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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 .
radcen said:
What you describe is an aberration. Seat belts were never meant, nor could they ever be, a perfect solution. No safety measure can ever be 100%. They merely (greatly) increase the odds that you will survive a crash. If you let this single positive-ending incident dictate your decision, you are a fool.
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Missing the point of my post - let me decide when to wear a belt. I did mention I buckle up when I 'm not just on surface streets?
The part about panicking and drowning in shallow lakes?
 
radcen said:
This issue puts me in something of a quandary.

On the one hand I intensely resent the government telling me what to do. They do this way too often on way to many subjects that seriously are not their business.

On the other hand, I ALWAYS wear my seat belt, and precisely because I got in the habit when I lived in Germany for a couple years 30 years ago. They literally enforced it. I did it then because I had to... I ended up learning the wisdom of it... and it became second-nature to me to the point that now I feel naked if I don't wear a seat belt.

Hence, I wear a set belt by choice now. I feel that anybody who doesn't wear a seat belt is an idiot. Yet I still resent being told to.

:shrug:
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fair enough. the poll was about adult decisions - I recognize the benefits of buckling up; I also recognize there are a few occasions when it is disadvantageous, or neutral.
So let me use my own mind.
 
I'm not buying the "human projectile" thing too much because really anything is going to become a projectile during an accident, anything in the vehicle or on the vehicle has that potential, so that's a lame reason for forcing adults to wear seat belts IMO.
 
ChrisL said:
I'm not buying the "human projectile" thing too much because really anything is going to become a projectile during an accident, anything in the vehicle or on the vehicle has that potential, so that's a lame reason for forcing adults to wear seat belts IMO.
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You don't buy Newton's first law of motion?

This has to be the single wackiest debate I've ever taken part in. The only way to top this is to argue with someone that gravity is real.
 
Cardinal said:
You don't buy Newton's first law of motion?

This has to be the single wackiest debate I've ever taken part in. The only way to top this is to argue with someone that gravity is real.
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I guess you didn't understand my post. I'm saying that can be the case with anything on or in the car, so I don't see that as a valid reason.
 
ChrisL said:
I guess you didn't understand my post. I'm saying that can be the case with anything on or in the car, so I don't see that as a valid reason.
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So you see then that seatbelts mitigate this?
 
Cardinal said:
So you see then that seatbelts mitigate this?
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They don't prevent anything else in the car or on the car from becoming a projectile. I don't see this as a valid reason to have a seat belt law for adults. For children, sure.
 
ChrisL said:
They don't prevent anything else in the car or on the car from becoming a projectile. I don't see this as a valid reason to have a seat belt law for adults. For children, sure.
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Because children aren't the ones driving the car. They're not the ones who need to stay in control of it in case motion, inertia and centripetal force cause them to lose said control.
 
Cardinal said:
They're not the ones who need to stay in control of it in case motion, inertia and centripetal force cause them to lose said control.
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Seatbelts negate the possibility of losing control?
 
I don't agree with seatbelt laws, nor helmet laws.

That being said,I'm going to wear my seatbelt. However, if someone else doesn't want to wear one, that's their decision.

Seatbelt laws lead to other nanny state laws like laws against abortion and laws banning gay marriage.
 
Cardinal said:
Because children aren't the ones driving the car. They're not the ones who need to stay in control of it in case motion, inertia and centripetal force cause them to lose said control.
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That's true, but I don't believe in forcing adults to wear seat belts while driving. I think if they know the risks and decide to not wear a seat belt they are stupid, but you really can't make laws to prevent stupidity. I've read that seat belt use is actually only about 10% higher when it's mandated anyway.
 
I wouldn't mind people not wearing seatbelts if there were a guarantee that they would not become a burden on me or others after they crash. Included in that burden would be any increase in my insurance costs because the pool has to support vegetables.
 
ChrisL said:
That's true, but I don't believe in forcing adults to wear seat belts while driving. I think if they know the risks and decide to not wear a seat belt they are stupid, but you really can't make laws to prevent stupidity. I've read that seat belt use is actually only about 10% higher when it's mandated anyway.
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I'm totally cool with it, since some adults see this as an argument for their freedom and are incapable of seeing how their actions can endanger others, this is one of those cases where Mr. Policeman has to come in and make them play well with others.
 
Cardinal said:
I'm totally cool with it, since some adults see this as an argument for their freedom and are incapable of seeing how their actions can endanger others, this is one of those cases where Mr. Policeman has to come in and make them play well with others.
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Laws are not actually followed, especially this one.
 
Cardinal said:
I'm totally cool with it, since some adults see this as an argument for their freedom and are incapable of seeing how their actions can endanger others, this is one of those cases where Mr. Policeman has to come in and make them play well with others.
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It's not that we can't, but that we don't find "safety" arguments worth considering.
 
I'm a little skeptical about the safety issue thing as riding a motorcycle puts a person at increase risks for getting into a serious accident:

The Facts
According to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration:

Motorcyclists are 35 times more likely to experience a deadly accident on the road than those in passenger cars. Motorcycle Accident Statistics and Possible Causes - MotorcycleAccident.org

So, basically, if it was just a safety issue, motorcycles would be out lawed. So, rather than out lawing motorcycles, people should be educated on the risks and let them decide. Same goes with seat belts for adults. Maine has one of the most expensive/severe consequences for not wearing seat belts (third offense costs as much as $300.00) yet, they wear their seat belts less than some states like Nevada that have more lenient secondary laws. What should they do next? Jail time?

Besides, I believe things like cell phones are more dangerous to other people than a person choosing not to wear their seat belt. Just the facts.
 
Henrin said:
It's not that we can't, but that we don't find "safety" arguments worth considering.
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There are certain people who don't find "personal property" arguments worth considering either. Laws are made because of people like them too.
 
Cardinal said:
There are certain people who don't find "personal property" arguments worth considering either. Laws are made because of people like them too.
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If the government has the duty to keep us safe then you have to ask yourself where you limit this duty, and of course, you can't do that because there is no logical way to do so. You're just left being subjective and selective in your reasoning and looking foolish as a result.
 
Henrin said:
If the government has the duty to keep us safe then you have to ask yourself where you limit this duty, and of course, you can't do that because there is no logical way to do so.
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One of the government's primary duties is to keep its citizens safe from people who have no regard for the safety or property of others. I'm not going to accept disbanding that duty, especially as it's been demonstrated in this thread that there are people who are only able to see the seat belt discussion in terms of their own freedom and not the safety of others. Government would be delinquent in their duties if it didn't curtail people like that.
 
Cardinal said:
One of the government's primary duties is to keep its citizens safe from people who have no regard for the safety or property of others.
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That is not he issue here, as you have already agreed to.
 
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