Miata Mailing List: May 1994, Message #34
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   From: kokko@esca.com (Kurt Kokko)
Subject: RE: Gif file, question, history
   Date: Mon, 2 May 1994 16:56:00 -0400

>    Question
>
>      Has anyone ever seen any statistics on the safety of using your
>   seatbelt while convertible.  Whenever I have the top up or hardtop on
>   I put my seatbelt on, but I always question if I should put it on
>   when the top is down.  It becomes a question of getting thrown from
>   the car in a roll (possibly squashed or saved) or, getting my spine
>   compressed and not being able to move or whatever in a roll.
>       #####    Eric T. Sylvain   Cabletron Systems, Inc.  Software Engineering 
>       ####               sylvain@miata.ctron.com  (603)337-7014

USE THE SEATBELT!!!!!!!!!    ALWAYS!!!!!!

When I first started dating my wife, she was a little nervous about the lack of
"overhead" protection in my Midget and B.  We did a little research, and
"standard" accidents are very much more common than roll-overs.  

I don't have the statistics for top-less roll-overs, but I've seen lot of
accident reports that state "...killed when ejected from car, no seatbelt was
used".   My guess would be that the lack of a top wouldn't make these
"ejections" any safer.   If you are worried about a roll-over that much, wear a
seatbelt, and get a roll-bar.

All of the above ranting is IMHO of course!

-Kurt		kokko@esca.com