Who thinks it's a violation of our civil rights? To have seatbelt laws?

Question

Why should we be forced to wear something on our physical beings because the government says we have to? My mom's best friend died in her car because she couldn't undo her stuck seatbelt when a truck hit her car and it exploded, also happened to my boyfriend's very good buddy, the sister watched him burn up & she couldn't do a thing. I heard there was a demonstration somewhere in Springfield to lobby for freedom of this issue? Has anyone heard this eigther?

Answer 1

Yes, but they use the argument that the unnecessary injuries from not wearing seatbelts place a burden on health care and cost billions in insurance for hospital bills. I personally, have always worn one since before I began driving and would do so no matter if there was a law or not. But most people aren't like me. And the reasoning is wrong and I do have the right to take care of myself or not however I see fit as long as I harm no one else.

As for your two examples, maybe things like that do happen, but those instances where seatbelts do harm are much rarer than the events when seatbelts save lives every minute of every day. If you're really concerned about such things, there are handy seatbelt slicing tools you can keep in your car.
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Answer 2

My life has been saved twice because I was wearing my seat belt. I have been to hundreds of accidents where the injuries would have been much worse without seat belts. I have attended a number of fatalities involving cars where the person would have walked away if he/she would have been wearing their seat belt. After ten years as a police officer I have yet to run into one instance where a seat belt was the cause of someone's death. Seat belts do not suddenly "fail" in an accident. You simply reach over and unclip it. I know that if you are panicking it may be difficult, but I doubt that there are many deaths where the cause was a faulty seat belt.
Would you enter a lottery where you had a 99.99% chance of wining?
Of course you would. The odds of being killed because of a seat belt are astronomically small. I will continue to play those odds.
As to whether the state has authority to force you to wear one?
Roads are publicly owned and governed (by people we elect) don't want to wear a seat belt don't use the public roads. If enough people get together and elect someone who will change the law then it will be changed. There is a good reason it hasn't, seat belts save lives.

Answer 3

Just because you've had some horrible experiences with a device, doesn't make that device inherently bad. Seatbelts are generally life savers, not life takers. They generally turn anything from a severe head injury accident all the way up to complete ejection from the vehicle - into a soft tissue accident. Many safety devices can be either misused or malfunction and cause injury or death. Those cases are rare when compared to the 'walk away' crashes we have these days due to the seat belt, air bag & better construction methods of manufacturing cars. And for future reference, look up what a civil right actually IS before you accuse someone of violating it. :)

Answer 4

Same thing happened to my dad, he was trapped in his smashed up semi truck because he had is seat belt on.

I agree with you that seatbelts aren't always safe. BUT, when you have three people in a car and one isn't wearing a seatbelt, and you're in an accident, that one person who isn't wearing a seatbelt could fly around the car injuring the other two passengers. There are tons of senarios for and against seatbelts. The truth of the matter is they do more good than harm.

Answer 5

Roads are for use by the public and funded and maintained by taxpayer dollars. You have the right to drive, but only licensed and while following all traffic and safety laws. If you where the sole owner of a road and the property it is on, then feel free to drive without that seat belt, but on public roadways you had best be following the law. There are some cases where the seat belt causes a complication that causes death, but many many more times over it will save lives. On top of that if you collied with another vehicle and the other driver is not wearing his/her seat belt and dies, you are still liable... many deaths like that are preventable by seat belt use and cause inflated insurance rates. Any way you look at it seat belt laws make sense.

Answer 6

Those are terrible and tragic illustrations of the Exception To The Rule rule. For every person who was a victim of circumstance made worse by a properly functioning seatbelt, there are many many more that were saved.

You have no civil right to drive, so you cannot possibly have a civil right to choose what constitutes lawful operation of the vehicle.

If you dislike seatbelts, there is the bus.

Answer 7

Its not a contravention of our civil rights, and besides. If there wasn't the seatbelt rules and your mom's pal and your boyfriend's pal have been given into the twist of fate, they could've nonetheless died, because of the fact the impact is rather not undemanding and unfavourable. the clarification we've seatbelt is that once somebody have been given right into a motor vehicle crash, the seatbelt will end the guy physique from smacking their head on the dashboard or perhaps out of the window. The incident you advised, the seatbelt could've been jammed

Answer 8

Forcing people to wear seatbelts or motorcycle helmets is not a violation of your civil rights.

Being forced to clean up the bloody chunks of face and brain are direct violations of the rescue response units personel's civil rights.

I will admit that seatbelts do not fit certain people due to height or weight; but 95% of do fit. There will always be traffic fatalities, the question is "are better off in a crash without your seatbelt?" The answer, "No", has been proven many times over.

Answer 9

Hearsay does not make a fact. While it is true that some people would be better off without seat belts in accidents: the seat belt laws have prevented a lot of deaths and maiming from accidents.

Lots of people are injured by air bags but I would still rather have one than not in a collision.

I do agree that the seat belt should be up to the individual and I would rather see using cell phones while driving outlawed.

Answer 10

I believe George Lucas had an accident and only lived because his seatbelt snapped and flung him from the car.

However, seatbelts are safe most of the time, ever brake and been flung toward the windshield, only to be held back by your seatbelt? Its like a double edged sword, its for your safety, but there are those rare instances where seatbelts trap you