Since it's been about twenty years after the big "Wear a seat belt" campaign sunk it, so Gothamist was surprised people still aren't buckling up: A police officer stopped a car whose driver wasn't wearing a seat belt on 125th Street, and when the officer ran a vehicle check, it turned out the car was involved in a bank robbery. Newsday writes, "A few clues helped: The 2004 white Acura had bulletholes in it, and its passenger had a fresh, untreated gunshot wound to the leg." The car's passengers had stolen over $8,000 from a Linden NJ bank on Friday. NJ police officers shot at the car, which got away, but only to be caught by the NYPD. The case will be tried in NJ, but the robber with the gunshot wound was treated in a NY hospital. We suppose if you're bank robbers with gunshot wounds, seat belts are the last thingk you're thinking about.
Here's the Department of Transportation's seat belt facts site. And Vince & Larry, the crash test dummies are over at Seat Belt Room.
We remember the hubbub about The Dukes of Hazzard not showing Bo and Luke buckling up as they got into the General Lee; the DOH has its first season on DVD. And after watching The Fog of War, it seems like Robert McNamara, during his time at Ford, helped make sure seat belts went into cars. But who knew that the first patent for the seat belt was issued in 1885?
