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You are here: Home / Blog / No seat belts

No seat belts

Dan Cullum · Jun 5, 2022 ·

I recently went karting here in Malaysia.

When I hopped in the kart, I was surprised—and scared—to find there were no seat belts.

Apprehensive at first, I was worried it was an oversight on the part of the karting facility, and I even considered forfeiting my drive.

Afterwards, I googled safety standards for karting and was even more surprised to find that karts typically don’t have seat belts.

In vehicles with no roll bars or collision protection, it’s actually safer to have no seat belts. In the event of a crash, it’s better for the driver to be thrown away from the vehicle than risk being hit by or trapped underneath it.

My brain needs some rewiring because it still feels unnatural to not have a seat belt when karting, even if it’s objectively safer.

Maru and I then began discussing other scenarios where what feels natural is less safe. For example, when SCUBA diving it’s dangerous to hold your breath, even though our natural reaction is to want to hold it when underwater. Or when learning how to ski, it’s natural to want to lean backward away from the speed and slope, but it’s better to lean forward to achieve proper weight distribution on the skis.

No deeper insight today. Just a reflection on an oddity I came across that I’m still wrapping my head around.

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