Seat Belt Laws
 

Now, I usually wear my seatbelt, expecually if i am in my own car but i just dont think that it should be against the law to not wear it. If the guy hits me and he doesnt have a seatbelt on, it wont do any harm to me. Nobody gets hurt because someone else didnt wear there seatbelt.

So what do you guys think, should a grown adult be able to choose to wear or not wear a seatbelt? or should the government be able to tell them.

Personally i believe it is these little things that people let go because it isnt a big deal or by saying (who cares i allways wear a seatbelt) that hurts our freedoms and starts letting more and more laws pass that go against what this country stands for.

belt laws help keep insurance rates down for everyone...and it's plain stupid not to wear one.

ya but what if someone hit you and they weren't wearing thier seatbelt and they die who are you gonna sue?:poke:

If you were to sue anyone it would have to be the dead persons family in a civil suit...I dont know if you could even do that which is more of a reason to keep seatbelt laws in place and wear yours EVERY time you drive or ride. The bottom line is that it is just stupid not to wear it. period.

you sue their insurance company... if they dont have insurance your insurance should cover it. thats why i pay for uninsured motorist coverage. thats how it is in florida at least.

this is not directed straight at you, but i think you're missing his point completely... why cant a grown adult choose whether he wants to wear a seat belt or not? they just passed a new law down here saying that cops can pull people over just to make sure they're wearing a seat belt. they dont need any kind of evidence, just a suspicion.

thats besides the point. There is a diffrence between saying "thats dumb you should do it anyway" and having your government FORCE you to.

I am not arguing weather you should or shouldnt. Im arguing that the government shouldnt be able to force anyone.

Its like the government banning fatty foods.

i agree with you... i wear my seat belt every single day but i dont want the government telling me i have to. and pulling me over at random just to make sure im still wearing it.

We elect our goverment officials to protect the health and safety of the citizens of this country, state, county, and city. We all know that seatbelts save lives and I don't think that's what we are arguing, but if government knows seatbelts can save 7 out of 10 people from dying in accidents then it would be neglegent on their part not do anything about it. ( I don't know what the actual statistic is, I was just making a point) Now you can argue that it's your right to die in an accident if you want, but governments job is to try their best to protect people and sometimes protecting them for their own good.....now that is a very fine line and I'm not advocating government should stick there nose in everything, but I think stuff like seatbelts are not a big deal because DRIVING IS NOT A RIGHT, IT'S A PRIVILEGE. That's why the DMV can take peoples licenses away for being a jack azz's and they can't do jack about it! It's also why they can take the license of senior citizens who have eye issues or dementia!

So why is Alchohol and Cigerettes legal? It isnt that it is our choice to die or not, it is our choice to take the risk, just like the risk asccociated with smoking cigerettes or any tobacco product. Or driving at all!

hahaha, alcohol is legal because prohibiton was a failure... produced more crime than it prevented.

I knew someone would bring that up in this argument, and based on the argument I gave earlier cigs and alcohol probably shouldn't be legal. Well, if you want to be able to take all risks and make the personal choice then we should make crack, herion and cocaine legal also. That way people can have the right to die, but have more weapons! ha ha ha....I don't know man, these are tough issues.

the fact is that driving is a privilege so requiring you to wear a seatbelt is not taking away or infringing on your rights, it's basically saying....follow the rules of the privilege and we won't take the privilege away! It's kinda like getting on a ride at disneyland and them saying that you have to put your safety belt on in order to ride the rollercoaster.....ok, you don't want to, then you don't ride it! ha ha ha

i understand everything you're saying but what they're doing down here is kinda like stopping that rollercoaster ride at random just to check and make sure your hands are still inside the car... kinda takes the fun out of riding. they can stop us pretty much at random just to make sure our belts are on.

I understand your concern now.....We went through the same thing in Cali, but now I don't think they can radomly pull people over....they can pull you over if they see you don't have your seatbelt on and give you a ticket. Is the seatbelt law new to your state? I think when it was new in Cali they did the random thing and then eased up on that and now the Highway Patrol have signs they say "click it or ticket".

yeah we have that click it or ticket thing too, and we have commercials and billboards for it everywhere. they changed the laws years ago so that they could pull you over if they saw that you werent wearing your seat belt. but just recently they changed it so that you could be pulled over just on suspicion that you may not be wearing it. you dont have to do anything wrong and they can pull you over "just to check". i remember a couple years ago they would have road blocks and they would check every single person driving down the road to make sure they had their seat belts on.

I wear my seat belt, i shouldnt have to be pulled over so they can "check" on me.

oh well the random checks are not a good thing at all.... maybe before long somoene will challenge the law in court and hopefully it will be reversed. But then again they can do DUI check points so it might be ok for them to do....either way it stinks!

:devil2: Hell yeah everyone SHOULD have to wear thier seatbelt.
The idea that not wearing your seatbelt on endangers the person without the belt is bullcrap.

You guys ever seen REAL TV? or MOST AMAZING VIDEO's? or WILD POLICE CHASES?
They got idiots every now and then that are hauling ass and lose control, they get ejected from thier car and dammit, they CAN land on yer car or cause even a bigger wreck.

Imagine driving to the movies with your girlfriend or wife, some idiot in oncoming traffic is digging for a CD and doesent have his seatbelt on. Pulls into your lane, WHAM, head on collision and that dirtbag gets turned into a meat missle, flys through his windshield, your windshield, and impales/kills your wife/girlfriend

Thats my take on it. Wear your damn seatbelt, keep youself safe, keep insurance costs down, and dont be a meat missle.
:devil2:

A meat missle! ha ha ha ha...

I just dont think its wrong for the gov't to make things into law that really do protect us and are also not a PITA to follow. I hate the big brother thing..but this is different IMO. If I were the Prez I would say STFU AND PUT ON YOUR F'ING SEATBELT YOU IDIOTS. And, I do absolutely think people who choose not to wear their seatbelts are idiots, morons, dumbasses etc. Just put the fuggin thing on and STFU! I have had several friend killed in car accidents due to them not wearing their seatbelts. JUST STUPID! Makes me pissed just thinking about it...what a dumb way to die.

its the law here but you cant get pulled over for it. Now if you get pulled over for something else, that can be included with the ticket. Some cops are dicks about it, some not. Ive gotten a seatbelt ticket and havent another time. In Illinois you can be pulled over for it and they are pretty strict.

The only reason it's even a law is for more revenue in my opinion.Alot of you that say wear them are probally against helmet laws too.

I am a supporter of helmet laws.

Oh yea me too.I just don't see how not wearing your seatbelt should be against the law.It should just be a personal choice.

It's a law because it absolutely saves lives. Yes, it also generates revenue, but if you ALWAYS wear your seatbelt you wont be effected by that portion of the law anyway.

uhh... what would make you say that? lol.... Seatbelts and helmets are both there to keep you safe, so the core idea is the same but that is where the similarity ends, you cannot talk about one in the same context as the other because beyond the basic idea the factors involved are completly different.

the way i see it, if yer on a bike and you get into a wreck yer definatly gonna be a meat missle. The helmet just means yer gonna live on life support and die slower. <laugh>

I just dont want some retard who diddnt wanna wear his seatbelt to get thrown out and go rocketing across traffic and slamming into my car.

Could you imagine seatbelt law for bikes? lol... that be freakin insane

Just curious, has anyone else here been in a car on the passenger side, and got broadsided on the passenger side with the driver not wearing a seatbelt? Oh yeah. 170lbs worth of human slamming into you at 40mph is not a good thing. cause that is what happens.....

Helmet's are designed to keep the rider safe, that is it. Seatbelts protect everyone who is in the car.

Anyone who thinks seatbelts don't save lives should be checked into a mental hospital!

lol...good way to put it.

I'm not arguing that.I just don't think it should be a law.I know people that were killed because they were wearing the seatbelt too.

We have enough freedom robbing laws in this country!!

I gotta admit, you have a point there.

they are about to ban smoking in denver,... why not ban fast food? its worse than smoking. and ban achohol, cause it is addicting. someday we will all be like the people in that movie "The Island" just not with the whole clone and certain death thing. all of our lives will be dictated and controlled.

america is so happy to piss away its freedoms it is sickening. lol

soilent green is people.

I hear what your saying, but there are a difference between your constitutional rights (freedoms) and privileges and I was arguing that driving is a privilege and not a right so it has nothing to do with your freedoms. Like I said earlier if people don't want to follow the rules associated with the privilege then they don't get that privilege.......it's just like being told to wear your seatbelt on a roller coaster....you don't want to, then you don't ride...it's simple. The seatbelt law is to help save lives and if people don't want to follow it then they can pay the tickets or lose the privilege.

Now, what I don't like is the police setting up checkpoints or randomly pulling people over to check if they are wearing their seatbelt....that's leads to a whole different can of worms.

We also have a motorcycle helmet law here in Cali and when the State was passing the law people faught it like crazy, but it's worked out good. You never really hear people bitch about it, they just follow the law....or they don't ride their motorcycle.

:stupid: We worry to much about hurting someone's feeling's that it's just gotten out of hand.Just let them put as much tax on alcohol that they do on Cig's and watch people just go insane and say how unfair it is.Hell Ted Kennedy would be the first to complain lol