Seat belt laws

So I had the privilege of paying the great city of Tigard $109 today for not wearing my seat belt. I still don't understand how that law is on the books, or how they can enforce it. How can a law forcing the populace to wear a preventative device be constitutional? It's not like wearing a seat belt saves other peoples lives... just my own.

I had the option to plead "not guilty" and request a trial date, but I honestly don't have the time or energy to fight the government on this. I just don't see how the government can force us to wear something that might save our lives. It's just a money making scheme.

This isn't like cell phones or drinking and driving, I'm not putting others at risk. I just think it's all bullshit.

 

i love it when people who are "too cool for school" decide not to put seatbelts on in my car.

 

I generally agree with the stupidity of these laws. The reasoning I heard (regarding helmet laws, which are in the same category, I suppose) is that it would cost the state money to treat you if you are injured in an accident without proper protection.

If it were me I would just rather have a "do not treat without proof of payment" law for people that do not use the industry recommended protection and be done with it.

Sorry to hear about the hassle.

 

I'm pretty ambivelent about the law. Don't really see it as unobtrusive, just that people who don't wear seatbelts in moving cars are FUCKING MORONS.

 

Studies have shown a seatbelt can sometimes keep an accident from turning into a 3 or 4 car accident by keeping the driver in his seat and conscious.

Driving unbuckled is an idiot's move, said the cigar-smoker.

 

I agree completely. I wore a seat belt before it was mandated. Seems like the data shows they protect you more than harm you, so I wear one at all times.

Nate, did you just forget, or are you a rebel who doesn't wear a seat belt?

 

Well, that's one way to look at it, and although I don't really agree with seat belt laws, they don't upset me nearly as much as taxpayer money being automatically given to public unions. Plus, Nate just gave more of his privately earned money to the government.

Perhaps that will somehow help Sam Adams hire another intern to violate, although it will be hard to beat a name like Beau Breedlove.

 

It's still a preventative measure. I might go my whole life without an accident or needing to wear the belt. In this case, I was going from one parking lot down the street two blocks into another parking lot. I usually wear my belt, but the point is, the government should not be able to tell me I HAVE to wear it. People can apparently smoke, or drink booze, killing themselves slowly but I have to wear a belt that may or may not save my life in an accident.

And don't tell me this isn't a money making scheme... there was at least 30 or 40 people in the 20 minutes that I was in court today. A fourth of them were there for seat belt infractions. That's a little over a grand for about 5 minutes of work by the judge. Not bad.

 

Fight the power! I agree with you, and notice the libs' argument (barfo, primarily) centers around more taxpayer resources being used to help "scrape" people off of the streets.

Can't be using money to save people, can we? There are excessive retirements to fund! I wonder what the state's cut off of your $109 is, and where that money goes?

 

Usually I wear it, but really, where does the government get off telling me I HAVE TO? We let people jump out of airplanes, we let them jump off cliffs, we let them hang from their ankle on a giant bungee chord, we let them climb mountains in snow storms so that the National Guard has to be called to save their dumb asses... but hey, as long as they were wearing their seat belts on the way to that dangerous hobby, it's all good, right?

 

When I was in high school I never wore my seat belt because my VERY hot/fast car didn't have them. My girlfriend's father found out and cooly informed me that if there were no seatbelts for her to wear, she wasn't riding in my car. Since she was a wispy hot blonde, I bought some at the junk yard and installed. Two weeks later I'm cruising with a pal at 55 down 217 with my seat belt on for some unknown reason (before there were any over passes) and a drunk lady with 3 other passengers runs a red light right in front of me. I t-boned her, killing her front passenger instantly. I ended up in the street unconscious and my friend was extricated with the 'jaws of life'. She was cited.

Since then I have always worn it, but feel adults should be able to choose whether or not they want to wear them.

 

I used to be lazy with the seatbelt too...then I was involved in a vicious car accident when I was 13. The seatbelt saved my life, and I haven't taken it off once since. You just don't know...you may be an excellent driver, but that won't help you when some drunken idiot runs a stoplight and smashes into you at 64 mph (like what happened to me).

These days, I won't take the car out of park unless everyone has their seatbelt on.

 

But what if said sky diver falls splat in the middle of a highway?