How can there be a seat belt law?

I've been a Firefighter for over fifteen years and have seen numerous motor vehicle crashes. Many people have died from the results of WEARING their seatbelt. I dont feel the Govt. should be able to tell people they dont have a CHOICE in their own lives. This is my life!!! If I CHOOSE not to wear a belt in my car it is my choice. How is this any different than the abortion issue??? THE RIGHT TO CHOOSE!!|||They regulate who can drive


They regulate what you can drive


They regulate how you can drive


They regulate where you can drive


They mandate safety features and they mandate child safety seats and they mandate (and regulate) insurance.


At this point, you should see that government controls every aspect of motor vehicles through regulation, licensing and laws. Seat belts (or helmets) are just another aspect of the same authority they have regulating all the other rules of driving.





In short, government "owns" driving.|||Nothing to add, I agree. Wearing a seat belt should not be law.|||It is true that some do die from wearing a seatbelt but it is also true that if the impact of a crash is so great that the seatbelt killed the person than they probably would haved passed on anyway. When it comes to sealbelt laws the government has our safety in mind and if you are so against seatbelts then you can opt out of driving and sit in the back of someone else's vehicle. In the back of a car the law is if you are over 16 years of age you can choose whether or not to wear a seatbelt.|||that's your choice I buckle up for safety|||You have probably also seen that a body acts like a projectile so by not wearing a seat belt you are putting others in harms way.|||You are absolutely right. I choose to wear mine, just like I choose to wear a helmet when on a motorcycle. I don't want to be told to wear one or that I have to. I think the police have enough to do than look for seat belt violations.|||It is just awful how there is a Pro and Con to that question. I agree with you and disagree at the same time.





I do believe that car seats for children have benefitted but at the same time I have heard that a car seat belt cut the throat of a dear friend.





I am with you, we should have the right to choose.|||Statistically speaking, your odds of serious injury and death are much greater if you are not wearing a seat belt. Many people don't have health insurance, or their insurance coverage isn't very good. This effects ALL of us financially...not just those who were injured.|||You can kill other people as a result of not wearing one, crash into people in front, go through the windscreen and get chucked into the road causing another crash...I don't know.|||Well, I guess I'm like the gov't, I believe seatbelts save more lives than they take. No one gets in my car without putting on a seatbelt, that's my rule.|||Seatbelts do not kill people - the impact of the crash was so severe that they were killed. Trust me - if they were that severely injured death was a blessing to them. It's the morons, twits, and people like you (sorry) that fail to see the injuries that are caused by not wearing a seat belt -- ejection, face plants into the windshield, massive trauma from steering wheel impact, etc - that cause life long permit injury that requires a lifetime of caring for a person who is now a veggie tale.





I for one call people who refuse to wear a seatbelt or helmet contributors to the process of natural selection - and they keep me employed - so they serve a purpose. They are also an amazing drain on the economy because they require millions in care over a lifetime. If you don't want to wear a seatbelt fine - then sign a waiver that says you will have enough insurance to care for your veggie self over a life time...then I am fine with it.|||Abortion %26amp; seatbelts - apples and oranges.





You're a firefighter and you're arguing against seatbelts??? That is quite contrary to what cops, firefighters, emergency room personal etc have to say about them. My dad is a cop (now retired) and he had us wearing our seatbelts since before we were born. I would like to know, in comparison, how many people have you seen killed or severely injured from being ejected from a vehicle as opposed to those that died as a result of wearing their seatbelts. How many accidents have you seen where if a person had not been wearing a seatbelt they would have been ejected from their vehicle? And if you want to argue against seatbelts, why not against car seats as well?





Hey...if you don't want to wear a seatbelt, go for it...just be watchful for cops. Me, on the other hand...my life was saved by a seatbelt 5 years ago thanks to my dad (who was a firefighter/paramedic for several years before becoming a cop) instilling in all of us growing up to be smart and wear the damn thing. It would be safe to say I would have been thrown from my vehicle when I put it into a ditch that morning...everything else that was inside was thrown out through the back shattered window...I didn't find a couple of things until 24 hours later and some things were never found. Not even a month later someone else was killed in a nearly identical accident and nearly identical car. He just wasn't smart enough to wear a seatbelt.|||Seat belt laws are a revenue generator, just like the speed limit. The reason these laws exist is to rake in the money necessary to pay the traffic cops' salaries.





That said, the seat belt has saved my *ss on two occasions. I wear it every time I get in the car, not because it's the law, but because I'm convinced from experience that it works.





The only reason I can see for seat belts to be law is this: if someone gets killed in a traffic accident, it requires an investigation that usually lasts several hours. During that time, there are lane closures and a resultant traffic nightmare (I live in the San Francisco area. The only place in the US where traffic is worse is LA.) If seat belts save lives, which I'm convinced they do, then they also can prevent these lengthy investigations from taking place, thus saving taxpayers' money and alleviating a traffic snarl.





Outside of that, it's your business if you want to reduce your likelihood of surviving a traffic accident, not mine, and not the government's (which is supposedly representing me and you and everyone else).