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What the Seat Belt Backlash Can Teach Us About Mask-Wearing
Americans have long pushed back against safety measures with clear benefits
When the seat belt was first introduced to cars in America, it took quite some time to gain acceptance. Even though the seat belt was around in some form since the 1880s, even by the mid-1950s it was still highly uncommon for people to drive in cars with them. And when seat belts were eventually mandated by law, there was substantial pushback from Americans.
What led to more widespread use of seat belts? Nearly 55 years ago, political activist Ralph Nader, then a young lawyer, wrote what is considered a hugely influential book on car safety called Unsafe at Any Speed that fundamentally changed American policy toward seat belts and other car safety measures as well as the entire auto industry.
The book’s first sentence read: “For over half a century the automobile has brought death, injury and the most inestimable sorrow and deprivation to millions of people.” Nader argued the modern car was a clear example of “stylistic pornography over engineering integrity” and called out the need for many safety features. His critiques led to the broad addition of airbags, anti-lock brakes, and seat belts in all cars. The book is also credited with leading Congress to create the safety agency that is now the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).
The seat belt was invented long before Nader’s 1965 book came out, but his writing helped encourage more widespread use. Robert A. Lutz, who was a top executive at BMW, Ford Motor, Chrysler, and General Motors, told The New York Times in 2015 that Nader’s book had a seminal effect on the industry. “I don’t like Ralph Nader and I didn’t like the book, but there was definitely a role for government in automotive safety,” he said, adding that the regulations that were inspired by Nader’s writing helped level the playing field in the auto industry. “It sets ground rules where everybody has to do something and nobody has to worry.”
The seat belt was patented in 1885 but as Business Insider outlines in its excellent history on seat belt acceptance, it wasn’t until the mid-1950s that multiple carmakers actually had seat belts in their vehicles. Even then few…
