I find alot of the laws like that sort of stupid also. But you know why it happens. Car Insurance companies lobby the Govt for the seatbelt laws so that they can save money on some medical bills when people get injured in car accidents. My other big pet peeve is the forced non-smoking laws for buildings. If a person wants to have a resturant with smoking in it, who cares... if you don't like the smoke, don't go there. I don't smoke, but I think limiting the freedoms on the business owners sucks.
Smoking I can see a bit easier because it can actually be harmful to those around you. Taking it from the point of view that business owners should be able to make their own choice is certainly reasonable for me, though. I think part of the problem is that businesses were trying to do the "smoking"/"non-smoking" sections thing, which just doesn't really work when all of them are using the same air.
Even so, that gets to another question: why are cigarettes legal? Or why are many other drugs illegal? What makes pot so bad but tobacco totally fine? I know you lose control under some drugs, but as long as the law enforces that you're responsible for anything you do while under control of a substance you took willingly, not sure I see the huge issue.
I would think that part of the reason for seat belt laws is the cost of health care for those who are injured during the accident even during minor fender benders
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I'm fairly sure insurance costs are exactly the reason the seat belt laws are in place. Even so, couldn't you make the same argument with a healthy diet and health insurance? Isn't that the next logical step? Where does it end? The government should not be living our lives or dictating them to us. If we aren't free to make our own mistakes, what's the point? Where do we draw the line?
Perhaps it's because I don't have the same healthcare system. I have to pay insurance costs now to cover the "above and beyond" stuff for health care because people abuse it and because of higher drains on the health care system
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I mean, the big issue we're talking around is this idea that we should be able to do what we want. It's a free country, after all. At least, speaking for American, I dunno what craziness goes on up north :P But there's certainly a lot of individuality in our culture, and it's fairly central to our cultural identity. Having said that, it's certainly the case that our actions have consequences not just for ourselves, but for others in society. And those two things are always going to be in tension. Finding the sweet spot where we can co-exist in harmony without being restricted from living the way we want is very difficult
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i grew up without the seat belt laws.. and my generation seemed to have survived.. hell.. grandaddy pete had a small red datsun truck.. and he and uncle bobby would put us kids (me, rachel, roddy, scotty, mark and robby) six of us ages from heck at one time i think rachel was in training pants, so 3? which made me 9-10 yrs the oldest of the 6.. in the truck and drove for 45 min to the coal mines to take lunches to some of the newbies and really old minors without families
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You'd think. And yet seat belt laws are pretty universal. Why?
Maybe the question has been asked and answered somewhere, but I've never really looked and it's always bugged me a bit. Since I would wear a seat belt anyway I don't stress about it, but it bugs me. This isn't something I would think the government should be dictating to us.
I remember riding in the backs of pickup trucks as well. And riding back in the boat when we were towing it down to the dock. Admittedly, we weren't going far, but I would sit in the boat with mom and nana and I'd drive the boat down to the dock. And I survived, too.
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Even so, that gets to another question: why are cigarettes legal? Or why are many other drugs illegal? What makes pot so bad but tobacco totally fine? I know you lose control under some drugs, but as long as the law enforces that you're responsible for anything you do while under control of a substance you took willingly, not sure I see the huge issue.
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Maybe the question has been asked and answered somewhere, but I've never really looked and it's always bugged me a bit. Since I would wear a seat belt anyway I don't stress about it, but it bugs me. This isn't something I would think the government should be dictating to us.
I remember riding in the backs of pickup trucks as well. And riding back in the boat when we were towing it down to the dock. Admittedly, we weren't going far, but I would sit in the boat with mom and nana and I'd drive the boat down to the dock. And I survived, too.
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