Seat Belt Laws

[DWPerry]

I would love to find out how much money insurance companies & car seat manufacturers gave to lobby States to pass laws requiring the use of car seats for children. After all, what better way to make money than to get the gov't to mandate people buy your product.

BTW, I only wear my seatbelt in a rental car, and that's only because I get the ones that beep if you don't wear it.

[DWPerry]

BTW, I only wear my seatbelt in a rental car, and that's only because I get the ones that beep if you don't wear it.

So how many times do you rent a car?

At least once a month when I go to Pennsylvania to see my son.

[DWPerry]

It would be in the "public interest" to install seat belts on toilets as well, because someone might fall off and hit their head on the pointy corner of the bathroom sink that needs a protective rubber coating.
People fall down stairs everyday, so why not pass a law outlawing any structure that requires someone to step up?
People choke on food all the time, so should we pass a law requiring food to only be served in liquid form, but not hot liquid because you might get burned and not cold liquid because you may get "ice-cream headache"?
How about beds? They should be required to have rails around the side because people fall out of bed all the time.

You see where I'm going with this (hopefully). Once you allow the government to tell you what you have to do for "your safety" in public, they will soon be able to tell you what you can do for "your safety" in private as well.

With that being said, I will now put my federally mandated helmet back on my head, so that if I fall I will not sustain life-threatening injuries requiring millions of tax-dollars to remain in a vegetative state.

[DWPerry]

I think that you are missing the scale of car accidents. All of your mock examples are highly unlikely events.  Over 100 Americans die in car accidents every day. We need to minimize the governement money spent on health care for the far greater number who survive. Just to rile the conservatives, I'll point out that their " I don't want the government protecting me from my own stupidity" argument also implies support for the repeal of laws prohibiting drug use.

I agree with you on the drug use laws needing repealed; until the early 1900's there were no Federal drug laws, it was a State issue. You could even buy heroine (which was created by Bayer) out of the Sear's Catalog!

[DWPerry]

It would be in the "public interest" to install seat belts on toilets as well, because someone might fall off and hit their head on the pointy corner of the bathroom sink that needs a protective rubber coating.
People fall down stairs everyday, so why not pass a law outlawing any structure that requires someone to step up?
People choke on food all the time, so should we pass a law requiring food to only be served in liquid form, but not hot liquid because you might get burned and not cold liquid because you may get "ice-cream headache"?
How about beds? They should be required to have rails around the side because people fall out of bed all the time.

You see where I'm going with this (hopefully). Once you allow the government to tell you what you have to do for "your safety" in public, they will soon be able to tell you what you can do for "your safety" in private as well.

With that being said, I will now put my federally mandated helmet back on my head, so that if I fall I will not sustain life-threatening injuries requiring millions of tax-dollars to remain in a vegetative state.