Mandatory seat belt laws are tyrannical

[Tallguy88]

This thread refuses to die

 

[Waterwerx]

What right does the government have to force me to wear a seat belt? I am an adult. I own my body and am responsible for assessing risk and acting accordingly. If I choose not to wear a seat belt for myself, what basis does the government have to force me to wear one?

It's a violation of my personal liberty and right to privacy.

Btw, I always wear a seat belt. But I do so because I choose to. The state has no right to force me to comply with its laws about safety, when I am the only one who would suffer harm from failure to comply.

Discuss.

Well, unless the laws of physics cease to exist inside of your vehicle while you drive and nobody else drives on the roads you travel on, I'm afraid your argument is rather stupid and without merit.

Seat belts are not worn simply for the purpose of keeping you from flying head-first through the windshield. They have the other purpose of keeping you in place behind the wheel(controls) of your vehicle so that in the event your vehicle starts to unexpectedly slide, spin, etc., the generated forces aren't throwing you around inside your vehicle, which gives you a much better chance of regaining control of your vehicle and/or possibly avoiding collisions with other vehicles.

In the event that some idiot chooses not to wear their seat belt and they end up killing someone(either a pedestrian or someone in another vehicle) because they lost control of their vehicle and could not regain control of it before hitting them due to being thrown about inside the vehicle like a ping pong ball, guess what? They're going to be facing a more serious charge of involuntary manslaughter and I'm sure the victim(s) families will be looking to hit Mr./Ms./Mrs. Anti-seatbelt with wrongful death suits as well since the deaths were either in-part or fully due to the idiot's refusal to wear a seat belt.

 

[Tallguy88]

Zombie thread!

 

[MyOwnSockPuppet]

Zombie thread!

Braaaaaaaaains...

Did I miss (somewhere in the last 15 pages) anyone mentioning that if you have seat belt laws that are actually enforced then car manufacturers can install airbags that are small enough not to fill half of the front of the car? Which minimises the likelihood of actually being injured by the airbag itself.

In my book having safety equipment and not using it (especially when it takes a fraction of a second) leaves one potentially liable to the law of natural selection, aside from getting a ticket.

 

[Followers4christ]

If people that did not ware the seat belt had very good health insurance that that would be ok. But often these stupid people get is bad wrecks, go into the windshield, ejected and run over by their own car and often hurt other drivers. Yep no one has the right to make you ware a seat belt by law.

I totally disagree. Who pays for the fire rescue squad, the EMT and the ambulance, the hospital and doctor bills when a large percent of non seat belt users are uninsured or underinsured. Only ignorant or just plan dumb people don't use seat belts.

According to an article seat belts are not to blame for accidents, a matter of fact people wearing seat-belts are more likely to get in to a bad car wreck:

"John Adams, risk expert and emeritus professor of geography at University College London, was an early skeptic of the seat belt safety mantra. Adams first began to look at the numbers more than 25 years ago. What he found was that contrary to conventional wisdom, mandating the use of seat belts in 18 countries resulted in either no change or actually a net increase in road accident deaths."

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"ignorant or just plan dumb people don't use seat belts" tell that to the countless of bikers out there I bet you will not be feeling good afterwards. The fact of the matter is when I was younger I have been in 3 major crashes all which I was not driving and was not wearing a seatbelt. The first happened in Lindale TX and my side got caved in as we got in a wreck with a semi truck and I did not have a scratch regardless of the police claims that I should have died that day (if I would of been wearing one I would have not been able to escape with my life since my seat was tore up). The second was in Rio Oso CA when my friend got in a bad wreck when the brakes did not work. The third was in Caldwell ID when my wife drove on ice and crashed in a brick wall and my side took the blow and I was not hurt at all. All the times the driver was wearing a seatbelt and when I drove without one I never did get in to a crash. Even tho I wear seat belts today. I know seat belts do not make you a better driver then someone without one. I also ride bikes which seat belts would be 100 times more dangerous if they were required.

 

[High Fidelity]

So long as they accept every ounce of responsibility for their well-being afterwards.

That might get expensive since insurance likely won't cover you and the tax payer shouldn't have to pay for it.