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I recently pulled over for no other reason than just to be given a ticket for NOT wearing my seat belt. I used to wear the seat belt all the time. One day, many years ago, I did NOT wear it for whatever reason. That day I was involved in a side impact collision. If I had been wearing the belt, I would be DEAD! The other vehicle tore the seat back off. Had I been belted in I would have been cut in two. Instead, I was pushed across the car. My only injuries were a broken collar bone and some bruises.
I can not plead “not quilt” because was not wearing my seat belt. However, I will not plead “quilt” to violating a law that can and would have already KILLed me.
Strange that we do not have a law requiring helmets for motorcycle riders.
Any thoughts?
I also know one case were somebody was saved because he didn't have his safety belt. But I see almost daily, people dead because they don't have it.
So it's just a matter of probability. I guess that the safety belt is useful in 99% of the cases but is bad in 1% of the cases. But you cannot hope to be in the 1% so it is still better to have it.
there are helmet laws it all depends on where you live. anyway i don't where mine but statistically seat belts save more lives than they take especially when a driver is thrown out of their car and hits a person walking or whatnot.
In the UK it one required to wear a seatbelt when driving a car and a helmet when riding a bike, even a bicycle.
I had an accident years ago and rolled a car, I came out of it with a cut above my right eye, my passanger had a bruise. He got this when I landed on him after taking my seatbelt off and falling as the car had landed on the passenger side.
We walked away because we wore our seatbelts.
| standready wrote: | I recently pulled over for no other reason than just to be given a ticket for NOT wearing my seat belt. I used to wear the seat belt all the time. One day, many years ago, I did NOT wear it for whatever reason. That day I was involved in a side impact collision. If I had been wearing the belt, I would be DEAD! The other vehicle tore the seat back off. Had I been belted in I would have been cut in two. Instead, I was pushed across the car. My only injuries were a broken collar bone and some bruises.
I can not plead “not quilt” because was not wearing my seat belt. However, I will not plead “quilt” to violating a law that can and would have already KILLed me.
Strange that we do not have a law requiring helmets for motorcycle riders.
Any thoughts? |
It's just police state BS.
Big Brother should just keep their hands out of our lives. Silly little "Safety" laws are nothing more than an incremental encroachment on freedom itself.
If people would wise the hell up and stop thinking the government is their master, we would be in much better shape. Even if we were not as safe.
It's all about funding their stupid little social programs with the fines.
If you are to stupid to wear your seatbelt, you have a right to die from your stupidity. More room for the rest of us.
I never did understand seat belt or helmet laws.
Yes they save lives.. no one is arguing that. Even if it wasn't illegal I would still wear my seat belt.. but the fact is the government, in my opinion, has no business forcing us to do so. This should be a common sense/morality decision.. NOT law. It'd be kind of like the government making it illegal to eat Beef instead of Turkey because Beef causes more health problems. . .
NOT wearing a seat belt doesn't put anyone's life in jeopardy except my own. Now with children it's a different matter, as they often aren't capable of making their own decisions.
| AutoTechGuy wrote: | I never did understand seat belt or helmet laws.
Yes they save lives.. no one is arguing that. Even if it wasn't illegal I would still wear my seat belt.. but the fact is the government, in my opinion, has no business forcing us to do so. This should be a common sense/morality decision.. NOT law. It'd be kind of like the government making it illegal to eat Beef instead of Turkey because Beef causes more health problems. . .
NOT wearing a seat belt doesn't put anyone's life in jeopardy except my own. Now with children it's a different matter, as they often aren't capable of making their own decisions. |
Im' with you. If government wanted us to wear seat belts, they should have mandated auto manufacturers lock out ingition system unless was buckled and stayed buckled.
I am sure that the government would NOT fairly compensate my family if I died because of wearing the seat belt.
Really, if you are so opposed to wearing seat belts, there is one legal way not to:
If you have a car that was built without seat belts (which would be one built before they were required in cars), then it is perfectly legal to not wear the non-existent belts because the law does not require you to retrofit old vehicles with new safety devices.
It is, however, the same kind of thing as the law that forces you to have working headlights; It was made with good intentions, and is not blatantly wrong enough to get revoked. (Unless you can prove you have a constitutional right to drive without seat belts (unlikely)).
I think that is completely wrong to say something against the use of the seatbelt!! men: you can not imagine how people die in car accidents cause peaple dont use the seatbelt!!! My country is on the top of the list when we talk about car accidents... so for me is something that we have to think twice!!! theres something that is not working... so what Im trying to say is that we have to be more concious about what we are doing every day... in those vehicles that changed the world and killed it at the same time!!!
I think that people need to realize that their actions aren't enclosed in a small bubble. For instance, if you were in an accident and the other drive was killed, that can be very traumatic. So, seat belt laws don't just protect those in that car -- it's also a protection of society as a whole. Not to mention that it will save lives. Anyone arguing otherwise is just lazy and trying to get around laws because they don't see the use. Law is law. Write your local legislator if you have a valid point. If you're not doing that, you obviously are just trying to cry over spilled milk.
| AutoTechGuy wrote: | I never did understand seat belt or helmet laws.
Yes they save lives.. no one is arguing that. Even if it wasn't illegal I would still wear my seat belt.. but the fact is the government, in my opinion, has no business forcing us to do so. This should be a common sense/morality decision.. NOT law. It'd be kind of like the government making it illegal to eat Beef instead of Turkey because Beef causes more health problems. . .
NOT wearing a seat belt doesn't put anyone's life in jeopardy except my own. Now with children it's a different matter, as they often aren't capable of making their own decisions. |
I disagree with what you say because if you are injured because you don't have your safety belt it will be a cost for the community (at least in my country) because you will spend days/ weeks in hospital and maybe you will get paralised and then the community will have to pay for that during all your life.
It would be a personal matter only if after the accident you willl not get any help, any cure. It you want to make it personal you have to do it 100% personal.
The seatbelt law is important and avoids many deaths....
in singapore you are required to wear yr seat belt regardless of whichever vehicle you are in other than a bus of course.
if not you will be threatened with a $120 fine and 6 demerit points of which 24 in a year is the maximum.
however nobody other than the driver really bothers to belt up
It's just another victimless crime that isn't actually victimless because the things we do have effects on other people. It's like people say, we don't live in a bubble. Should people who don't want to wear seatbelts sign waivers forgoing any medical or legal attention if they are injured in a car accident in which they weren't wearing a seatbelt?
Even in countries without socialized health care, an increase in frequency of severe accidents will still result in higher insurance premiums and a higher cost of health care. People need to wake up and realize they don't live in a bubble, and take some responsibility for how they lead their lives! And it's not like we have a "right" to drive without seatbelts, or like we're sacrificing some important liberty or quality of life by agreeing to wear seatbelts whenever we're operating motor vehicles.
In Montana you can pretty much do anything you want, and taxes are super low. As a result, the economy is crappy and services suck. I'd be happy to see the local government making some extra cash by ticketing helmetless bikers and people driving without seat belts.
| standready wrote: | I recently pulled over for no other reason than just to be given a ticket for NOT wearing my seat belt. I used to wear the seat belt all the time. One day, many years ago, I did NOT wear it for whatever reason. That day I was involved in a side impact collision. If I had been wearing the belt, I would be DEAD! The other vehicle tore the seat back off. Had I been belted in I would have been cut in two. Instead, I was pushed across the car. My only injuries were a broken collar bone and some bruises.
I can not plead “not quilt” because was not wearing my seat belt. However, I will not plead “quilt” to violating a law that can and would have already KILLed me.
Strange that we do not have a law requiring helmets for motorcycle riders.
Any thoughts? |
Sure you may have been lucky in that car accident incident. You could have still been flung through the windshield and been even more severely injured. This argument can go either way.
In my eyes, the seatbelt is in place to protect the public more so than you. Having one person being flung out of the windshield could cause more damage than a person stuck in the car. It's kind of morbid to think that way, but the damage is less overall.
Seat belts save lives. I was in a crash last year and if I wasn't wearing a seat belt I'd be a vegetable. That said if the airbag had gone off I'd also be in a bad way.
Now assuming that seat belts save lives the government DOES have a right to make it law to wear one. The cost to the government of funding rehabilitation and the costs of vechile accidents is huge and seat belts reduce it. The whole of society is better off for it.
| scotty wrote: | ....
Now assuming that seat belts save lives the government DOES have a right to make it law to wear one. .... |
Does it really? I personally am all for seatbelts and can't even move my car in my driveway without putting it on, but how much should the gov be allowed to regulate? I agree that they save lives and that there is a cost to society for those not wearing them, but where do you draw the line? Alcohol causes similar costs. Should the government outlaw beer? How about obesity and fast foods? I know that I'm getting silly here, but it's an issue of how and where you draw the line.
I guess even though I think you have to be an idiot to not wear one, I'm not real comfortable with the government making laws to "protect" us from ourselves.
| ocalhoun wrote: | Really, if you are so opposed to wearing seat belts, there is one legal way not to:
If you have a car that was built without seat belts (which would be one built before they were required in cars), then it is perfectly legal to not wear the non-existent belts because the law does not require you to retrofit old vehicles with new safety devices. |
IIRC, seatbelts do have to be retrofitted on cars if they are sold. I'm rembering this from the 80's though, so it's possible the law has sunsetted.
My thoughts on seatbelt laws is simple. After the inital hit, if you're still in the driver's seat and aware of your sroundings, you can do things to avoid other cars, gas tamkers, or that nun crossing the street with a baby stroller. Woozy in the passanger seat, you can't do squat.
In other words, risk your life all you want. Not wearing your seatbelt risks mine.
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