Wearing Ill-Fitting Seat Belt Better Than Going Strapless

Dear Street Smart:

Every now and then, I see a short person--usually a child or a senior--with the shoulder strap of the seat belt going smack-dab across the throat. As I understand this matter, in an accident the larynx could be crushed by the shoulder strap and the person could drown in his or her own blood.

I have seen a device for adjusting the location of the shoulder strap advertised in a mail-order catalog. I suppose that such items are also available at auto supply stores. The public should be made aware of the danger and that there is a remedy available. I also think that such adjusting devices should be required before a car is sold. They are inexpensive enough that they could even be required in used cars, don’t you think?

Juanita Matassa

Santa Ana

You are absolutely right about the hazard, according to Paul Snodgrass, a safety specialist with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

“Most seat belts are designed for average-sized people ranging from about 5-feet-3 to 6 feet,” he said. “People who are larger or smaller can have problems.”

Still, he said, it is safer to wear an ill-fitting seat belt than to wear none at all.

“You’d come out better with an injured throat than with a head through the windshield,” Snodgrass said.

Before you buy a seat belt adjuster, he said, there may be some remedies closer to home. For one thing, he said, many newer cars now are equipped with seats that can be raised and lowered or seat belts that can be adjusted, sometimes by a technician at the dealership. Check if you have one of those models and, if so, have the proper adjustments made.

If you don’t have adjustable seating arrangements, Snodgrass said, try such low-tech solutions as propping up passengers with cushions.

“If you can’t get the belt lower, you can raise the body higher,” he said.

Failing that, he said, “there are certainly gizmos on the market you can try out, and that’s fine.”

And next time you buy a car, Snodgrass advises, try out the seat belts to make sure they fit. “These problems are best solved up front when you’re buying the car,” he said.

Dear Street Smart:

Other than a strong morticians’ lobby in Sacramento, what is behind giving funeral processions right-of-way on public streets? More important, exactly what legal authority have the pseudo-police motorcycle attendants who block traffic for them?

Len Diamond

Westminster

The custom of giving funeral processions the right-of-way predates the advent of automobiles, according to Ron Hast, publisher of “Mortuary Management” and “Funeral Monitor,” both funeral industry publications.

“It goes way back to before there was traffic or traffic signals,” Hast said. “The funeral procession as an honor to the person who died goes back centuries. In the old days, people would walk in procession behind horse-drawn carriages from the church to the grave.”

As towns became cities and the distance between churches and cemeteries grew, so did the length of the funeral processions. The custom of showing respect for the dead by allowing the processions to pass has persisted.

Today’s motorcycle escorts are not real peace officers. They have the legal authority to hold traffic at an intersection long enough for a funeral procession to pass, but they cannot issue citations to those who ignore their directions.

“They really can’t do much,” said Steve Kohler, a spokesman for the California Highway Patrol. “They can certainly provide a presence to assist in the smooth travel of a funeral cortege.”

Still, Kohler said, it generally is advisable to show them respect. Under California law, it a misdemeanor punishable by a $500 fine to interfere with “any person carrying or accompanying human remains to a cemetery.”

Street Smart appears Mondays in The Times Orange County Edition. Readers are invited to submit comments and questions about traffic, commuting and what makes it difficult to get around in Orange County. Include simple sketches if helpful. Letters may be published in upcoming columns. Please write to David Haldane, c/o Street Smart, The Times Orange County, P.O. Box 2008, Costa Mesa, CA 92626, send faxes to (714) 966-7711 or e-mail him David.Haldane@latimes.com. Include your full name, address and day and evening phone numbers. Letters may be edited, and no anonymous letters will be accepted.