You simply could not be more mistaken, but I'm sure nothing I could say would change your mind. Personally, like a lot of people, I don't like a law that only makes you protect yourself, so even though I wear seat belts all the time, and would be uncomfortable without them, I used to feel it shouldn't be a law that you HAVE to wear them. I used to ride motorcycles; didn't like the helmet law because there were lots of times when it was just too HOT.
However, there have been some studies done that concluded those laws don't just protect YOU because accidents that kill or cripple people cost all of us in the form of welfare or disability payments to some of those injured, higher insurance premiums for all of us, etc.
I've no doubt that each of us knows of several laws with which we disagree, especially if they affect us personally. Does that mean we should ignore and violate such laws? How about if everyone only obeyed the laws he/she agrees with?
Well, it is a bit dramatic of an attempt to equate a seat belt law with some sort to "what if people obeyed only the laws they chose to". Simply because many laws deal with things that directly affect another person... rape, murder, theft, etc. And there are no spitting on the sidewalk laws and other stuff that has nothing to do with affecting anyone. And when I see in broad terms the nature and goal of government, especially from my experiences in Viet Nam and everything since, it is quite a stretch to think that their primary motivation for instituting seat belt laws was safety. Unlike maybe where you live, there is no helmet law in Iowa for motorcyclists. So where is the so-called concern for citizen safety? Clearly not evident. I am keenly aware that LE agencies like stacking all kinds of laws on so they can have a justifiable position to make a traffic stop and use it for a fishing expedition to find other things they can get someone on. I have friends in law enforcement that comment to that effect to me personally.
And lets be brutally honest here... states were forced into making seat belt laws at risk of losing highway funding from the Feds. That is pure fact. Many states would not have such restrictive seat belt laws if the Feds weren't threatening to cut off the highway money if they didn't.
In your attempt to state I am mistaken, you conveniently left out the things that I expounded on to make the point. Like variable speed limit laws that place more people in jeopardy by forcing legally faster autos and pickups to intermingle with large commercial trucks which are mandated to run slower on the same road. And right lane restriction laws for commercial trucks which force more interaction between vehicles, and compounds the problem when combined with variable speed limits. Clearly again, no evidence of safety being the primary concern. It was done clearly because some politician and his buddies wanted a clear shot to race down the road in the left lane because he felt he was on a mission from God and more important that the rabble. Then he has to cut back in between the slower commercial vehicles forced to the right lanes and bunched up so he can make his exit ramp, many times just barely. All the while endangering others.
You claim to be so well versed in all of this, well I am no newbie either. I have racked up nearly 6 million actual documented commercial driving miles (with ZERO at fault accidents) and see this kind of stuff every day and am more keenly aware that those who institute this nonsense need to be taken out and flogged. And you in Texas should be aware, especially since some guy who worked on an aircraft carrier designed the on and off ramps on I-35. Like I am supposed to get a 80,000 lb truck up to any reasonable speed to merge into traffic on a ramp that is only 300 feet long. The Navy guy who developed those ramps forgot the catapult. Obviously safety was not a factor in the design yet again.
And states just keep ramping up the speed limits, even though there is substantial evidence that accident injuries and deaths are going up exponentially. For instance, states that have raised speed limits to 75 mph, have effectively negated the lives saved by air bags. That is DOT statistics. The number of lives saved by air bags has now been negated by the increased deaths due to higher speed limits. Again, where is governments overwhelming concern for safety? And while they want to bump these speed limits up, they are set to mandate that every commercial vehicle over 26,000 lb has to be speed limited mechanically to 65 mph. Again, creating that wonderful differential speed that is soooo safe.
That is why I do not worship at the seat belt alter.
