Steve, List,
Gotto agree with Steve on the consistency in marking bit. I think it was
Moroso that had a bettery cut-off decal a few years back that was a simple
white lightning bolt with a blue border. It's always possible that even a
simple design like this could get lost in someones wild paint job, but on
most rides a red or white lightning bolt pointing to the switch would stand
out among any other lettering on the car. PULL or PUSH in large enough
letters to be seen through dust, salt crud and possibly smoke would put the
safety folks on the right path in a hurry. Simple words clearly spelling
out the directions are always the way to go in a stressful situation. Best
example I ever saw was in a gas chamber. After watching Marines choke and
puke in the gas chamber for years trying to follow the commands to "don and
clear" their gas mask we finally started assisting them by placing our
hands over the outlet and then the inlets on their mask and yelling
"BLOW...SUCK". The command to "Don" the mask just became "MASK". Any
knucklehead who couldn't figure out those commands got to keep going back
into the chamber til they got it right. If we have an incident in a car
where we need the battery shut off we may not have a second chance to get it
right.
I really like the cable idea from the battery switch. I've seen lots of
these on SCCA SOLO I cars. Simplest way was just to have the cable run
through a hole in the switch lever and mount it so it'll pull in the
direction of OFF. Cable routing through the center of the vehicle oughto
protect it's integrity in even the worst crash situation. Using this method
on a cut-off switch mounted at the battery would also go a long way toward
eliminating any other odd electrical faults caused by wires getting pinched
in mangled body work.
Past my bed time.
Chuck Rothfuss
ECTA #9
Pole Cat Hollow, NC
At 05:06 PM 2/7/2000 -0800, Steve in rainy, wet Seattle wrote:
>A local group involved in vintage sports car racing require emergency
>switches on all cars. They don't specifically identify a location but say
>it should be "easily accessible" and clearly marked. The majority of these
>cars have the switch mounted at the real because that is usually where the
>battery is located. I would think that a single location for all cars makes
>the most sense and that the I.D. marking should be consistent, say a 6" (?)
>diameter painted red circle around the switch. This would at least
>guarantee some consistency in emergency situations.
>
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