Maine weighs revoking seat belt law days after 75-car pileup

[BlueStreak]

Originally Posted by Countryford

Need I say more?

So let them kill themselves. Who gives a shit? You?

Dave

[hillbilly]

In about 1978 a brother of mine was coming home one night from a date and it was raining, and we had just moved here to the winding hills. He slid in a curve that had standing water and his car left the road. Almost a 70 foot free fall with no safety rail and his car landed in a shallow creek below and just so happened a rock about 3 foot round was sticking up about 4 feet high and the drivers side top right above the drivers seat took the full lick when it landed upside down from the free fall plus the speed he was traveling. He wasn't wearing his seatbelt and in his case it was a good thing because the roof of the car smashed the drivers seat bottom so hard it bowed the floor pan, the steering wheel was smashed pancake flat down through the seat bottom clear to the floor pan. Before impact he was tossed to the rear seat somehow, and he's lucky to be here. But that is a rare case, odds of landing like that is not something that happens often. Some have died with and without belts in those type crashes, but in head on crashes which are very much more likely than the type of crash my brother had, you have a much better chance if you are buckled. He learned that after becoming a cop later on and seeing first hand death vs survival after most common type crashes and wears it today.

[Ike Bana]

Originally Posted by Countryford

While we are at it, why don't we outlaw cigarettes, alcohol, trans fat, soda, etc...

Typical right-wingjob specious crap. First of all...we control if not outlaw all sorts of substances that are poisonous or harmful to humans. That certain substances taste good, or make something else taste good, is a piss poor reason for not controlling them. Why do we even mention any of this in a discussion about seat belts? Because it's specious right-wingjob crap.

Operating a motor vehicle is licensed by the state. When one is licensed by the state to operate a motor vehicle, or operate aircraft, or operate a restaurant, or operate a legal services company, or operate a mental health agency, or a hospital or a day care center...there are rules and regulations that must be followed. If you don't, you risk loss of your license to operate.

Don't like the rules and regs for operating your mental health facility? Go complain to the state department of professional regulation.

Don't like the rules and regs for operating your motor vehicle? Go complain to the state department of motor vehicles. Tell them if they want to make you wear a seatbelt that next they can tell you to stop eating trans fats.

And prepare to be patted on your pointy little head and sent on your way.

[Rajoo]

Originally Posted by Countryford View Post
While we are at it, why don't we outlaw cigarettes, alcohol, trans fat, soda, etc...

Cigarettes will be bootlegged, facilitating a criminal enterprise.
Same goes for alcohol except with today's available technology and the internet, people would be brewing their own. Very similar to marijuana but could be much more dangerous.
Don't know much about trans fats, I seldom eat in franchises.
Soda? Teenage rebellion. Need I say more?

And these are individual liberties unlike DMV regulations, so we will have ACLU to contend with.

[Countryford]

Originally Posted by Ike Bana

Typical right-wingjob specious crap. First of all...we control if not outlaw all sorts of substances that are poisonous or harmful to humans. That certain substances taste good, or make something else taste good, is a piss poor reason for not controlling them. Why do we even mention any of this in a discussion about seat belts? Because it's specious right-wingjob crap.

Operating a motor vehicle is licensed by the state. When one is licensed by the state to operate a motor vehicle, or operate aircraft, or operate a restaurant, or operate a legal services company, or operate a mental health agency, or a hospital or a day care center...there are rules and regulations that must be followed. If you don't, you risk loss of your license to operate.

Don't like the rules and regs for operating your mental health facility? Go complain to the state department of professional regulation.

Don't like the rules and regs for operating your motor vehicle? Go complain to the state department of motor vehicles. Tell them if they want to make you wear a seatbelt that next they can tell you to stop eating trans fats.

And prepare to be patted on your pointy little head and sent on your way.

I agree with you about the rules of having a license and having to obey those said rules. I would probably get shown the door if I were to go down to my local motor vehicle office and complain about the seat belt law. As I've already said, I wear my seatbelt without complaint.
You have to remember, that this whole thread started from someone posting a link about a state considering revoking their seatbelt law. I voiced my opinion that I was in favor of it. I am not all in favor of it, that I would go down to my local office and complain. However if someone else was wanting to and asked me to sign a petition or something like that, I would. I would still probably wear my seatbelt even if the laws were dropped.

[Countryford]

Why do we even mention any of this in a discussion about seat belts?

The reason I mentioned it is because of someone else's comment.

What you fail to recognize is that your "personal choice" has potential societal consequences. In other words, your decision to take that risk places others at risk and also risks financial costs which would be borne by society as a whole.

I am in no way in favor of outlawing tobacco, alochol or any of that other stuff that was mentioned. I think people should make their own decisions about those for themselves.

[Boreas]

Originally Posted by Countryford

I am in no way in favor of outlawing tobacco, alochol or any of that other stuff that was mentioned. I think people should make their own decisions about those for themselves.

Okay, a question: if you lived in Maine and if Maine rescinds the requirement that occupants of a motor vehicle wear their seat belts, would you stop wearing one? If Maine's law also removed the requirement that children be secured in approved child seats, would you stop using one for your kids?

John

[Countryford]

Originally Posted by Boreas

Okay, a question: if you lived in Maine and if Maine rescinds the requirement that occupants of a motor vehicle wear their seat belts, would you stop wearing one? If Maine's law also removed the requirement that children be secured in approved child seats, would you stop using one for your kids?

John

My last sentence of post 65

I would still probably wear my seatbelt even if the laws were dropped.

As far as for kids, I have no children. My husband doesn't want them so probably will never have any. On that, I really hadn't thought about it. If for some strange reason, we end up having kids, I would buckle them in.

[Boreas]

Originally Posted by Countryford

My last sentence of post 65

Okay, missed that. Still, you believe that not wearing them is a valid personal choice, despite the fact that it places others in an increased degree of jeopardy?

As far as for kids, I have no children. My husband doesn't want them so probably will never have any. On that, I really hadn't thought about it. If for some strange reason, we end up having kids, I would buckle them in.

It seems to me that buckling your kids up for their own protection and wearing a seat belt in part for the protection of others are two sides of the same coin. What do you think?

John

[Countryford]

I dont quite see how not wearing a seatbelt can harm someone else.