World Pianist Day Hits A Numismatic Note

November 14 marks National Seat Belt Day, which was first called to calendars in 2019 as a joint venture of the Governors Highway Safety Association, carmaker Volvo, and ride-sharing company Uber. A holiday honoring the invention of the three-point seatbelt in 1959, National Seat Belt Day aims to raise awareness of the many lives that could be saved if we all properly wear seat belts when driving or riding as passengers in motor vehicles.

So, what does any of this have to do with the 2021 Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel Dollar, one of the many coins in the American Innovation Dollar series? For one, it’s a cool coin depicting cars, with a detailed cutaway design showing an angled cross-section of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel in use. As anyone who has traveled this engineering marvel would know, it’s one of the most spectacular stretches of highway in Virginia. It reaches 18 miles across the Chesapeake Bay from the Virginia Beach-Norfolk metropolitan area to the southern tip of the Delmarva Peninsula, where the states of Virginia, Maryland, and Delaware all share a strip of land fronting the Atlantic Ocean.

However, there’s more of a connection between the 2021 Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel Dollar and National Seat Belt Day than just the “cool” factor and the car-centric design of the coin. The Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel opened in 1964 – a time which, as any proper seat belt historian would know – was critical in the implementation of seat belts in American cars. It was at that time that more and more automobile manufacturers were offering seat belts as standard accessories or optional add-ons. It was also at that time that a greater number of states and regulatory bodies were either requiring or highly recommending seat belt use. Though it wasn’t until 1968 that federal laws mandated all new cars to include seat belts in front seats. Seat belt design and installation practices evolved greatly over the next two decades.

Expanding seat belt usage among Americans is one area where many public and private organizations have devoted much time and treasure. In 1984, New York became the first state to require front-seat riders to wear seat belts. Other states would soon follow a similar pattern. While more and more people than ever use seat belts today, there is still much room for improvement. And this brings us back to Virginia, which in 2022 saw only 75.6% usage of seat belts as compared to a national average then of 91.6%. What does this mean? That everyone in the United States can continue doing a better job of buckling up when hitting the road in automobiles.

Meanwhile, collectors can strap themselves in for an exciting adventure when collecting American Innovation Dollars, first issued in 2018 and are slated to continue until 2032. The PCGS Set Registry offers many opportunities for building a set of American Innovation Dollars, which continue to prove popular with collectors as the years roll forward for this ongoing series.