What law and why????

[Jerseyt719]

The seat belt law is a slippery slope. I'm sticking to my guns and saying it should be my choice. I pay my insurance that I don't even use. I don't have any accidents on my record for many, many years and they weren't even my fault.
Don't we have the limited liability threshold on our insurance now? We can't even sue unless we are maimed or something like that. What is making insurances go up is the uninsured/underinsured. Those are the people that will raise your rates before the non seat belt wearing people.

I'm sorry, it's my choice. It's not hurting anyone that I drive around without a seat belt.

[banger]

The question should not be weather wearing a Seat Belt is a "good idea" or not.

The question should be do we NEED a law.

Without a doubt, dousing myself with gasoline and striking matches is NOT A GOOD IDEA, but do I need a law to tell me so.

Unfortunately many law such as these exist only to enhance the revenue collection of municipal governments.

In my opinion, this is a despicable reason to enact legislation.

[Hal Jalikeakick]

Originally Posted by r7p

Let's assume that it were not a punishable offense. This would result in more people not wearing seat belt. Assuming that number of auto accident remains same, it would mean that more people will get caught in accident without wearing seat belt, resulting in more severe injuries and/or death. This results in higher medical cost or payout relating to death. Insurance companies and hospitals which are required to treat patients irrespective of their ability to pay bears all costs. Now, where do this money come from? I would rather have this "unnecessary" law to save me some money on my car insurance.

using this logic, should'nt we then outlaw everything that increases medical costs?
alcohol
tobacco
obesity

just a few examples off the top of my head. the concept of personal responsibility seems all but lost these days.

[FlyersFan]

If your going to revoke the mandatory seat belt law then you would have to extend that to revoking the mandatory motorcycle helmet law ? Not wearing a helmet is a decision that only affects the operater just like the seat belt law......but maybe we need these laws to protect ourselfves from our own stupidity ?

[lwnj]

I remember hearing this seat belt discussion several years ago on the radio. An out-state professional truck driver who frequented the Turnpike called in. He said that he was always speeding on the Turnpike (hey, who doesn't?) and he got pulled over for speeding 3 times. And for all 3 times, the police instead of giving him a ticket for speeding (for which the fine would be higher), he was given tickets for not wearing seat belts. Therefore, he said this seat belt law actually worked for him!

[Jerseyt719]

Originally Posted by Hal Jalikeakick

using this logic, should'nt we then outlaw everything that increases medical costs?
alcohol
tobacco
obesity

just a few examples off the top of my head. the concept of personal responsibility seems all but lost these days.

These are the kinds of things that blow my mind. Personal responsibility is just that, it's personal.

It's like saying there should be a law against throwing your hair dryer in a bathtub. There's no law, just not a good thing to do with potential deadly consequences, just like the dousing in gasoline and striking a match thing. Which, by the way, I liked that analogy.

[Stripes17]

My personal opinion is to have waivers for seat belt use and helmet use. If someone wants to go without, let them waive medical coverages and pay out of pocket for any injuries. This way, they have their freedom and we are not penalized for their "judgement".

(Obviously, I don't have any clue how to enact such a plan, but I like the concept!)

[Jerseyt719]

Also another slippery slope. What if the accident is not your fault? Are you still not entitled to have your medical covered? I mean if the other dingbat didn't hit you, seat belt or not, you would not have been hurt.

A better law would be to have a waiver for the drunks on the road that they aren't cared for saving us a lot more money than people choosing not to wear seat belts.