Administrator
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
400 Seventh Street, S.W.
Washington, D.C. 20590 Dear Traffic folks,

It has just come to my attention that there is a federal regulation
that requires auto manufacturers to make seatbelts in these autos to
fit persons weighing 215 pounds or less.  I find this scandalous. I
also find it ludicrous. Do persons weighing 215 pounds all have the
same waist size? How would one comply with this regulation in any
meaningful way? And then of course one does need to consider those
weighing more than 215 pounds.  We aren't especially popular in some
quarters, but we're definitely out here. Are we not to be protected
by this country's basic safety regulations? Seatbelts are highly
touted to save lives - this is the very point of them, yes? We hear
every day to buckle up, but what if we can't? Who decided that only
those weighing 215 pounds or less have lives worth protecting in auto
accidents, and how did they derive the cut-off point?

The only reason I can imagine not to make seatbelts a foot or two
longer is economic. Just how expensive can a couple of feet of nylon
webbing be?!  And how do you measure those few dollars against the
life of a 220, 300, or 400-pound person who goes flying through the
windshield of a car because they couldn't fasten the seatbelt?

Please support Elizabeth Fisher's petition to amend Federal
Regulation SEC. 571.209 Standard No. 209, Seat Belt Assemblies. I
would recommend that you base any new standard on a reasonable
measure (the length of the seatbelt comes immediately to mind), and
make it long enough to fit anyone who could fit in the seat of the
vehicle. It's a finite space, after all. Shouldn't be so difficult to
figure out.  And I think common decency requires it.

Sincerely,


Shelda Eggers