"Stepped up enforcement" of seat belt law

[SteveBenson]

Re: \"Stepped up enforcement\" of seat belt law

>The insurance company conspiracy theory is far fetched at best. You heard this from who? Does anyone really think the insurance companies reached out to the 10's of thousands of fed, state, town, village, enforcement agencies and used some nefarious means to get the police chiefs to order the troops to give seatbelt summonses so that they could then raise the rates?

I think the "stepped up seatbelt enforcement" is a federal campaign (as someone else mentioned previously). I don't know this for a fact, but I would assume it's true as it seems to happen all over the country every summer, as this thread clearly shows.

Is it farfetched to believe insurance companies might be behind such a federal campaign? Do the insurance companies lobby Washington? If the insurance comapanies believe that, statistically, seatbelt use would cause fewer claims do you think they wouldn't use their lobbying power to push seatbelt laws. Who is the driving force behind mandatory helmet laws? Hmmm.

Farfetched? Maybe?

I'm not against the police in any way, in fact I wish we had A LOT more police resources where I live. It's just that, given our scant resources, I wish we could concentrate on the real crime that we do have a problem with first. Now if you think not wearing your seat belt is a real crime, I can't help you with that.

And when I said the cops are working for the insurance companies when they are working these seatbelt checks I meant in a very round about way.

Just my 2 cents and my paranoid conspiracy theory /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[cowboydoc]

Re: \"Stepped up enforcement\" of seat belt law

The insurance company conspiracy theory is far fetched at best. You heard this from who? Does anyone really think the insurance companies reached out to the 10's of thousands of fed, state, town, village, enforcement agencies and used some nefarious means to get the police chiefs to order the troops to give seatbelt summonses so that they could then raise the rates?


Sorry Lawman but the it's no theory but the truth. I have sat in on numerous times with these meetings. The insurance companies are the biggest lobbying force in the US. All of the insurance laws be it medical, house, auto, etc. are driven by the insurance industry. They have unlimited resources and power. They give a staggering amount of pac money.

As far as being stopped for doing nothing other than a seatbelt the answer is YES. Over the past 10 years I have been stopped 7 times. 1 time was for speeding, 1 time was for allegedly rolling through a stop sign and 8 times were for seatbelt. Only 1 time was I actually not wearing my seatbelt. I have a 69 Camaro that I drive alot in the summer. There is only a lapbelt in it. So there is no way to see the belt. I have been stopped five times in this car. The other 3 times were when I HAD my seatbelt on. One time the state officer even said, "Oh I see you put on your seatbelt since I stopped you". I said no I've had it on the whole time. He asked for my license, registration, and insurance. I asked what had I done wrong first? He said nothing. I said I didn't believe he could ask for my information if I hadn't done anything wrong. He did anyway and not wanting to cause a scene I gave it to him.

 

[gws]

Re: \"Stepped up enforcement\" of seat belt law

seatbelts should be required in vehicles.
Seatbelts are a good idea to wear
Seatbelts should be required for children under 18.
Seatbelts for an adult should be a choice .

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Re: \"Stepped up enforcement\" of seat belt law

I'm with f350lawman.... Most of us choose to write the tickets with the least consequences...seatbelts, expired tags & equipment violations. These usually don't carry points like speeding and stop signs. We still have to show supervisors what we do in an 8 hour shift.

 

[mwechtal]

Re: \"Stepped up enforcement\" of seat belt law

On a related note: At least one insurance company gives State Police laser guns. This certainly pays the insurance company. Speeding tickets = points, and points = higher insurance bills.

Mike

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Re: \"Stepped up enforcement\" of seat belt law

Not to argue, obviuosly that insurance company is seeking some benefit from giving out the guns. I still think that their real benefit will be from less/less severe accidents and not from higher premiums.

While a couple of hundred dollar raise in premium is a big deal to you and me, lool at the big picture. If they stop a couple of accidents where they pay out millions that is where their real savings is. I think that this is their real goal. Think about it, they would have to raise 10,000 people $100 each to = the savings from one million dollar settlement. If you read the papers million dollar suits are everywhere, surely avoiding afew is big money to them.

 

[SteveBenson]

Re: \"Stepped up enforcement\" of seat belt law

>I still think that their real benefit will be from less/less severe accidents and not from higher premiums.

You're probably right there. But they are still the driving force behind this law and many others.

Just think of all the other risky activities that people participate in. How would we all like the insurance companies to start regulating other areas of our lives and charge us an arm and a leg to boot. That's were it's going if left unchecked.

 

[Gary_in_Indiana]

Re: \"Stepped up enforcement\" of seat belt law

<font color="blue"> Does anyone really think the insurance companies reached out to the 10's of thousands of fed, state, town, village, enforcement agencies and used some nefarious means to get the police chiefs to order the troops to give seatbelt summonses so that they could then raise the rates?
</font>

Actually, it wouldn't take a whole lot more than instructing their already well-placed and well-financed lobbyists to promote something like this. I'm certainly not promoting the conspiracy theory but think that the idea of having to go to each municipality to accomplish this is even more far-fetched. Once you tie federal money to enforcement of such laws, you've effectively accomplished the same thing with a lot less wear on the shoe leather.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Re: \"Stepped up enforcement\" of seat belt law

Good point, but the underlying reasoning that their intentions is to have summonses issued so that rates can be raised is what I really objected too. I wouldn't put much past them but that would be really despicable.

If they are seeking to cut down on personnal injuries to save $$$ that is bad enough but at least there is SOME upside, in order for it to be worth it for the Ins. companies it would have to work. Therefore some people would have to be saved from injury/death.

Don't get me wrong I am not a seatbelt/helmet law activist but there could actually be some good evn if the Insurance company sees only $ signs.

The one thing I didn't see (maybe I missed it) in this thread is that seatbelts unlike helmets do save OTHER people who are not in the vehicle as well. I can attest to he fact that they allow you to stay in the seat after a collision so that you can continue to control the vehicle and not strike other objects/people. Antone who's bee T-boned hard and kept their foward moment can tell you how the force tries to throw you out of the drivers seat.

That said I wear the belt for all but the shortest trips, guess I am a slow but steady learner /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif


P.S. I ordered this morning and my Deere finacing went through a couple of minutes ago so my 790/FEL/hog package is on order!!! So who cares about insurance and seatbelts /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

 

[MossRoad]

Re: \"Stepped up enforcement\" of seat belt law

<font color="blue"> Antone who's bee T-boned hard and kept their foward moment can tell you how the force tries to throw you out of the drivers seat.
</font>
More like the force tries to throw the driver's seat from under you.

I agree. Seat belts, in the long run, do much more good than harm. Sure there are cases where someone didn't have a seat belt on and were able to duck, slide over or jump out of the way, but I'll bet there are way many more cases where the safest place to be was right in the seat.

Congratulations on the new tractor! /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif