Seatbelt Law

[manwithnoname]

OP, you must not have heard.... the government can do pretty much whatever it wants.

 

[ryknoll3]

It is not about not wearing a seat belt (sorry for the double negative); it is the government telling you that you have to. I wear mine all the time, it would be stupid not to. I also don't touch the stove when its hot, but I don't want the government telling me that I can't. It is about individual responsibility. I am also sorry to hear about your accident, it would have been a good thing if you were wearing your seat belt, but to a pass a law to prevent you from driving without one is not the answer.

Can you cite ONE instance of a body being ejected from a vehicle and injuring/killing a bystander on the road? C'mon, that is a strech. If you want to talk about your own safety, that is fine, but protect pedestrians from flying bodies? Sure......

 

[CX1]

If I hadn't been wearing it, I'd be dead now...

Nice story.
Here is mine.
Had the current child restraint laws been in place when I was just a wee lad I would be dead.
Being a whiny and somewhat vocal child I had convince my mother to let me free from the terrible confines of a child car-seat.
Sometime later while traveling down a two lane highway my mother attempted to pass a semi. Unknown to her at the time the semi was about to pass the car in front of it at about the same time.
This then lead to the semi forcing our car off the road and into a gully where we rolled several times.
The rolling and impacts broke the spare tire loose which proceeded to repeatedly smash into the child seat and reduced it to a few jagged shards of plastic. So had I been ensconced in said child seat I would have been quickly turned into paste.
Luckily both fate and lack of a law otherwise allowed me to be free of the child seat at the most opportune moment.
Point being, sometimes well intentioned laws kill people.

 

[GodFearinGunTotin]

I think the line is drawn where the parent's or the individual's inate lack of basic intelligence endangers others, whether it is their own child or not.

I kindly ask that the anti-seatbelt crowd look into the eyes of your loved ones and seriously rethink your position. If you enjoy breathing/walking/living and being with those that care about you, then please wear your seatbelt, folks!! This is one of the very few cases where the Nanny-state/Safety-Sallys made the right call, one that protects both yourself and protects the right to live of others on or near the road in case of an accident.


My ,away...

And there will always be heart felt, passionate, reasons to justify the taking of your freedoms by the .gov. Mayor Bloomberg, for example, has similar reasons and passion for among other things gun control, salt control, fat control, and soft drink control.

Your rationale and others that support mandatory seat belt usage is applicable to every other cause that can be invented to save just one more life or to protect kids.

 

[churchmouse]

I seem to remember people swearing up and down that the seatbelt would *never* be used as the primary reason to pull someone over.

And then the law passed, and here we are.

Does anybody else remember that?

Yeah...and the checks in the mail.

 

[Blackhawk2001]

I agree. It is my choice to wear one or not. Not wearing one does not impair or hinder the ability to drive safely. I think it can actually make someone more safe, as they are less likely to act stupid behind the wheel.

If you truly believe that choosing not to wear a seat belt will result in MORE safety for a driver, I've got an island for sale in the middle of the Susquehanna River that's just right for you. Despite your stated opinion, it isn't only "act(ing) stupid behind the wheel" that can cause an accident; other drivers acting stupid can ruin your day without your help.

 

[Blackhawk2001]

Nice story.
Here is mine.
Had the current child restraint laws been in place when I was just a wee lad I would be dead.
Being a whiny and somewhat vocal child I had convince my mother to let me free from the terrible confines of a child car-seat.
Sometime later while traveling down a two lane highway my mother attempted to pass a semi. Unknown to her at the time the semi was about to pass the car in front of it at about the same time.
This then lead to the semi forcing our car off the road and into a gully where we rolled several times.
The rolling and impacts broke the spare tire loose which proceeded to repeatedly smash into the child seat and reduced it to a few jagged shards of plastic. So had I been ensconced in said child seat I would have been quickly turned into paste.
Luckily both fate and lack of a law otherwise allowed me to be free of the child seat at the most opportune moment.
Point being, sometimes well intentioned laws kill people.

In actuality, you could have been (and probably should have been, except for Divine Providence) just as dead by being ejected from your vehicle as it rolled over. It's a crap shoot. I've seen several dead bodies outside their vehicles because they were ejected on impact and weren't restrained. Twice I've been in vehicles that flipped end-over-end and suffered no injuries because I was restrained by my safety harness. How many times do we hear about fatalities in vehicular accidents that have been caused by the decedent being ejected from a vehicle; it happens frequently.

To all complaining about traffic laws (as opposed to nanny state safety laws), most of us are pretty big on personal responsibility, but not everyone is that way. When we lived in Houston, my wife was involved in 5 rear-end collisions in the seven years we were there. NOT ONE of the drivers who hit her had insurance; some didn't even have a driver's license, despite the state law requiring such. So far, there is no medical test to tell which people believe in personal responsibility and which don't. Until such time as Medical Science (read that as purple) discovers a way to screen out the irresponsible, cops are going to have to make the tough calls on when a traffic citation is necessary. If you're speeding, running a red light, weaving through traffic, texting on your IPhone, or putting on your makeup while drinking your latte, don't ***** when a cop gives you a ticket; it's your own fault - man up.

 

[Mackey]

I always wear my seatbelt. But I have wondered how this exchange would go:

Citizen: You mean you pulled me over because I wasn't wearing a seatbelt?
LEO: Yes.
Citizen: You must really care about me. *(optional followup statement - see below)
LEO: ?

* I love you, man.
* You're my hero.
* Thanks for caring.
*

 

[redryder]

"Citizen: You mean you pulled me over because I wasn't wearing a seatbelt?
LEO: Yes.
Citizen: You must really care about me. *(optional followup statement - see below)
LEO: ?

* I love you, man.
* You're my hero.
* Thanks for caring".
*
If I ever get pulled over for any reason I will use that line!

 

[rw496]

I never pull people over for seatbelts, Seatbelt Enforcement Act is too restricitive. I really would rather use speeding for example. Then we can have a nice long conversation about where your headed; where your coming from; any weapons, where's your LTCH, let me see that gun, boy; proceed to coonfinger; maybe a few more questions about the gun as I finish writing my warning (I write slow), then I will say farewell and we part as unlikely friends.

 

[mydoghasfleas]

This world is full of people that like to [STRIKE]tell others what to do [/STRIKE] benevolently look out for others....

 

[CountryBoy1981]

Can you cite ONE instance of a body being ejected from a vehicle and injuring/killing a bystander on the road? C'mon, that is a strech. If you want to talk about your own safety, that is fine, but protect pedestrians from flying bodies? Sure......

? I do not believe I stated anything about anyone flying out of a vehicle. I stated it should be your option to wear it or not just as it should be to touch a stove when its hot.