Before face masks, Americans went to war against seat belts (Business Insider)

A woman fastens her seat belt in 1970. – Lambert/Getty Images

Oh, boy, do I remember this from the 1960’s. I remember my Dad installing seat belts in our car. As a kid, I was not at all political (but definitely a nerd) and remember rolling my eyes at the “better to be thrown from the car” argument. What, through the windshield? “What if the car goes into water or catches fire” (I guess it can’t do both) makes a bit more sense, but are way too improbable to pay the price of not being protected.

I suspect many people still don’t understand that belts work with the “[wiki base=”EN”]crumple zone[/wiki]” in front as a shock absorber to reduce g-forces in a crash.

“You wanna bounce through this one?” the exec asks the crew in the deceleration scene in [wiki base=”EN”]Forbidden Planet[/wiki].