Hubrys Polymetis

Is anyone else pissed off at this national seatbelt campaign?

First off, I would like to assure you all that I am a habitual seltbelt user, so don't accuse me of being one of those 'it hurts more than it helps' crazies. I am not pissed off at the Click It or Ticket campaign because I was ticketed either.

I am pissed off at the Click It or Ticket campaign because of their hidden agenda. The ad campaign ends with the slogan, "We are going to save lives." But I think that they should add a little bit more to that sentence. How about: "We are going to save lives...and if we just happened to catch a few drunk drivers or uninsured motorists in our unconstitutional, no-probable-cause roadblocks...well that will be great as well." It is an insult to my intelligence when they attempt to convince me that roadblocks will help them catch people not using seatbelts. What dumbass, when he/she has to wait in an ever increasing traffic jam behind the roadblock, doesn't think to go ahead and put their seatbelt on before getting up to the cops?! Very few I would imagine, but still the cops set them up hoping to get lucky.

And they usually get away with it because most people would never think to complain about police wanting to make people ride more safely in their cars. And those that do realize that they have ulterior motives, usually go "well I am glad they are getting those irresponsible drunks off the road." I am glad when the cops get the drunks off the road as well, but I don't like searches without probable cause.

Just wanted to see if the thought ever occured to you guys, and what your thoughts about the subject are.

clark

Yeah, I yell "Fascists!" at my radio whenever it plays. I wear my seatbelt, but don't want the goddamn gubmint telling me I have to. I don't want said gubmint protecting me from myself.

THOUGHTfully Yours,
Clark

Grad Student Humanist

I strongly oppose mandatory seatbelt laws (and mandatory helmet laws) because they set such a bad precedent. It's the first step in giving the government the power to regulate things "for our own good." That's a slippery slope if I've ever seen one.

Of course I always wear a seatbelt and would urge anyone else who drives to wear one as well. I also think it's crazy to drive a motorcycle without wearing at least a helmet. But the government doesn't have the right to mandate safe behavior when it comes to adults, if said behavior only endangers the person who's made the choice to engage in it. If someone wants to take the risk of driving without a seatbelt and gets killed because of it, it's their problem.

I do, however, think laws mandating child restraint seats as well as mandatory seatbelt laws for children are valid since the government should protect the safety of minor children, even if they have irresponsible parents. An adult can choose freely to put his life at risk, but he doesn't have the right to make that decision for his children.

Jesse

Doesn't it cost taxpayers money when people (especially uninsured people) get injured in car accidents? Not that roadblocks are a very good way to get people to wear seatbelts, but if they could detect people not wearing seatbelts with cameras or something I don't think ticketing them would be such a bad idea.

Foofer

I just hate it any time behavior is legislated just because it is "safer." If a person wants to take a risk with their own lives they should be able to. It's not like there have been a bunch of incidents of bodies flying out of crashed cars, landing on innocent bystanders and killing them.

Grad Student Humanist

Doesn't it cost the taxpayers when uninsured people have heart attacks and have to be rushed to the hospital as a result of eating too many fatty foods? or smoking? or liver problems as a result of binge drinking?

Why draw the line at seatbelts?

Jesse

That's a pretty good argument--I guess to be on the safe side it may be better to only legislate choices that put other people at risk as well as yourself, like driving drunk. However, for me legislating seat belts would not be quite the same as legislating smoking or fatty foods, because a) driving is an activity that is more of a government-bestowed privelege than a right (you need to have a license, roads are built by the government) and b) unlike with smoking or eating fatty foods, I think people mostly don't wear seatbelts out of laziness rather than because they derive some kind of positive pleasure from not wearing one.

Jimmy Higgins

[sarcasm]Yeah such as those bastards requiring anti-lock brakes and air bags in the cars. I should have the option of buying a cheaper car at my own expense.[/sarcasm]Half of what the government does deals with making sure we don't kill ourselves doing something. I'm more worried of it being a method of pulling over someone without probable cause than anything else.

Should that be mandatory as well?

I disagree, not on the child thing, but on the adult thing. We've got adults in the US who think the holocaust is a conspiracy, even more think the world is only 6000 years old, and even more think a magical god lives in the heavens. To go along with these weird ideas, some think that wearing seatbelts is inherently dangerous because they are ignorant beyond belief. Perhaps I'm biased because I had a grandfather mortally injured in a car accident partly because he wasn't wearing a seatbelt. I also got to see some dumbass kid, who had just stolen a car, rack it into a masonary barrier, got to see him in his dying moments convulsing before the cops and the chopper came to rush him to his impending death. Of course, he wasn't wearing a seatbelt.

Granted, I think more money should be spent on teaching the dangers of certain vehicles than on seatbelt usage, but I can't say I'm against compulsory seat belt usage. It just might save a life or two. I think that is worth it.

Jimmy Higgins

Problem is that there is no lifestyle which costs less than others all the time. An athlete may need knee surgery when they 55. A smoker may need a lung transplant. A lazy person may need a kidney removed. High medical costs seem irrelevent to lifestyle, whether it is a responsible one or a reckless one.

Buddrow_Wilson

I am somewhat indifferent on seat belt laws themselves, but roadblocks to check for such violations is definately wrong. Its an invasion of privacy. Roadblocks for almost anything are wrong. I don't get why a bigger fuss isn't made over the practice.