Warning! Here Comes the Nanny-Car

摘要

My first truly modern car was an '85 Saab 900. I know it was modern because it had a shift-up indicator light, presumably designed to help me save gas―a yellow gearshift symbol that glowed brightly every time the revs reached about 2,500. Had I obeyed it, I'd have been motoring around like a Freightliner looking for a Hoboken loading dock. Disabling the light also silenced the miserable seat belt buzzer. That was OK, because I didn't need to be reminded to wear a seat belt. I'd had seat belts in all my cars since 1953, when as a kid I installed a set made by the Hickok Manufacturing Co.―the old Western-wear belts-for-pants people―in my 1936 Ford Phaeton. It had been developed by the Cornell Aeronautical Lab, in a project with which my father had been peripherally involved. He gave the rig to me―four aircraft-type belts laced through a big aluminum L-beam below and behind the front seat and tied to the frame through holes I drilled in the floor.