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

Dude, the smoking ban will be the best law Denver EVER passes! It's by far the best law in Cali....I can't stand going to other states and have to breath someone elses smoke in indoor places.....Smoking affects others, not just the person smoking....beer doesn't hurt the guy sitting next to me...well, unless I punch him.....fast food doesn't hurt anyone but me....not the guy next to me.

What about the mom and dad that are smoking in the car with the windows up and two little kids in the back of the car? Is that cool???

Its a bull**** law. Ive already managed to quit, but i dont think the ban is appropriate.
There are smoking and non smoking places. The smokers dont go to the non smoking places and bitch about it.
The have been studys to show second hand smoke kills, and studys to prove that is bull****. they are all weighted by whatever side is doing the study.

Beer gets people drunk. Then the drunk person drives, and the drunk person hits a mom and her children and kills a mans entire family. It also drives up insurance rates, not just for the offender, but everyone. Trust me, a lot of what you pay for insurance is not paperwork and processing of your insurance, it is being used to pay somebody else settlement. Achohol also raises the potential for an individual to get into first fight, beat his wife, kill his neighbor, and commit suicide.

Fast food causes obesity, obesity comes with health risks, along with health risks come increased medical cost, increased medical cost is what medical insurance is so fuggin expencive. Woe to the asshole without a health plaan through work. If i had no health insurance plan provided by work i would pay 700 a month for the same level of coverage. Fast food can kill you faster than smoking. Poor Jonny goes to his graduation and unfortunatly his mom isnt there cause she ate fast food 24/7 and had a heart attack and also ****ed up jonny's life cause he has no knowledge of nutrition and will follow his mothers path.


The point is this, there are a lot of bad things out there, however, we should have the freedom to do them if we want. There have NEVER been any laws stating that places MUST allow people to smoke in them. There are PLENTY of non-smoking clubs and bars in denver. Every restaraunt offers a non smoking area, which is usually most of the damn restaraunt.

Tell ya what, i dont like looking at fat people. I got a bit of a gut dont get me wrong, but i am by no means obese. And i cant stand to look at somone who is obese. Sitting in a restaraunt watching some fatass shoved food into his mouth like it is the last meal they will ever have makes me lose my appetite.
So since i dont like looking at fat people, should we ban fast food and initiate a mandatory workout system for all people?

not trying to be a dick, but this non-smoking ban is rediculous. i quit because i am aware of the health risks and i already dont smoke at work, and dont smoke in my car, and dont smoke in my house, so, why smoke at all?

but it should be up to the ESTABLISHMENT to decide weather or not they want to allow smokers.

If they want to ban it outside, that still sucks, but the government telling small bars and clubs how to run thier business and what they should and should not allow? They are telling the bars that they will pay a fine if anyone comes in and uses a perfectly legal product in thier bar.

let it be up to the establishment. and if you dont want to be around smoke, go to a non smoking establishment. dont expect everyone to change thier livestyles because something annoys you...


EDIT: BTW, the law says it is perfectly find to smoke in your car with yer children there and the windows up. I think that is crappy, but its also crappy that people stuff thier kids full of fast food 24/7. it is not a 100% across all ban, you can smoke in yer car, the airport lounge, cigar shops, and your home.

It has nothing to do with annoying me, smoking is a health risk to others, just not the person that is smoking.....anyway, we could go around in circles about this, but trust me everyone will bitch and complain about it, but it will turn out to be a great law.....new york just did it to.

I think we have one thing in common....I don't like looking at fat people either! ha ha ha ha

i dont smoke, nor i ever have. And i cannot stand the smell of smoking.

However. I think it is bull**** that a private company can be told to not allow smokers in there bar etc. Now if the Government wants to make all public buildings non-smoking thats fin and dandy. but leave the private buisnesses alone

If a private buisness decides to allow smokers they might loose clients, same with the other way arround, its personaly choice

When they passed the smoking law in Cali restaurant and bar owner were bitching that it was going to hurt business.....BLAH BLAH BLAH....like people EVER stopped going out to eat because they can't smoke while eating.....same goes for bars, nobody stopped going to bars.....all of those mickey mouse BS complaints are just stupid.

On the topic of seat belt wearing: People are stupid...end of story. If there are not laws created to protect people from themselves then other people that aren't stupid get hurt. Like flashing lights on a bus legally means stop because children could be around...and STILL people don't stop and thus hit and kill children that were suppose to be under the protection of the law. Creating laws isn't going to make all people wear their seat belts, but the theory behind it is to protect people none the less.

If you rear end somebody, and they weren't wearing their seat belt, your a** can still be liable for their injuries. You may not have to pay as much or even be held accountable for thier injuries, but that all depends on how good of an attorney you have! If they have a better attorney, you better have some deep pockets.

Second, people squander tax dollars for not wearing their seat belts. If they can't pay and get taken to the hospital, our tax dollars are used to provide treatment on all levels, from the police who have to go to the scene, to the road workers that have to clean the blood off the highway, to the medicare payments that tax dollars go towards for perscriptions of vicadin and morphine to easy their pain.

Third, a story. I had a friend who was in my car with his fiancee and new kid a couple years back. We were all coming back from L.A. and he wasn't wearing his seat belt. I told him he should put it on because I myself have been a veteran of a few accidents and in every case it has helped. He explained to me that he believed more people got killed because they got trapped in the car with their seatbelt on. His idea was that he would rather get thrown from the car because he had heard that people live that way. Fast forward six months, he and a friend were going on a paintball trip down highway 5 to stockton, ca when a car sideswiped them on the freeway and pitched their car into a ravine. He was flung out of the truck he was in and the impact from being flung free killed him. His friend who was wearing his seatbelt lived and the firemen had to use the jaws of life to crack open the truck to get him out. They said they didn't know how he survived but said it was lucky he was wearing his seat belt. To top it off he now has a son that is fatherless before he was even old enough to understand. They also never caught the guys who sideswiped the car.

Moral of the story...wear the f***ing thing...but do turn off that annoying a** minder chime! You getting hurt isn't always the concern, it is for the people around you.

Oh, and all cops need is probably cause to pull you over anyway. A couple of miles per hour under or over the speed limit justifies that plenty.

where?

Damn you are up early.

I tend NOT to wear my seatbelt while driving in the City or suburbs. But I DO wear it while on Highways and what not.

dont get pulled over... and drive carefully...

but seat belts save lives... but then again they have caused a few rare snenarios where they kill...

I personally don't buckle up...