accident.  This protection comes in the form of padded dash boards, collapsible steering wheels, and seat belts.

 

Seat belts are highly effective in preventing fatalities in traffic accidents.  However, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reports that only 18.5% of all drivers use their safety belts.  This low rate of seat belt usage has led safety advocates to push for the production of a different form of passenger protection - the passive restraint.  Passive restraints are devices that automatically protect front seat passengers without any action on their part.

 

There are presently two types of passive restraints: passive belts that automatically strap in front seat passengers when they close the doors; and air bags in the steering wheel and dash board that inflate upon collision to restrain the driver and passenger from striking the steering wheel, dash board, or windshield.

 

A recent Department of Transportation study indicates that if air bags or passive belts were installed in all cars, 9,000 out of 47,000 fatalities per year could be eliminated.  Citing this study, Department of Transportation secretary Brock Adams announced in July of 1977, that the auto makers will be required to install passive restraints in all new large cars beginning in 1982, in all medium sized cars beginning in 1983, and in all small cars beginning in 1984.

 

Opponents of a passive restraint mandate, including the auto makers, maintain that passive restraints, especially air bags, need to be tested much more thoroughly before they are made mandatory equipment on all cars.  Before leaving office in 1976, Adam's predecessor, William T. Coleman proposed a 400,000 car test fleet to gauge the effectiveness of air bags.

 

Ralph Nader feels that Adam's plan gives the automobile companies too much time.  A devout safety advocate, Nader says that air bag installation should begin immediately in all new cars.  Other advocates argue that small cars should be equipped with passive restraints before large cars, since small cars are more vulnerable in crashes.

 

Adam's mandate gives the auto makers a choice between passive belts and air bags.  Since air bags are concealed in the steering wheel and dash board, they don't restrict movement or feel uncomfortable as is the case with passive belts.  However, the cost of passive belts is much less than that of air bags.  The Department of Transportation estimates that the cost of installing passive belts will be $25 per car as opposed the $112 per car for air bags.

 

The passive restraint requirement, therefore, raises many questions.  Is data on air bag effectiveness sufficient to warrant a mandate or should air bag research be continued?  Would passive belts be better than air bags?  Should more emphasis be placed on current seat belt systems, even to the point of seat belt laws requiring that drivers and passengers use their seat belts?  How does the cost of a passive belt system compare with the cost of an air bag system?

 

Because of current low seat belt usage, a passive restraint mandate is necessary.  However, wishing to avoid a situation like that caused by the 1973 Ignition-Interlock law, which required domestic automobile companies to build cars so that they could not be started unless front seat passengers buckled their safety belts, and which was met with tremendous public rejection and subsequently repealed, the auto makers will probably focus their attention on air bags.

 

Since air bags aren't as restrictive as passive belts, and will at least offer some form of protection to those that refuse to use seat belts, installation of air bags along Adam's timetable is a must.  Allowing the automobile companies until 1982 before they must install passive restraints eliminates the need to redesign automobiles for air bags before they would normally be redesigned.  The three year phase-in time for small cars is necessary because air bag systems for small cars are more difficult to design and engineer than for large cars.  The lives that air bags will save are more than worth the higher costs of the systems.

 

 

Sources:

 

"Safe at Any Speed?'

Newsweek Magazine,     September 7, 1970

 

"Air Bags: The pressure Is On"  by Fred M. H. Gregory

Motor Trend Magazine,     October 1974

 

"The Air Bag: Still Blowin In the Wind"  by Fred M. H. Gregory

Motor Trend Magazine,     October 1976

 

"Punching the Air Bag Around"  by Ted Orme

Motor Trend Magazine,     November 1976

 

"Air Bags: A Non-Decision"  by Ted Orme

Motor Trend Magazine,      March 1977

 

"Adams and the Bag"

Newsweek Magazine,     July 11, 1977

 

"The Half-Safe Car"

The Wall Street Journal,     July 20, 1977

 

"Green Light For Air Bags if Congress Goes Along"

Consumer Reports,     September 1977

 

"Are Air Bags Worth the Trouble? - interviews with Joan Claybrook and Bud Schuster"

U.S. News and World Report,    September 26, 1977

 

"Safety With a Bang"  by M. Jordan

Car and Driver Magazine,     November 1977

 

"Ralph's Wrath"

Newsweek Magazine,     December 12, 1977

 

"Air Bag Anti-Climax"  by Ted Orme

Motor Trend Magazine,     January 1978

 

"The Quick, The Dead, and The Cadaver Population"  by N. Wade

Science Magazine,     March 31, 1978

 

"Seat Belt Usage"  by Tony Hogg

Road and Track Magazine,     April 1978

 

"A Conversation With Joan Claybrook"  interviewed by Ted Orme

Motor Trend Magazine,     August 1978 

 

"How Effective In Preventing Injury Are Safety Belts and Air Bags?"

http://www.usroads.com/journals/p/rilj/9709/ri970902.htm

Road Injury Prevention & Litigation Journal,     September 2, 1997

 

"Seat Belt Laws"

http://www.ghsa.org/html/stateinfo/laws/seatbelt_laws.html     September 2012

 

"The History of Air Bags"

http://inventors.about.com/od/astartinventions/a/air_bags.htm

 

 

 

 

    

 

 

 

 



Breweriana Collecting

 

 

Earlier in this blog, I wrote about my beer can collection, and how it had expanded to include just about anything beer-related.  My collection includes glasses and mugs, bottles and labels, clothing, hats, signs, mirrors, lights, coasters, and bottle and can openers.  I receive these items as gifts, purchase them at yard sales, or trade for them with other collectors.  Many of the items are on display in my basement rec room:

 

 

 

A major portion of the collection consists of glasses and mugs.  These include tasters and sampling glasses, pint glasses, mugs, steins, and pitchers:

 

 

I also have several lights and signs:

 

The collection includes bottles and labels:

 

 

Hats and clothing:

 

 

This poster from Belgium depicts the brewing process from the growing of barley and hops to the actual consumption of beer, along with more than 100 beer drinking proverbs:

 

 

Some of the other items in my collection:

 

There are several serving trays.

 

Coasters from all around the world.

 

Can and bottle openers.

 

 Toy delivery truck.

 Flying Dog Brewery condoms!

 

Matches and lighters.

Tap handles.

Frank & Louie - the Budweiser Lizards.

Left to right: Olympia radio, Pabst Blue Ribbon coin bank, Miller lighter stand, Olympia paper clip holder, Schlitz can opener, Storz matches.

Full containers!

 

I am also a member of the Mississippi Unquenchable Grail Zymurgists homebrew club.  This activity will be the subject of a future installment of this blog.

 

Collecting can be a rewarding source of great enjoyment.  I have been involved in the collecting of beer cans and beer-related items for more than 40 years, and am constantly adding new items to my collection.  There  are several organizations for breweriana and beer advertising collectors, but I currently do not belong to any of them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 







 

 





Fractured Fables

We all remember Aesop’s Fables.  These were cautionary tales that impart a moral, or lesson to be learned.  The following tales all have morals that are slightly twisted or bent.  I have also included the famous (or is it infamous?) “Peter Snake” story, which, although not really a fable, nevertheless employs the same type of wordplay in the delivery of the punch line.  These stories are guaranteed to elicit a laugh (or a groan).  I hope that you derive as much enjoyment from the reading of these stories as I get from the telling of them.

1

Once upon a time, there was a tribe of people living in the jungle at the base of a mountain.   They called themselves the Trids.  The Trids occupied themselves by mining gold from a mine halfway up the mountain.  At the top of the mountain lived an ogre.  When the ogre found out that the Trids were mining gold from his mountain, he demanded a cut.  If the Trids did not give him half the gold they mined, he would destroy their village.  The Trids liked where they lived, so they agreed.  Every Friday, the Trids would trudge up to the top of the mountain to pay the ogre his share.  The ogre would take the gold and then kick the Trids back down the mountain.  One Friday, a rabbi came traveling through the village while the Trids were busy gathering the ogre’s share of that week’s gold from the mine.  He could see that the people of the village were distressed and asked them why.  The Trids explained the whole arrangement to the rabbi.  They told him that they didn’t mind giving the ogre half the gold from the mine, but they were getting tired of being kicked back down the mountain.  The rabbi said that maybe he could speak with the ogre for them.  So the rabbi took the ogre’s share of that week’s gold and headed up the mountain.  He reached the ogre’s lair and presented him with the gold.  It just so happened that the ogre was Jewish, so he invited the rabbi to stay for supper.  They shared a delicious kosher meal and drank several glasses of wine.  When it came time for the rabbi to leave, they said goodbye to each other and the rabbi turned to leave. 

“Oh, by the way,” said the rabbi,” why do you always kick the Trids back down the mountain when they bring you your gold?  You didn’t kick me back down the mountain.”

The ogre said, “Silly rabbi, kicks are for Trids.”

2

In the Trid village there lived a little boy named Johnny.  Johnny had the misfortune of being born without arms and legs.  He didn’t even have a body.  Johnny was basically just a head.  Johnny attended school with all the other Trid children.  As Johnny grew older, he began to get interested in girls.  At school, there was a girl he liked named Suzy.  One day at school, Johnny told his best friend, Billy, that he wanted to ask Suzy out on a date. 

Billy said,”Johnny, do you think that is wise?  After all, you are just a head.”

Nevertheless, Johnny decided to go for it.  One day at school he rolled up to Suzy. (Rolling was how Johnny got around.)  He asked Suzy if she would go out with him on Friday.

“Ooh ick! A head!”  exclaimed Suzy, and she kicked Johnny down the hall.  A little worse for the wear, Johnny was determined to get a date with Suzy.  So he rolled up to her and asked her out again.

Once again, Suzy exclaimed, “Ooh ick!  A head!” and kicked Johnny down the hall.  Trids seemed to get kicked around a lot.  By this time Johnny was all bruised up and black and blue from Suzy kicking him.  But he was determined to get a date with Suzy.  He told Billy that he was going to ask her one more time.  Billy did not think this was a good idea.

“The last two times, she kicked you down the hall.”  he said.

But Johnny could not be convinced of the folly of his plan, so he rolled up to Suzy once again.

He asked Suzy, “Would you like to go out with me this Friday?”

Seeing the black and blue head, Suzy yelled, “Ooh ick!  A grape!” and she squashed Johnny with her shoe.

“Johnny just wouldn’t listen.  I tried to tell him.”  said Billy.  “Quit while you are a head.”

3

Suzy loved music.  She loved to sing.  One day she heard a piano concerto on the radio and decided that she wanted to learn to play the piano.  So she talked her parents into having a piano shipped to the Trid village from across the sea.  Arrangements were made, and one day the piano arrived, although somewhat out of tune due to being jostled about during the long sea voyage.  So Suzy’s father looked in the Yellow Pages under the listing for piano tuners and saw that there was one located in the Trid village.  His name was Oppornockity.  He gave Oppornockity a call on the phone and set up an appointment to get the piano tuned.  The next day Oppornockity came to tune the piano.  He set to work with his tuning forks and soon had the piano in good tune.  Suzy happily began her piano lessons and soon became very good at playing it.  After a few months though, the piano started to get out of tune again.  So Suzy’s father once again phoned Oppornockity to ask if he could come tune the piano once more.  Oppornockity’s secretary answered the phone. 

When asked if she could send Oppornockity over to tune the piano, the secretary said, “That would be quite out of the question.”

“Why?” asked Suzy’s father.

“Because,” came the reply.  “Oppornockity only tunes once.”

4

Gold seemed to be about the only natural resource available to the Trids.  Just about everything the Trids owned was made of gold.  Their furniture was gold.  Their dishes were gold.  Even their silverware was made of gold.  About the only thing not made of gold were their houses.  Their houses were made of grass.  Even the king of the Trids had a grass house.  But since he was king, his house was bigger than the rest.  He had the only house in the Trid village with an upstairs. 

A band of pirates had heard about the Trids and their gold mine and decided to rob the Trids of their gold.  So the pirates raided the Trid village and went house-to-house plundering all the gold.  The king’s prime minister saw the pirates and ran to warn the king.  The king’s throne, of course, was made of gold.  He told the prime minister to hide the throne so the pirates wouldn’t steal it.  So the prime minister got a group of men together and they carried the throne upstairs to the king’s bedroom and hid it in his closet. 

The pirates soon arrived at the king’s house and proceeded to loot it.  They took all the king’s gold, except the throne, which was too well hidden for them to find.  The pirates left and the king breathed a sigh of relief.  But the throne, being made of gold, was very heavy and the closet floor gave way under the weight.  The throne crashed through the ceiling and landed on top of the king, seriously injuring him.  The prime minister called for an ambulance and the king was transported to the hospital, where he was placed in traction.

The local newspaper sent a reporter to the hospital, where he found the prime minister at the king’s bedside.  “Will the king be OK?” asked the reporter. 

“He is expected to make a full recovery.” replied the prime minister.  “But he should have known.  People that live in grass houses shouldn’t stow thrones.”

5

While recovering in the hospital, the king heard fantastic tales about a giant bird that laid golden eggs, called the Foo bird.  The Foo bird was rumored to abide in the land on the other side of the desert that bordered the Trid village.  Anxious to replenish their gold stocks, he sent his head explorer, Sir Percy, in search of the Foo bird.  After an arduous journey across the desert, Sir Percy encountered a hermit.   Sir Percy asked the hermit if he knew the whereabouts of the fabled Foo bird.  The hermit told him he knew where the Foo bird nested and would lead him to the nest.  But the hermit warned Sir Percy: “If the Foo bird relieves itself on you, do not wipe off the droppings.  If you do, terrible things will happen.”

So the hermit led Sir Percy to the Foo bird’s nest.  The bird was nowhere to be seen.  Sir Percy looked in the nest and saw that it was full of golden eggs.  He took several of the eggs and put them in his backpack.  Just then the Foo bird returned to the nest.  Enraged at the theft of her eggs, the Foo bird took a huge dump that covered Sir Percy in bird droppings from head to toe.  Sir Percy and the hermit beat a hasty retreat, and once again the hermit warned Sir Percy about the danger of wiping off the Foo excrement.  The two of them headed across the desert toward the Trid village.  The desert sun was very hot and soon the Foo droppings that covered Sir Percy began to harden and become crusty.  Again the hermit warned Sir Percy about the dangers of wiping off the Foo poo. 

At length they approached the Trid village.  By this time Sir Percy was getting really uncomfortable, what with the layer of Foo droppings that coated his body.  When they came to the Trid River, he could not stand it anymore.  He jumped in the river, washed the Foo poop off, and was promptly eaten by a crocodile.

“If I told him once, I told him a thousand times,” said the hermit.  “If the Foo shits, wear it.”

6

Note: My late father was fond of telling the following story, and nobody could tell it like he could, especially after he had consumed a few cocktails.  I have altered it slightly to fit into the framework of the Trid mythology. – D.L.

There were a lot of snakes in the jungle that surrounded the Trid village.  In fact, the Trid village was infested with snake pits.  One day, Peter Snake was hissing in his pit.  Peter’s mother was trying to clean the pit, and his hissing was getting on her nerves, so she said, “Peter, please don’t hiss in the pit.  If you must hiss, go outside the pit to hiss.

So Peter went outside the pit to hiss.  But his mother could still hear him hissing so she said, “Peter, if you must hiss, go over to Mrs. Potts’ pit to hiss.”

Peter went to Mrs. Potts’ pit, but Mrs. Potts was not home.  Peter commenced hissing in her pit anyway.  Then Mrs. Potts came home and found Peter hissing in her pit.  “Peter,” she scolded, “don’t hiss in my pit.  If you must hiss, go to your own pit to hiss.”

This made Peter very upset, and he slithered home to his pit crying all the way.  When Peter’s mother saw him crying, she asked, “Peter, what is the matter?’

Peter told her, “I went over to Mrs. Potts’ pit to hiss, but Mrs. Potts was not home, so I hissed in her pit anyway.  Mrs. Potts came home and found me hissing in her pit and told me to go home to hiss in my own pit.”

“That mean old lady!” exclaimed Peter’s mother.  “Why, I knew Mrs. Potts when she didn’t have a pit to hiss in!”

On Collecting Beer Cans

Since the advent of packaged beer in the late 1800's, the collecting of breweriana has been a popular hobby. With the introduction of beer in cans in 1935 by the Krueger Brewing Company of Newark, New Jersey, the first beer can collection was probably begun. But beer can collecting didn't really become popular until 1969, when the St. Louis Globe Democrat ran a story about a local collector. In 1970, a collectors' organization, the Beer Can Collectors of America, was chartered. (The International Book of Beer Can Collecting, Richard Dolphin, Castle Books 1977) The hobby grew in popularity throughout the 1970's, when it seemed that just about everyone had a beer can collection.

I started my collection in 1971, after several of my friends and classmates had started collecting. I had seen their collections and thought it looked pretty cool to display cans in a pyramid configuration. The labels and graphics on the cans were attractive and the cans stacked easily.

My first can was a Coors beer can. An uncle of mine had brought several cases of Coors beer back from a vacation in Colorado and had brought some to a family picnic. I retrieved an empty can from the trash, and my collection had begun.

At first I expanded my collection with cans found by the roadside or from dumpster-diving behind taverns. On family vacations, my dad would purchase local brews from wherever we happened to be, and I kept the empties after he had consumed the contents. I also scoured the trash cans at rest stops, parks, and campgrounds for discarded empty cans. I began to accumulate duplicate trading stock to trade with other collectors, and my collection grew. I also discovered that if you wrote letters to breweries, they would send you empty cans. I accumulated a list of brewery addresses and soon packages of shiny new air-filled cans began arriving in the mail.

As I grew older, several of my friends quit collecting, and I absorbed their collections. When I became old enough to purchase alcoholic beverages, I could buy and consume the beer myself in order to acquire new cans and my collection grew by leaps and bounds.

Today, many craft breweries and microbreweries are selling their beer in cans, and this has become a new source of many interesting and colorful cans, as well as some really good tasting beer!

My collection now numbers 1,730 cans, and is growing all the time. I now collect anything beer-related, such as coasters, bottles and labels, openers, signs, lights, mirrors, glasses and mugs, and hats and clothing. That part of my collection will be the subject of a future installment of this blog.

Here are some views of my collection and some of the more interesting cans:

The collection surrounds the pool table in my rec room.

This is the can that started it all.

Beer cans come in many sizes, ranging from 7 ounces to 1 gallon.

The construction of cans has changed over the years. Left to right: cone top, flat top, ring type tab top, contemporary stay-on tab top. Until the late 1970's, most cans were made of steel; all cans are now made of aluminum.

Cans shaped like beer kegs.

Left to right: 7-Eleven once had its own beer brand; Regal Select 6 for 99₵ (cheap beer!);

generic beer.

Sex sells beer! Who would have thought?

Brewed in the Quad Cities. Left to right: Blackhawk Beer was brewed in Davenport, Iowa. The brewery went out of business in the 1950's; Old Tavern beer was brewed by the Rock Island Brewing Company. This brewery also went out of business in the 1950's. The brand was purchased by the Warsaw Brewing Company of Warsaw, Illinois, who brewed it until the 1970's; Great River Brewing Company is located on 2nd Street in Davenport, just off the Government Bridge.

Beers with numbers in their names.

Some beer cans did not contain beer. Left to right: Anheuser Busch canned water for the Iowa flood victims in 2008; Lite can that held a T shirt; Budweiser can containing handkerchiefs; Guinness can held pajama pants.

Bent River Brewing Company cans designed and created by the author. This is the only set in existence.

Another can designed and created by me.

Bix Beer brewed by August Schell Brewing Company, New Ulm, Minnesota for the 1979 Bix Beiderbecke Jazz Festival. The current incarnation of Bix Beer is made and canned by Great River Brewing Company, Davenport, Iowa.