ANSWERS: 19
  • Sorry, wrong. If you are in an accident and are not wearing a seat belt, it is much more likely that you will be thrown around or out of the car and lose control of your steering. In a multi-car accident, this greatly increases the likelihood that you will injure or kill other people and/or incur additional property damage to your car and other cars. Had you worn your seat belt, you likely would have been able to steer away from further harm to yourself and others.
  • In the United States the thing that gives them the right is the majority of voters. The majority of people in your nation have gone to the polls and decided en masse that they want seat belts to be worn. The argument that you hurt only yourself has been attempted in the US (and other nations) as a fight against the law and it has been struck down time and again. The reason it is struck down is that society ends up paying more for the collective costs of accidents when belts are not worn. Wearing belts not only saves lives -- it saves money. If it cost less for a society to allow people to go without belts, then there would be many jurisdictions in which the law allowed for beltless travel.
  • It is not true that you would be the only one hurt. If you have serious damage or die, your insurance will have an enormous payout to your family or medical providers. Who do you think the insurance company passes these costs on to? Me. Us. If you die and you have a family, the government will support them. As before, the government is me. Us. If you crack your head and end up in an iron lung, who do you think will pay to keep you alive and relatively healthy for the next 50 years? Me. Us. The costs are so big that it isn't possible to calculate them all, and I would prefer that you remain healthy, working and caring for your family. I don't want to do it. I am stretched as far as I can go now.
  • I think these laws are BS as well. As the Pro-choice people say...MY Body My Choice!
  • It is good for children and it does save lives. I have heard of it hurting people more because of the belt around the waste cutting into a person. My daughters friend had bad abdominal injuries and spinal injuries from the belt. It didn't give as it should have. NY state has more laws like this then they have people to use them..Every time you turn around they stick a new law in your face.
  • Well, if they are, so are drug possession (not dealing) laws. If you can kill yourself driving, you can kill yourself with drugs.
  • Okay, I have read the Constitution several times, and cannot find anything along the lines of "the people have the right not to wear a seatbelt." And I certainly do not find anything saying that such a right is a fundamental right. Thus, it cannot violate the U.S. Constitution. Are you referring to a state Constitution, perhaps? If so, which state are you asking about?
  • Please FAIL to wear a belt. But also make sure you have no medical insurance. Everyone hates you anyway.
  • There is no RIGHT to drive.
  • I always agreed with this statement. While it is a good idea to wear seatbelts, and shold be encouraged, it shout NOT be law. Law is to protect society as a whole, not an individual, and this is a law to protect an individual. I know the risk, and if it's a risk I'm willing to take, it's no one elses business but my own. By these standards, the government should limit your daily intake of calories and mandate exercise. Tobacco and alcoholic products should also be illegal by the logic of this law.
  • I actually agree with your point. An adult shouldn't have to wear a seatbelt. I wear mine all the time as a matter of choice and I would even if there was no law in place that made it mandatory. Survival of the fittest.
  • Driving in the US is a privilege even though you really can't get around most places without a car. It is not a right. I hate the seatbelt law for adults. I think it should be between you and your insurance company. You don't become a death projectile in an accident, but it costs more money to fix you up if you're not wearing the seatbelt. I think the insurance companies should sue you if you mark the "i wear my seatbelt" box and you're in a wreck without one. They should only pay out to the degree that they would have if you had been wearing a seatbelt.
  • No just wear it. You'll get used to it. If it was made legal to not wear one, then no one would see how important it is to wear one, and how it can save your life.
  • I have to agree. I have been in one car accident and teh freakin seat belt about killed me. The car was hardley damaged and I am convinced that I would have been much better off without the seatbelt and think I should have the choice not to wear it. I can see the insurance companies not paying, but it should still be my choice.
  • First as others have mentioned driving is not a right, but a privilege. But that idea that Americans are "Free" is a fallacy. Take drug laws, and blue laws just as two of the many examples.
  • You need to be saved from yourself.
  • you wearing a seat belt saves me too. Lets say I'm driving and i run a red light and hit you and you are not wearing a seat belt and something tragic happens and you fly out and die (worst case scenario) I am now facing manslaughter....had you been wearing a seat belt I would now be facing really high insurance rates.
  • Here in Canada seat belts are the law. Canadians for the most part consider it conswitutional. But aside from that, why should you wear one, if you feel it infringes on your freedom? (Some reponders have spoken that way.) Answer: for the sake of your loved ones. Because you are several times more likely to *remain permantnely damaged* if you enter a collision without a seat belt. Therefore, your significant others are several times more likely to have to nurse you for the rest of your days. It happened to a lady (a widow) I dated 2-3 years ago. Her husband went through the windshield twice, because he would not wear seat belts. The fist time he was left a little on the wild side. The second time, he recovered fully except that he remained half-crazy. Couldn't hold a job, conldn't be trusted alone with his kids, subject to random seizures and rages -- and his wife and parents had to put up with it until he died years later. Turns out the front part of his brain had pretty well turned to mush after the second accident. With seat belts, he'd be a well-paid manager by now. So *that's* why you wear seat belts, even if they *do* restrict your freedoms and rights. Your family matters more than your personal freedom.

Copyright 2023, Wired Ivy, LLC

Answerbag | Terms of Service | Privacy Policy