The Things They Say....

“A MAJOR reason for many people refusing wear seat belts is the often-quoted fear of being trapped inside a vehicle on fire. In view of the horror this holds for most people, this is, perhaps, understandable— if irrational. You are no more likely to be trapped in a car wearing a seat belt than not, in fact”. David Vivian, writing in Motor about why cars catch fire. “I was about half a mile from where I then lived when smoke suddenly began bellowing out from just below the fascia. I held my breath, applied the brakes firmly (having just time to check that nothing was following me closely), switched off the ignition and opened the driver’s door. . . The car had more or less come to a stop when, still holding my breath, I attempted to unfasten the seat belt. As in the song, I couldn’t do it. . .” Peter Dron, writing in the same issue of Motor, of what happened when his new Renault caught fire about six years ago in London. Verb sap. W.B.