Star Trek Bugs Me Part 1

Via: Fanboy.com

Okay, I love Star Trek.  Hell, I love most science fiction.  I don't want to hear any of that crap about Star Wars being better or which is more realistic.  I just don't give a shit.  I like both.  But I've been watching a lot of Star Trek (all 5 series) recently since it's now available for streaming on Netflix and some things that have always bugged me came to mind.

No seat belts.  Seriously, they just don't have them.  I've lost count of the number of shuttle crashes or cataclysmic occurrences aboard starships where people are injured or have died because of this.  Listen, I know it's something that can be useful for the plot.  "Ensign Bob has a broken leg and a concussion from the shuttle craft crash.  Now we're going to have to work our asses off to save him!" 

Okay, yeah, I get that.  It gives Ensign Bob's crew mates a crisis to deal with, but good gravy it bugs me.  The sheer number of injuries and deaths that could have been prevented must be tremendous.  You figure that Starfleet had been around for hundreds of years - yeah I have no idea exactly how long, I'm not that much of a nerd.  Then figure the number of starships and shuttle trips taken.  Then you have to account for how often people get thrown around because of crashes, ion storms, Romulans being jerks by shooting at people etc...divide by Pi...carry the 2...and you have a lot of people hurt.

The closest thing I've seen to a seat belt in Star Trek is this:

via: ex-astris-scientia.org

It's a bit hard to see from the photo, but note the chairs in the back.  The crew can pull the armrests in towards their bodies to stop them from flying into the console.  Sounds quite painful and ineffective.  Genius.