Comments | jaguar_warrior: Red & Blue

jaguar_warrior

Red & Blue

Jul 27, 2005 01:50

Well, on Monday I got pulled over for the third time for "not wearing a seatbelt" [my Nova's restraint system wasn't designed to make it easy for the passerby to notice whether it is on or not] and got a nice $20 ticket for it. The cop, unlike the other 2 didn't even double check after I pointed out the bracket that holds the seatbelt back [thus ( Read more... )

Comments 8

tybron July 27 2005, 09:49:02 UTC

Like them or not, seat belts save lives, and it's easier on everyone to enforce a stupid law and hand out $20 tickets than let them impale themselves on steering wheels, cut themselves in half on windshields and even end up using their severed torsos as bludgeoning instruments on another vehicle. I do agree with the principle that the gov't shouldn't have to protect you from yourself, but if they don't, no one will. It's the same reason I agree with helmet laws for motorcycles.

dmdominion July 27 2005, 14:42:14 UTC

You can take your helmet law and shove them up the wazoo. What you do hear, is that helmets help prevent head trauma. What you don't hear (on the same data) is that they also reduce periferal vision, making it MORE dangerous for cyclists. They are also related to more neck injuries. Considering the average auto driver is responsible for the majority of (safe, key point here) motorcyclist accidents, Why don't you just legislate that auto drivers can't drive the same roads that the motorcyclists are on. This is not considering the morons that drive like maniacs on a crotch powered death machine, they get what they deserve.

Government should not legislate "for your own good" no matter what.

tybron July 27 2005, 17:20:50 UTC

My uncle is in a wheelchair for the rest of his life and is slowly dying because he wasn't wearing a helmet, and got severe head and neck trauma from a motorcycle accident. IF he'd been wearing one, the injuries sustained would've been much more minor. I've also seen what happens to the helmets when they're hit, the padding inside gets torn to shit. Think about what that kind of impact does to a skull.

There are helmets that don't kill peripheral vision, you know. I'd rather have a little less vision than a lot less safety. But then again, I'd not be caught dead riding something that would throw me 20-50 feet on impact anyway.

dmdominion July 27 2005, 20:58:06 UTC

I'll also bet that the accident wasn't your uncle's fault. It was probably a classic case where the other driver said "I didn't see him."

As far as helmets are concerned, I've ridden both with and without them. I know both sides of the story. I know people that have suffered through accidents. It was your uncle's choice to choose, and he made it. That doesn't give you (or anyone else) the RIGHT to make my choice for me. Considering that you don't ride a motorcycle, why should you even be involved? It's like men making the moral decision about abortion for women.

Thread 5

ms7168 July 27 2005, 10:40:58 UTC

When I started driving in 1969 cars were just starting to be equipped with lap belts and shoulder belts. They weren't combined until a few years later.
The first car I owned was equipped with after market seat belts so we decided that since it had them we would use them. Once you get used to clicking you just do it almost unconsciously.

I also hate that they use things like that for their selective enforcement.
It indeed sucks.

Why do you have an out-of-state drivers license?

dmdominion July 27 2005, 14:43:41 UTC

Tickets suck. Stop being followed by cops, and you'll do better.

jaguar_warrior July 28 2005, 18:43:16 UTC

To avoid the argument growing more, let's just put it this way . . I am 21, so legally I can get drunk off my ass, smoke cigarettes until I die, purchase a gun to shoot myself with, and a number of other stupid as hell things. If I am to fuck up and drive into oncoming traffic [whether on purpose or by accident] I think a seatbelt benefits alone should count as enough incentive alone to wear it. That's probably going to be the lifesaving factor, not because some cop stopped you for wearing it. Hell, human psychology tends to make a person lean more against wearing a seatbelt if cops give them shit about it in spite of the ticket. As far as kids go, especially younger ones, most aren't fully capable of rationalizing the forces involved in most accidents, how seatbelts are designed to work with other systems like airbags, or for some, even being able to comprehend the concept of mortality. America has a lot of good personal freedoms, quite frankley I think we shouldn't be baby sat by the goverment. If you disagree, then let's ban pretty ( ... )