Taxation by Speeding ticket

[Drover]

Originally Posted by mofford

Some thoughts I have about the thread thus far.........With all the safety features that are built into cars sold in the US, the one feature that does more good than all of them is the seat belt. Without it, all the other features are pretty much useless. We pay alot for all the safety features built into the cost of a car, why not get your moneys worth. I used to have an early 90's car that had automatic seat belts, I was buckled up 100% of the time, but those were discontinued because it was found that auto-belts are really not safe for whatever reason. This leads me to the question, with all the high tech features these days, would it be that hard to install a device in the buckle that prohibits you from starting the car unless your belt is buckled ? What would it take, a couple wires and switch in the buckle, maybe a sensor in the seat to determine if there is a passinger sitting there ?

The problem with those automatic belts is that they were the shoulder belts only. The lap belts were still passive (meaning the driver had to manually buckle them themselves) and the automatic shoulder belts led many people to neglect their lap belt, believing they were "buckled in" when the automatic shoulder belt engaged. However, the shoulder-only belts are simply not adequate. GM had a different approach: in some of their cars, the seat belt tensioners were built into the door, so you could leave the belt buckled all the time and it would "unfurl" as you opened the car door, and "re-furl" around you when you closed it. That design didn't last long either, and I wonder if it was because maybe the tensioners could be compromised in a side-impact collision where the door got a direct hit.

Anyway, as for an interlock between the ignition and the belt, it could be easily defeated by simply leaving the belt buckled all the time and just sitting on the belt. Additionally, airbags have been designed to prevent ejection from the vehicle in the event of a collision (which is why they're ridiculously overpowered IMO), so that provides some measure of protection for those who don't buckle up; so the idea of trying to look after the person who refuses to buckle up is already covered.

[SharpHawkeye]

Originally Posted by zz4guy

Definitely. Why don't we EVER hear of cops ticketing bikers for loud pipes?

My dad once told me that some bikers have a saying: loud pipes save lives.

Their reasoning is that since cars seem to ignore them so often, having loud exhaust pipes will make them more noticeable on the road and safer. Whether that's right or not, I couldn't say.

[mofford]

Just wanted to add that there are at least a few hundred thousand drivers on Iowa roads that learned how to drive in Mexico and don't have a drivers license or care how they drive because the cops just let them go anyway. Then there's always plenty of drunks, teenagers with no driving experience and old people that are blind as a bat with the reaction time of a tree sloth. Then there's always your occasional R-tards that pull up a stop sign or throw a piano off the overpass onto the freeway. Do you really want to give these people the power to kill you because you didn't have your seat belt on ?

QC images had a good point earlier about who pays the medical bills for the poor when they crash without their belt on. I guess smokers are more fun to persecute on the health costs to the taxpayer.

Really I think speeding is a lesser offense than not wearing your belt, as long as your in control of your vehicle. Many speed zones are so rediculously slow that it numbs you to the point where your not paying attention to the road. Most of our rural paved roads in Iowa are still zoned at 55 MPH, come on, thats too slow and makes you want to surf the web and play a game of cards with the passinger to relieve the boredom of it.

[tijlover]

Originally Posted by SharpHawkeye

My dad once told me that some bikers have a saying: loud pipes save lives.

Their reasoning is that since cars seem to ignore them so often, having loud exhaust pipes will make them more noticeable on the road and safer. Whether that's right or not, I couldn't say.

We lost 3 motorcylists in the Las Vegas Valley last week, in separate incidents. Perhaps their mufflers weren't loud enough!

Or, perhaps, in a case or two, someone got irritated with the loud noise and decided to run them off the road.