With all your side-curtain this and active-restraint that these days, all mandated by a vast bureaucracy, it's hard to imagine a time when safety features were something that crazy white-coaters cooked up in their labs. Stuff like seats that swiveled backwards right before a crash, or a car made in two separate sections, like a locomotive-and-caboose combo. Here's an interesting article on these and other innovations, courtesy of the Gray Lady. [New York Times]

Contact information for this author is not available.