T-shirt for drivers who don't like to wear seat bealts

Next: a seat belt for drivers who don't like wearing shirts.

Mark Frauenfelder is the founder of Boing Boing and the editor-in-chief of MAKE and Cool Tools. Twitter: @frauenfelder. Come and hear Mark speak at the ALA conference in Chicago on July 1.

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http://www.disoriented.net/ angusm

There’s a lot of prior art for this. I was told by an Italian friend that the day after a seatbelt law came into effect in Italy (in 1989), vendors on the streets in Naples were already selling T-shirts like these.
- richard77
  
  I remember hearing on radio here in Italy that actually that was an story invented by a researcher to study how urban legends spread. Then after a while, he discovered his story had became true
  - timquinn
    
    I suspect you were fed that story in an attempt to measure your gullibility. It is an old gypsy trick.
Brainspore

“Wait, this emergency exit is painted on!”
EvilSpirit

That’d be an excellent shirt to be buried in.
- http://profiles.google.com/bentobjects Terry Border
  
  Ultimate hipster funeral.
- Antinous / Moderator
  
  Fortune favors the bold.
  
  So do undertakers.
bzishi

I like it. It goes nice with red.
Brainspore

Bonus points if you sculpt your hair into the shape of a motorcycle helmet.
for_SCIENCE

Yes, because faking wearing a device that is statistically likely to be a benefit in an accident is a good idea. Stick it to the Man.
- xzzy
  
  But on the other hand, I’m all for giving people the option to remove themselves from the gene pool if that’s something they really desire. As someone who was playing hockey 36 hours after a head on collision, I’m all for seat belts and airbags.
  
  But even after factoring in the “cost to society” of someone dying in a car accident, I’m not all sure that justifies making safety equipment compulsory.
  - CH
    
    “Dying in a car accident” would be pretty cheap to society. But I would assume most aren’t killed, just seriously injured/disabled, which can become pretty expensive. Also, a lot of safety equipment isn’t just for your own safety.
    - GlyphGryph
      
      Seatbelts, however, pretty much are.
      - dragonfrog
        
        In a high speed accident, a person without a seatbelt becomes a loose object flying around the cabin. Seatbelts in the back seat are almost as much for the protection of the people in the front seat as they are for those wearing them.
      - Heevee Lister
        
        You can also protect your passengers and people in other cars by wearing a seat belt. Seat belts don’t just protect you in an accident, they can help you avoid one. It’s a lot harder to steer a car that’s in a skid when you’re no longer in your seat, and that’s what a truly violent skid can do to you.
    - http://bhtooefr.org/ Eric Rucker
      
      Maybe the answer is death panels. Which do already exist in the for-profit healthcare system.
      
      Or, doctors saying that there’s no intelligent life, and they don’t need to save the person’s life.
  - IronEdithKidd
    
    It’s not the costs associated with a person dying, it’s the cost of the person surviving, but no longer able to work, that drives seatbelt laws.
    
    As for playing hockey, I gotta say we’ll suffer some crazy shit to get back on the ice as soon as possible. It’s not a sport, it’s a fucking compulsion.
  - http://beautifulsynthesis.com Andrea
    
    Y’know, I think it’s one of the stickier questions concerning government health care: if it’s tax money going to treat people who have been severely injured, the government may decide it can cut costs by mandating safety measures. That might not be an inevitable consequence, but it’s possible.
    
    My brother didn’t wear a seatbelt until he started working at a car salvage lot. He replaced one too many bloody windshields.
  - mcducky
    
    Your Idea is OK as long as the “cost to society” is zero. So, No seatbelt (helmet) – No ambulance!
    
    There – sorted
  - bcsizemo
    
    I’d like to have the option as well. No, scratch that. I’ll take having to wear a seat belt if it means I could buy a car that doesn’t have 10+ air bags, stability control, and a bunch of other features I don’t care for (and that are costing me more money.)
    - Antinous / Moderator
      
      Sounds like you want a motorcycle.
  - Grahamers2002
    
    I suggest you also consider the potential cost to you, individually. If you make a mistake while driving and cause a crash and some of the people who crash suffer tremendous medical bill *because* (causation is key, assume MDs testify to what medical cost would have been averted by seat belts) then, depending on which jurisdiction you crashed in, you may have to pay for the treatment of the injuries that would have been avoided had the others had seat belts.
    
    While there are good arguments either way, the combination of 1) saving lives, 2) avoiding children of idiots being raised to believe that seat belts are useless “‘cuz Dad never wore ‘em”, and 3) the above, tip the scales for me.
  - marilove
    
    Do you think there is only one person on the road at a or something? What do you think happens when someone loses control of a vehicle because they weren’t wearing a seat-belt? What about when they fly out of a window? There are other cars on the road, aren’t there? Both their body and the car they no longer have any chance at all to control will hit other cars and kill other people.
    
    Why does no one ever consider this when this discussion comes up? Seriously?!
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_ZH5LQHHJPERMWNVHCR2Y5GRHHE Jose

“Next: a seat belt for drivers who don’t like wearing shirts.”

And after that: tattoos for drivers who don’t like wearing shirts or seatbelts.
- Peaked
  
  A seat belt for drivers who don’t like wearing shirts actually sounds like an appealing product.
  - timquinn
    
    as does the laser tattoo removal device that works while you drive, shirtless, to the hair stylist, to freshen up your helmet hair.
    - Antinous / Moderator
      
      Tattoo removal device.
http://twitter.com/aventoro Bernie Lyons

Do they have them in kids sizes?
- awjt
  
  How about with an airbag instead? And what about for passengers?
cj howeareya

Nice solution … as long as they’re not Flamengo supporters.
http://www.subsidesports.com/uk/images/product/xlarge/VascoDaGamaHSS2005NEW.jpg
http://twitter.com/yon_fool Andy Cmbl Smth

That’s clearly not the same shirt. The guy in the photo doesn’t have black rims around his sleeves.
- dragonfrog
  
  I’m pretty sure the guy in the photo is wearing a seatbelt.
http://arib.livejournal.com Ari B.

That’s an awful lot of effort to go to just to avoid wearing a seatbelt.
- Antinous / Moderator
  
  When I worked in the hospital, we had a form that a physician could sign excusing you from wearing a seat belt.
  - awjt
    
    Why would anybody wear a seatbelt in a hospital?
    - Antinous / Moderator
      
      Moustache ride?
Roger Strong

“Buy our shirt, and take the windshield taste test!”
spacedmonkey

On a similar note, devices to make the car stop beeping when you aren’t wearing your seatbelt.
http://shanghaiist.com/2013/03/14/the_ridiculous_lengths_chinese_driv.php
- http://www.facebook.com/nikolas.adair Nikolas Adair
  
  There’s already a device built-in to vehicles that’ll accomplish that.
- Antinous / Moderator
  
  Not really sure why my car feels the need to beep continuously without cease when I’m parked in it and take my seat belt off.
- Jonathan Roberts
  
  I’ve seen these before. I’m pretty sure some car makers actually produce them too, as I’ve seen some matching the actual seatbelts. Maybe they market it as a spare or something. Putting your seatbelt on in a taxi in China is often considered to be kind of insulting, like you’re questioning the driver’s ability. I usually brush it off by getting them to agree that there are a lot of OTHER people on the road who are crazy, so putting a seatbelt on doesn’t necessarily entail criticism of the driver him/herself
SomeGuyNamedMark

Amazing the effort people will make to avoid making another even smaller effort
rocketpj

In Greece I have seen many motorcycle riders ‘comply’ with the helmet laws by putting their arm through a helmet and wear it on their elbows. In other words, take an important safety tool and use it to make your ride even more dangerous rather than appear wimpy.
- ocker3
  
  Macho, Macho, Macho Man, I’ve Got to Be, a Macho Man
- SomeGuyNamedMark
  
  I’ll show them! Right after I scoop my brains off the road.
flickerKuu

Hey guys, I can’t be bothered wearing a belt across my chest, I’m just going to leave my brain here on the sidewalk for you too clean up, thanks.
timquinn

These days, when I really need an adrenaline burst I drive around without my seatbelt on. Risky, I know, but what a rush!
Quibbler

I thought somebody would have posted this already, but there is little evidence that seat beats reduce accident fatalities. Try a search for “risk compensation”.
- ocker3
  
  I would laugh, except that I might cry. The car I was sitting in the front seat of almost went under a truck when I was a child, without my belt I would have gone right through that windshield. Perhaps that explains my later habit of putting on a belt as soon as I got into the car, even if I went to read to get away from my brothers.
  
  So yeah, I’m alive/without brain damage/huge facial scars because my Mother was responsible and made us all wear our seat belts, all the time
- http://www.ikaink.net Itsumishi
  
  Alternatively try googling: misinformation; or ‘dumb excuses idiots will make to get out of making sensible informed decisions’.
http://enigmatic.com cjearner

FWIW: A fireman once told me he’d never had to cut a dead guy out of a seatbelt.
- zaba
  
  this. +1. agreed. me too. whatever the new lingo is. I can’t agree anymore with this statement.
  
  Of the handful of people I would trust with my life in an emergency situation, one of them is a guy who has decades of experience as a police officer, fireman and EMS. One of his experiences actually ended up on Rescue 911 back in the day.
  
  Without disclosing any more information, I can tell you that I heard him tell a driver once, “you don’t have to wear a seatbelt. But, in 30 years, I have never pulled a dead guy out of a seatbelt.”
  
  I had to wear one to get my first driver’s license (~1992) and it was mandatory well before then, so I have been in the habit for a long time. Now, if I don’t have one on, I feel almost naked.
  
  Seatbelts have also saved me from catastrophic injury or death a couple times, if we want to play the anecdotal data game.
Boundegar

People are still complaining about seatbelt laws? I haven’t heard that one since like the 1980′s. Are you sure you’re not all just trolling?
- Quibbler
  
  I’m not trolling. There is no doubt that if you are involved in an accident your chances of survival are greatly increased by wearing a seat belt.
  
  What I am saying is that by wearing a seat belt the average driver feels safer and so drives more recklessly endangering more vulnerable road users. You just need to look at the data for the UK before and after seat belt legislation. The decrease in front seat fatalities is almost completely wiped out by the increase in fatalities of pedestrians and cyclists.
  - Antinous / Moderator
    
    What I am saying is that by wearing a seat belt the average driver feels safer and so drives more recklessly endangering more vulnerable road users.
    
    Tired, absurd, unsupported argument. Why don’t you prove it?
  - http://www.ikaink.net Itsumishi
    
    Yes, show us this data. It certainly isn’t represented in Australia where the road toll dropped dramatically over the years following seatbelt laws.
Improbus Liber

If you don’t wear a seat belt you are just stupid and you deserve what you have coming to you.
David Aked

IF someone feels they NEED to wear this, can we also replace their airbag with a balloon? If nothing else, it would sound awesome in an accident.
*SCCREEEEE* *CRUNCH* *POP* *ARGH!*
Jaan

I knew this would degenerate into “not wearing a seatbelt is dumb” territory. Take a good look at this picture, I was 19 years old and a guy drove through a stop sign at about 50 mph. I was driving a 1980 cutlass, he was driving a 1981 Cutlass (same bumper height). He skidded a little and the corner of the car hit first, right where my hip was (crushed the cigarettes in my jacket pocket). The roof and floor anchor points were not moved. IF I had been wearing a seatbelt, my waist would have been crushed to about 8 inches. As it happened, I was just thrown into the passenger seat, hard enough that my eyeglasses went flying out the side window.
- Antinous / Moderator
  
  Your anecdote flies in the face of millions of legitimate data points.
- http://twitter.com/misterjuju misterjuju
  
  clicked “like” unintentionally. But what I came to say is that 1980′s vehicle safety devices =/= modern safety devices. I am very glad you are ok, but this 30+ year-old anecdote cannot be compared to today’s safety standards.
  i.e. 1980′s seat belts may have killed ya, but seat belts changed for the better in cars even just 5 or 10 years older…so unless you are still driving a 30-year-old car, you are MUCH SAFER WEARING A SEAT BELT!!
- marilove
  
  Yeah, sometimes safety gear doesn’t work correctly or works against you, but STATISTICALLY, you’re far, far, far, far, far, FAR FAR FAR more likely to die without a seat belt.
  
  Your experience is, essentially, a fluke. I’m glad you survived. But that is not in any way proof that not wearing a seat belt isn’t dumb.
  
  Question? What happens when you (general you) flies out of a window because you weren’t wearing a seat-belt?
  
  You will probably hit other cars and other people and case far more damage than you might have otherwise.
  
  And it seems to me that if you are held in place with a seatbelt, you have a far more likely chance to stay in control and avoid getting yourself and others killed — not flying through the window would probably help your chances don’t you think?
  
  The seat-belt argument is not just about the person wearing the seat-belt. This point always seems to get lost in the conversation. You are not the only fucking car on the road. This kind of attitude is generally what causes accidents in the first place.I don’t care if you don’t want to wear a seat belt. It’s not just about you, buddy. If you can’t accept that, then sell your car.
  
  Oh, and one last question: What if someone had been sitting in that passenger seat?
  - http://www.facebook.com/people/Jasper-Huxley/100001713326211 Jasper Huxley
    
    The ol’ Cutlass lap dance?