Posted by Matt Wilson on Thursday, December 16, 2004 at 2:30PM :
In Reply to: Re: America - another another point of view posted by David Sherman on Thursday, December 16, 2004 at 1:40PM :
A look at stats for the last 40 years will show that wearing seat belts prevents far more injuries and deaths than not wearing seat belts. Not just in land vehicles (cars & trucks), but in aircraft too.
Everybody can come up with an example or three of someone who was maimed, paralyzed, burned or drowned because they were wearing a seat belt, or somehow injured or killed by an air bag, but in the end, far more injuries and deaths are prevented by seat belts and airbags than are caused by them. Due to safety improvements, accident survivability has gone up tremendously since the automobile was invented, and the severity of injuries has decreased tremendously since the automobile was invented.
Everybody thinks about how his or her rights are being infringed by having to use these safety devices, but hardly anyone thinks about the medical costs that David Sherman brought up. Like he says, I have no problem with someone who doesn't want to wear a seat belt (in fact I don't have them in my '49), but when you get your arse in a sling, don't come to me (via the insurance company or govt aid) and expect me to pay your millions to rehab you.
Here in Texas, the motorcycle helmet law was repealed, with the stipulation that a non-wearer has a much larger cost burden than a wearer, in the case of an accident. I'm still not sure how this can work out to be fair for the wearers (I don't know the details of the law), but at least it's a step in the right direction. Maybe someone can enlighten me.
There are many laws that can seem unfair to us on the surface, but there is always the other side of the coin to consider. Were you there, discussing the pro's and con's when the law was passed? Most of us were not, and it's usually impossible for us to be fully informed about the whole situation surrounding a law. All we can do is research the issues to best of our abilities, decide what's we believe is right, present our side and our wishes, and write our lawmakers and vote.
Having said all of that, I also have to speak about the other side of the coin, which is that lots of legislation is carried out because big businesses and organizations put pressure and money in the pockets of the lawmakers, so there are many laws that are bogus. This is a fact, and this is when we really need to speak up.
Matt
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