It's a simple thing, buckle up

[Born2bwire]

that's not true.
An unbuckled body will slam on the front seat and kill whoever is there. Your head may swing around and hit other occupants in the car.
Also if you fly out of the window, your body may hit and kill someone.

Just look at what the guy did to the house.

 

[LTC8K6]

Just look at what the guy did to the house.

That was most likely the car.

 

[skyking]

No, that was his body. The car stopped inches short of the house about 15 feet farther east. That lady came out the front door to see him laying there. Maybe she covered him with the white blanket.
There are other photos with the fatality markings and show some blood as well.

 

[Ferzerp]

It's not the gov't job to make you "safe"... that's a personal choice, just like smoking cigs is a personal choice. I wear all my gear in a state where no gear at all is required. It's just common sense. If you aren't smart enough to slap a lid on, well... You sort of deserve what's coming.

That's my view.

A totally agree that we should all wear seat belts, motorcycle riders need helmets, etc.

I just do not believe that it should be our government's purview to force the individual to do so. It's a philosophy about government, not a statement on safety equipment. It is my responsibility to protect my person with my choice to wear a seatbelt. I don't need a bureaucratic mother figure trying to make me.

 

[LTC8K6]

Driving a car on public roads is a privilege granted to you by the government. The government can revoke this privilege. The government controls this privilege entirely. The government tells you to do, or not do, lots of things while driving on public roads.

So they can also tell you to wear a seat belt while you are driving on public roads.

 

[BUTCH1]

I'll never understand why anyone would get in a car and not buckle up. I'll never understand why people oppose seatbelt laws either... idiots.

I always use mine, I drove an Escort for quite awhile, kind of car that got one into the habit of buckling up LOL. What a lot of people seem to think is " meh, I've got airbags, that's plenty" but in reality the belt prevents your face from being "1 when the airbag deploys and causing major injury. They just did a seal-belt "sting" here recently, the cops rented a bucket-truck so they could clearly see violators, they got dozen's of 'em. Kinda crazy here in FL though is you don't need a helmet riding a motorcycle but driving without a seatbelt is a $140 fine..

 

[nerp]

How do you not wear a seatbelt? Newer cars won't shut up unless you do. And if you're the kind of person who disables that or sits on the belt while its buckled to get rid of the noise, you deserve to die in a crash.

 

[Ferzerp]

Driving a car on public roads is a privilege granted to you by the government. The government can revoke this privilege. The government controls this privilege entirely. The government tells you to do, or not do, lots of things while driving on public roads.

So they can also tell you to wear a seat belt while you are driving on public roads.

Your argument is entirely specious because the laws cover more than drivers, and riding in a vehicle, even with our overreaching government can't be argued to be a "privilege" granted by the government.

 

[LTC8K6]

NC DMV handbook:

Chapter 1
Your License
Driving is a legal privilege and responsibility.

VA DMV handbook:

Driving is a privilege, not a right.

CA handbook consistently refers to it as a privilege.

Just a few examples.

It is a State granted privilege that allows you to drive on public roads.

 

[Ferzerp]

Who said anything about driving other than you? I said riding. Your argument is that because the government claims you do not possess the right to *drive* that it (which has no power other than that granted to it by the population it is supposed to represent and govern) falls under the realm of the government's role to require you to wear a seat belt.

You argument falls apart because the law covers not just drivers, but also passengers. Last I checked, we haven't devolved to the point that even our government claims riding in a car is a "privilege" that it grants.

Just because a thing is good, and that we agree to with it, does not automatically make it an appropriate target of legislation. That's where people have a failure of reason. Agreeing with a thing, and it being good for people doesn't automatically imply that performing that action or avoiding that action (if it is a negative, or harmful to the individual) should be compulsory. If a law protects me from you or vice versa, it has a solid foundation that I understand. However, if it protects you from you, or me from me, it is inappropriate.

 

[HeXen]

Some cases a seatbelt could kill you by trapping you in. My cousin is alive because he was ejected which seems ironic.

 

[Ferzerp]

Some cases a seatbelt could kill you by trapping you in. My cousin is alive because he was ejected which seems ironic.

Yes, it happens, but statistically, it is far more likely to save you.

 

[JulesMaximus]

That's my view.

A totally agree that we should all wear seat belts, motorcycle riders need helmets, etc.

I just do not believe that it should be our government's purview to force the individual to do so. It's a philosophy about government, not a statement on safety equipment. It is my responsibility to protect my person with my choice to wear a seatbelt. I don't need a bureaucratic mother figure trying to make me.

Why not? I grew up driving in upstate NY in the 1980s before we had mandatory seat belt laws and you know what? I never wore my seat belt before it was the law. I thought the law was stupid, I opposed it actually but looking back on my views when I was in my teens and early 20s I really had no valid reason for opposing it... I'll admit it. And you don't either, you just don't know it yet.

It is a fact that before seat belt laws only around 40-50% of the population wore seatbelts despite the government mandating that manufacturers put them in every car. Is 50% of the population of this country just stupid? Advertising campaigns to get people to buckle up don't work, that is a fact. In states without helmet laws only around 50-60% wear them. In states with helmet laws over 95% of people wear them.

Like I said, it's not about slippery slopes or nanny states. It is about forcing a minor inconvenience on the driving public and reducing the number of automobile fatalities each year. And it happens to be very effective.

When I was a kid there were no child safety seats either. Parents were free to drive around with these little living projectiles just sitting on the seats or playing on the floor or climbing all over the interior like monkeys. Should we repeal those laws too in the name of freedom?

I guess society got sick of cleaning all the dead bodies off the roads and reading of all the needless loss and suffering and decided to do something about it. Society deemed that it IS in the government's purview. The population of our country is higher than at any other point in history, our cars are safer now than they have ever been and the number of traffic accident fatalities was lower in 2010 than it was in 1937 when the population was half what it is now. Oppose it all you want but this member of our society is perfectly fine with seat belt and helmet laws. I support them in fact.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Some cases a seatbelt could kill you by trapping you in. My cousin is alive because he was ejected which seems ironic.

Your cousin is extremely lucky. He is the exception, not the norm. This is a fact.

 

[natto fire]

I personally don't think there should be seat belt laws, but I also think insurance companies should be able to deny all medical claims if a seat belt is not worn.

My reasoning is probably a cynical one, because if there were more people killed while driving, some might take it more seriously. The fact that traffic fatalities are going down, as well as driver attentiveness, and the amount of mass in crashes keeps increasing, is truly a testament of how amazing modern cars are getting.

I always wear a seat belt because it is a habit realized when I started driving. Seemed easier to keep my body motion in check and allowing my arms, hands, legs and feet to finesse the inputs enough to keep the tires near 100% friction. Pretty much any car I have ever driven I like to bring it to it's G force limits, just out of curiosity.

 

[LTC8K6]

Who said anything about driving other than you? I said riding. Your argument is that because the government claims you do not possess the right to *drive* that it (which has no power other than that granted to it by the population it is supposed to represent and govern) falls under the realm of the government's role to require you to wear a seat belt.

You argument falls apart because the law covers not just drivers, but also passengers. Last I checked, we haven't devolved to the point that even our government claims riding in a car is a "privilege" that it grants.

Just because a thing is good, and that we agree to with it, does not automatically make it an appropriate target of legislation. That's where people have a failure of reason. Agreeing with a thing, and it being good for people doesn't automatically imply that performing that action or avoiding that action (if it is a negative, or harmful to the individual) should be compulsory. If a law protects me from you or vice versa, it has a solid foundation that I understand. However, if it protects you from you, or me from me, it is inappropriate.

Here in NC, as the driver, I am responsible for myself and any passenger under 16 as far as seat belts.

Passengers over 16, in any seat, will get their own seat belt ticket from the state.

Since it's a reason to pull me over, I will be making the front seat passenger in my car wear a seat belt. Plus, I don't want to explain to anyone's relatives why their family member is dead, and I'm alive. So, I'm not moving until everybody is belted in.

The person seated behind you is going to slam into you hard in a panic stop, that would otherwise have been uneventful. You are either going to be injured, or lose control of the vehicle and end up who knows where.

Simply because of a childish desire not to follow a good law.

 

[SolMiester]

Meh, teenage kids, cant tell them anything, they know it all already!

 

[Ferzerp]

Regardless, we all agree everyone should be wearing them. We just disagree on the specifics.

 

[mmntech]

Was a horrible crash here in Toronto yesterday morning. 19 year old girl died after losing control around a corner and mating with a lamp post. She was going so fast, the car got sliced in two.
http://www.cp24.com/news/woman-19-dead-after-vehicle-smashes-into-pole-in-mississauga-1.1416002

If you try to gamble with physics, just remember the house always wins.

I've never really understood why people don't buckle up. It's there to use. Every modern car will harass you until you put it on. If you're one of the folks that just clips it in and sits on the belt, you deserve to die. Air bags are designed to work in conjunction with seat belts, not as a replacement for them.

I will say that I do think cars may be getting too safe. No, I'm not crazy. Not restraint systems but new driving aids. I think they give people a false sense of security. Which triggers people to take more risks on the road, drive more aggressively, and drive distracted. Which is why I think driving schools need to begin encouraging manual transmission driving again. It eliminates the one major factor of crashes today, distracted driving. You can't shift and talk on the phone at the same time.

 

[Ferzerp]

Every modern car will harass you until you put it on.

I've never seen a car that you can't shut it off via strange combinations of brake pedal presses and key turns.

 

[LTC8K6]

3:30AM, speeding, coming home from a party...Cadillac torn in two...

Seatbelt wasn't any help there.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Was a horrible crash here in Toronto yesterday morning. 19 year old girl died after losing control around a corner and mating with a lamp post. She was going so fast, the car got sliced in two.
http://www.cp24.com/news/woman-19-dead-after-vehicle-smashes-into-pole-in-mississauga-1.1416002

If you try to gamble with physics, just remember the house always wins.

I've never really understood why people don't buckle up. It's there to use. Every modern car will harass you until you put it on. If you're one of the folks that just clips it in and sits on the belt, you deserve to die. Air bags are designed to work in conjunction with seat belts, not as a replacement for them.

I will say that I do think cars may be getting too safe. No, I'm not crazy. Not restraint systems but new driving aids. I think they give people a false sense of security. Which triggers people to take more risks on the road, drive more aggressively, and drive distracted. Which is why I think driving schools need to begin encouraging manual transmission driving again. It eliminates the one major factor of crashes today, distracted driving. You can't shift and talk on the phone at the same time.

I agree that distracted driving is a problem that is only getting worse. I don't think that it is tied to cars being too safe though. It is a problem of driver education and enforcement. The fines for texting should be much more severe and law enforcement needs to crack down on distracted drivers... they currently do a piss poor job of enforcing this IMO.

 

[LTC8K6]

I suppose phones with GPS could restrict texting when the phone is moving.

 

[JulesMaximus]

I've never seen a car that you can't shut it off via strange combinations of brake pedal presses and key turns.

Both my car and my wife's car will harass you until you put it on. It gets more and more annoying and then the audible warnings eventually disable but there is a flashing light on the dash that will blink constantly if either of the two front seat occupants are not wearing their seatbelt. First thing I do when I get in my car is put the seatbelt on but I will usually be ready to go by the time my wife gets in the car and I've been driving along for a few seconds by the time the car starts really pestering us to have her buckle up. I have no idea if you can disable or bypass these systems or not.

My last car just had a light on the dash to remind you to buckle up. I can't remember if there were audible warnings or not. If there were it was only active for a short time. I suspect many older vehicles are like this.

I wouldn't be at all surprised if, in the future, we see cars that won't let you drive them at all unless all detected passengers were belted in.

 

[Rakehellion]

Smokers tend to be poor.

I'll never understand why anyone would get in a car and not buckle up. I'll never understand why people oppose seatbelt laws either... idiots.

Speed limit laws might have helped here too. Though I'm all for raising the age of unrestricted driver's licenses too.