THE HORRORS OF AN ACADEMIC LIFE: I got back from my Administrative Law class, feeling like it’s finally on a roll now that Labor Day is behind us, and in my mailbox were the textbook order forms for next semester! Sheesh. Already? (And they had the notation “These are already late!”)

The class was good, though. We did two cases that I like a lot: the Benzene case (about administrative factfinding under conditions of uncertainty) and the airbag case (to oversimplify, it’s about the standard for judging agency about-faces for essentially political reasons).

I like those cases, which offer a nice look at the very difficult position in which agencies are often put by the intersection of legislation and politics. I also like this article by Malcolm Gladwell on airbags, which I recommended to the class.

I was a huge airbag fan back in the day. Now, for reasons that Gladwell spells out, I’m less of one. I’m still glad to have them in my car, where they provide a modest safety improvement. But they were sold, somewhat disingenously, as a substitute for seatbelts, which they certainly aren’t, and never were.

UPDATE: Clayton Cramer calls the Gladwell article “very compelling” and adds a story from his own experience.

ANOTHER UPDATE: I got several emails like this one from Gary Saffer:

I’ve been a paramedic for many years and I can tell you that seat belts are much more effective than air bags at protecting vehicle occupants. One thing that very few people ever mention and fewer people realize is that air bags are one shot devices. That is, they go off and deflate in milliseconds. Accidents however are generally much longer events, lasting hundreds of milliseconds. Many accidents also involve multiple impacts, as did the case of the late Mr. Day. Even if his vehicle had an airbag, most likely it would have inflated and deflated during the first impact leaving him unprotected during the second impact. Perhaps the most important statement in the article is that Mr Day was not wearing a seat belt and died, while his son was wearing a seat belt and survived.

I’ve also seen numerous people who were “thrown clear” of accidents. Most of them were dead, almost all of the remaining ones had serious injuries. Several people were “thrown clear” only to have their vehicle roll on top of them and kill them. I’ll take my chances belted in the car, thank you.

I’ve never been a proponent of airbags given the cost and limited protection that they give. They should be offered as an option, for those that want to spend the extra money.

I’m okay on them, but they’re no panacea. Seatbelts aren’t either, but they’re close.