[Healeys] Healey with seatbelts after accident

Chris Dimmock austin.healey at gmail.com
Sat May 8 20:16:18 MDT 2010


Hi Ray, seatbelts have been compulsory (both fitment and wearing) in  
Australia for around 40 years.

I suspect you are confused about 4 point harnesses and 3 point  
seatbelts. If you wear a 4 point harness (ie one strap over each  
shoulder) then you can't eg move your upper body towards the centre of  
the vehicle, lay across the other seat etc. I would never wear or fit  
a 4 point harness to any vehicle which doesn't have rollover protection.

Laying across the seats is absolutely possible with a 3 point lap sash  
seatbelt. The shoulder strap passes over the shoulder closest to the  
door - not the 'inside' shoulder.

Every car sold in Australia post the mid/ late 1960's or so has  
seatbelts fitted (every "outboard" seat is 3 point lap sash) and you  
get fined/ lose licence points / potentially killed if you don't wear  
them.

My Healey, and 2 previous Sprites have all had rollbars and 4/ 5 point  
harnesses. My prev 100/4 had lap sash 3 point, no rollbar.

Chris
www.myaustinhealey.com
Sent from my iPhone

On 09/05/2010, at 10:45 AM, "Ray Carbone" <racarbon at verizon.net> wrote:

> My conclusion; if the MGA driver had a 3-point belt he would have
> been dead as laying across the seats would not have been an option.


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