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Do you believe in seat belt laws for consenting adults?

Do you believe in seat belt laws?


  • Total voters
    99
  • Poll closed .
This question applies to legal adults only, not children:

Do you believe in seat belt laws?

a) Yes. They are nessisary to protect the public for their own good.
b) No. I'm a consenting adult and shouldn't have to wear one if I don't want to.


Discuss...

It is certainly a good question and goes to the essence of what powers we want the government to have over us. This is one of the criteria we need put to every government measure and which we often neglect to give enough weight.
 
A holow phrase.

Because it doesn`t include a single point or argument against seatbelts and coul be used as a reply against any law there is.

You could put this phrase in response to an argument for laws agains murder, rape, speeding, fraud, blackmail, harrasment and other common sence laws and it would still only have a selfserving purpose for you because it is utterly holow and without substance.

The examples you chose are all faulty in that the externalities are totally different. Though there are externalities involved with seat belts, they are of so totally different dimension that in using them as examples you can hardly be serious. And to say anyone of different persuasion than you, though it might be a culture thing, is a fanatic? I don't think that very cool.
 
Seat belt laws are huge attack on liberty and just another way for the government to take money from the productive class and transfer it to the leech class.
 
and just another way for the government to take money from the productive class and transfer it to the leech class.

WTF???

How exactly is money being "stolen from the rich and given to the poor" through seat belt laws?

Seriously. Please explain.
 
A seatbelt can save a life. It can also take a life. As with pretty much anything there are pro's and con's to it. Just depends on the type of accident that you are in. Generally a head on collision or getting rear ended and it will be a life saver. Getting hit on the drivers side or passenger side (if there is a passenger) and it can kill you. It can also kill you if you get pushed off the road or slide off the road and land in water and become jammed. As such it should be up to the adult to wear one or not.
 
I see no necessity for the law. Let Darwin rule.
Seriously if you don't wear one only your life is in danger so you are a moron and removing your genes from the pool is not such a bad thing. Same thing with motorcycle helmet laws or any other law that seeks to protect people from themselves.
 
A seatbelt can save a life. It can also take a life. As with pretty much anything there are pro's and con's to it. Just depends on the type of accident that you are in. Generally a head on collision or getting rear ended and it will be a life saver. Getting hit on the drivers side or passenger side (if there is a passenger) and it can kill you. It can also kill you if you get pushed off the road or slide off the road and land in water and become jammed. As such it should be up to the adult to wear one or not.

Oh please....how many documented cases are there of people who died for no other reason than they were wearing a seat belt?
Documented that they would have lived had they NOT been wearing a seat belt?
 
If the government provides my healthcare - yes.
If I provide my healthcare - no.
 
If the government provides my healthcare - yes.
If I provide my healthcare - no.

I completely agree with this. If you are on Medicare, Medicaid, or any other form of publicly provided health care, then the taxpayers have an incentive for you to wear a seatbelt. In fact, even if you are uninsured the taxpayers have an incentive for you to wear a seatbelt because if you are seriously injured in an accident the taxpayers will be picking up the tab for it. Hence the need for seatbelt laws. There is no telling how many billions of dollars in healthcare costs that have been saved since enacting seatbelt laws.
 
Not wearing a seatbelt has the potential to put emergency responders at more risk since it could mean the different between them treating your shattered body in the middle of the road rather than treating your bruises in the car. In an environment where there are people legally required to assist you in the event of an accident, I think it's perfectly reasonable for there to be some laws designed to reduced the severity of accidents (or indeed prevent them from happening).

And frankly, I think the people going on about their personal freedom while completely ignoring the practical realities are self-obsessed ignorant jerks.
 
but since a person not wearing one isn't endangering anyone but themselves

Not accurate Grim.

Take a look at this video and see if you still come to the same conclusion.

Passengers without seat belt may become projectiles, experts warn

Lt. Lee Perry of the Utah Highway Patrol said he knows what happens when an unbelted driver or passenger becomes a deadly projectile in the car.

Perry has kept photos of the first fatality accident he responded to for 21 years. It was an Easter weekend in 1992 when a driver was having trouble breathing. He said he was amazed the girl was hurt so badly because the car had been broadsided on the passenger side. "We cut the seatbelt off of her and when we did, her body came forward and we discovered her brother who wasn't wearing a seatbelt, who had been a passenger in the car, was lodged behind her body," Perry said.

The girl's neck and back were battered by her brother's body, he said. "Because he wasn't wearing a seatbelt he became a missile," Perry said.


The boy died on scene and the girl died at the hospital, he said.

Read more at http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=26954581#ZjuclCyxHVkEWL7z.99

Passengers without seat belt may become projectiles, experts warn | KSL.com
 
Seat belt laws are huge attack on liberty and just another way for the government to take money from the productive class and transfer it to the leech class.

It is because of comments like this that I am 100% percent certain that our species is doomed.
 
Oh please....how many documented cases are there of people who died for no other reason than they were wearing a seat belt?
Documented that they would have lived had they NOT been wearing a seat belt?

Percentage or set amounts are irrlevent. Even 1 death due to a seatbelt is enough. It is a documented fact that seatbelts can malfunction. Which is what they call a jammed seatbelt. Of course they always claim that it is a manufacturing default and never admit that it could be the accident that you are in as the cause. After all, if you were a part of the government and wanted to promote something as being safe would you admit to the con's? Or would you ignore them and if its not able to be ignored, gloss it over?
 
To not wear a seat belt is silly if you care about your safety. They obviously save lives in a huge way.

BUT...I do not believe for one second that the government has the right to force you to wear them.

If I want to further risk my life by not wearing a seat belt...that is my choice.

Bungy jumping and recreational skydiving are not safe...should the government outlaw them as well? Of course not.

I should be legally able to smoke crack, jump out of an airplane for fun, not wear a helmet while I ride a motorcycle, not wear seat belts or even kill myself...none of these things on their own are ANY of the government's business.

If I wish to abuse/subject my body to greater danger...including not wearing seat belts...that should be my choice.

Not so. You are required to wear a seat belt (only if you drive/ride on public roadways) not only for your own good but for the increased safety of others. Seat belts help keep the vehicle's occupants inside the vehicle instead of allowing them to become projectiles, ejected upon impact. These belts also help to keep the vehicle operator in a position to try to control the vehicle after the initial impact, helping to avoid secondary collisions, on our busy roadways. Having a damaged vehicle (or two) in the path of other motorists is bad enough, but adding one (or more) ejected people to the accident scene increases the danger to other motorists as they try to avoid adding themselves to the pile up.
 
Not wearing a seatbelt has the potential to put emergency responders at more risk since it could mean the different between them treating your shattered body in the middle of the road rather than treating your bruises in the car. In an environment where there are people legally required to assist you in the event of an accident, I think it's perfectly reasonable for there to be some laws designed to reduced the severity of accidents (or indeed prevent them from happening).

Awesome. I failed to think of the safety of the responders. Bravo, and thanks.
 
And frankly, I think the people going on about their personal freedom while completely ignoring the practical realities are self-obsessed ignorant jerks.

The same could be said of those wanting to regulate everyone's lives. :shrug: You say toe-mA-toe, I say Ta-ma-toe :shrug: In the end maybe both sides are ignorant jerks?
 
You are in a large, heavy moving object. Seat-belts help you maintain control over said object. You have no right to needlessly endanger the lives of others.
 
How utterly convenient for your argument. No need for facts here. Just personal philosophy will do. :roll:

Do you deny that seatbelts malfunction and due to that deaths occur?

Though the national average for seat belt use is at a high of 71 percent, due mainly to a $3.7 million campaign often known as the Click it or Ticket, in which seat belt usage is encouraged, although the often overlooked statistic is the 10,000 deaths out of 30,000 auto accidents caused by faulty seat belts.

Preventable Deaths Caused by Defective Seat Belts

Just a quick search brought that up. Not to mention hundreds of links to sue happy lawyers that help sue in such situations.

Happy you got some sort of statistic now? Of course I'm sure that you'll find something to fault with the article. Which is why I generally try and rely on common sense arguements.

By the way - it's "irrelevant".

Oh look...its the spelling police! Quick! Hide! /sarcasm :roll:
 
You are in a large, heavy moving object. Seat-belts help you maintain control over said object. You have no right to needlessly endanger the lives of others.

Seatbelts in no way help you control a vehicle that just got hit by another vehicle. Get real.
 
The same could be said of those wanting to regulate everyone's lives. :shrug: You say toe-mA-toe, I say Ta-ma-toe :shrug: In the end maybe both sides are ignorant jerks?
If anyone was promoting endless regulation while ignoring all practical realities you'd have a good point. Where people are promoting some regulation based on an honest assessment of the practical realities, they're nothing of the sort.

Phrases like "regulate everyone's lives" are part of the problem. What does that even mean? It's just reads like knee-jerk rhetoric.
 
Seatbelts in no way help you control a vehicle that just got hit by another vehicle. Get real.
I'm pretty real, and you are wrong. I didn't say it was a 100%, or it was going to help you when you get t-boned by a semi. Keeping you in a seat when you get hit, though, is a matter of 6ith grade physics.
 
If anyone was promoting endless regulation while ignoring all practical realities you'd have a good point. Where people are promoting some regulation based on an honest assessment of the practical realities, they're nothing of the sort.

Phrases like "regulate everyone's lives" are part of the problem. What does that even mean? It's just reads like knee-jerk rhetoric.

It is this type of though process that has allowed our laws and regulations to become so large that not even our Federal government knows just how many federal laws are on the books today. Not counting the millions of state and local government laws and regulations.
 
I'm pretty real, and you are wrong. I didn't say it was a 100%, or it was going to help you when you get t-boned by a semi. Keeping you in a seat when you get hit, though, is a matter of 6ith grade physics.

Did I say that it wouldn't keep you in your seat? Nope I didn't. My arguement from the get go has been that seat belts both save and cost people their lives. IE it has both pro's and con's. As such it should be up to the individual to decide.

And the whole "if you don't wear a seatbelt you can potentially put other peoples lives in danger also" doesn't fly with me. Even getting in and driving the car in the first place puts other peoples lives in danger period. It is a risk that everyone accepts when they get into a car.
 
Seatbelts in no way help you control a vehicle that just got hit by another vehicle. Get real.

Nonsense. They help to keep you conscious and in position to continue to operate the vehicle (if possible).
 
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