Why do I have to legally wear a seat belt? After all, its my body isn't it?

Question

Why is the government interfering with my personal decisions?

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Considering the tens of thousasnds I pay in health insurance, car insurance, and life insurance, why am I forced to wear a seatbelt against my own will?
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- thousands - (above)

Answer 1

Good question.
It's one of my pet peeves - in the state where I live, not wearing a seat belt will cost you $175.
Not wearing a helmet on a motorcycle will cost you nothing - there's no helmet law.
Which safety measure makes more sense in a minor collision? I say "minor" because a major collision is going to have you pushing up daisies anyway - the seat belt just makes it easier for the coroner to find your body.
Sometimes it's just a waste of energy to try and use a little common sense when trying to figure out what the legislators are thinking when they enact certain laws. I suspect the seat belt laws are a fund raiser for the local police departments - if it were for our benefit - helmet laws would have been enacted also.

Answer 2

Insurance companies, they run America. You must have car, home, health, life , flood, water damage, personal injury to someone else. So they have gotten the government to in force some of their insurance requirements Like you can't get a tag without proof of insurance. You can't drive a new car off the lot with out it being covered by insurance. Insurance even runs the hospitals and doctors you can't have an operation without their approval . Insurances has a whole on everything in this country.

Answer 3

Because they have proved to save lives, prevent some serious injuries & insurance companies don't want to pay out any more than they have to so, your insurance company wants you to wear that seat belt also! If you have an accident & your insurance finds that you were not wearing your seat belt it is possible that they won't pay for your care or if they do it will be a lot less than if you were at least trying to protect yourself. If your insurance won't pay, guess who gets to pick up the bill? Right, the rest of us via Medicaid, higher Doctor & hospital bills.

Answer 4

You should be allowed not to wear it and pay a higher premium. Of course most would lie and say yea I wear a seat belt for a lower premium.
Would it be fair for the insurance company to say, "we are not going to pay the medical bills because this guy was not wearing a seat belt and his head trauma would not have been caused if he had a seat belt."

Answer 5

Just like the old commercial goes, "It saves lives" Jobs in the U.S. have requirements to work there like safety glasses, steel toed boots, uniforms, etc. You wouldn't tell that company no because it's your body would you? Just because you don't get paid to wear your seat belt doesn't make a difference. Just try getting a ticket, or hurt in an accident without your seat belt on. I'm sure you would think differently about it then.

Answer 6

Because when there's an accident on the freeway where idiots don't wear seatbelts, the 15,000 other commuters behind that car have to sit in traffic for 3 hours while they call the coroner. Simple enough for you?

Answer 7

Because, my friend, those "thousands" you pay in insurance premiums are partly due to people who DON'T wear their seat belts and get seriously injured.

Be sensible, wear your belt and encourage safety measures that not only save lives and reduce injuries, but help keep insurance premiums from being any higher than they already are.

Answer 8

it's our tax dollars spent scraping you off the highway when you get ejected thru the windshield...we also pay when you get bounced around inside your vehicle and lose any semblance of control, causing the accident to be more severe and winding up with more people hurt more seriously-i would actually prefer a system where failure to wear a seat belt was considered prima facie evidence of negligence, so that in an accident, the non-seatbelt wearer couldn't collect damages

Answer 9

Yes but have you ever stopped to think that your unrestrained body flying out of the car could harm another person?

I am primarily referring to people slamming their brakes on to keep from hitting you after you are ejected from your vehicle. You could cause mass casualties by not wearing a seat belt.

Answer 10

So that some poor worker doesn't have to scrape your guts off of the highway after you go flying through the windshield.

Plus, when the insurance company has to pay a huge claim because of your injuries and/or death, everyone else's insurance rates go up.

Also, common sense tells you to wear a seatbelt. Unfortunately, many people in this country (apparently you included) do not have any common sense so the government has to pass laws to force you to use common sense.