[MomCat]

With all due respect for those of you who feel that being required to use a seat-belt is simply an infringement of your rights by a “big-brother” government, please consider the following...

1. The Laws of Physics: Drivers who are not buckled are more likely to lose control in a compromised situation (e.g., swerving to avoid something in the road, being cut off, etc.)--which means they could then crash into another vehicle, a pedestrian, a house, etc. The forces of speed and gravity are NOT respecters of "rights," and the human body can turn into a flying or sliding object very easily. Instances when seat-belt use would have saved someone from injury or death FAR outweigh cases when someone was trapped because of a seat belt.

2. Economics: The expenses for treating people who are injured in car crashes because they weren't buckled are borne by ALL of us. They impact health insurance premiums and medical costs and resources in general--not to mention the cost to taxpayers when the families of injured, permanently disabled, or DEAD drivers have to go on public assistance. Who do you think picks up the cost of care for someone with a long-term disability or in a persistent vegetative state? Unless the family is fantastically wealthy, it's ALL OF US. Think of that the next time you complain about your health-insurance premiums and rising hospital costs—not to mention those soaring taxes, which pay for public assistance. (Of course, helmetless bikers who are injured or killed are part of this equation, too.) “Live Free or Die” doesn’t mean that OTHERS should have to PAY for YOUR recklessness, when there is a PROVEN method for avoiding unnecessary risk.

3. Personal Responsibility (see “Live Free or Die,” above): If you prefer not to buckle, are willing to relinquish your right to public assistance for yourself and your family if you are injured/disabled/killed in a crash? Are you willing to forgo medical treatment when you or your insurance company can no longer pay? Are you willing to pay higher auto and medical premiums as a “non-buckler”? Also, when you pull out onto public pavement, your rights end at my bumper, and I have a right to expect you to take responsibility and use whatever is available to avoid an accident. If you won’t, are you willing to pay for MY expenses, too?

4. The “Right” to Drive: We drive on PUBLIC roadways, and only those people who have proven that they know the laws and rules of the road and how to operate a vehicle are licensed to drive. Those who act irresponsibly and endanger others—including their own children—on those roadways have always risked forfeiting the right to drive. Every citizen enjoys the freedom to acquire a license, but not to endanger others OR expect them to pay for irresponsible behavior.

5. Human Suffering—perhaps most important of all: Unless you or someone close to you has experienced the tragedy of a crash in which a life could have been saved or a permanently disabling injury could have been avoided, you can not imagine the suffering—physical, emotional, and financial—that results. Cruelest of all is the chronic, nagging pain of knowing that it all could have been avoided. Seat belts won’t save every life or prevent every injury, but I do know that they work—they saved the lives of my husband, our children, and I when we were broadsided by a driver who ran a stop sign at 60 mph. Our car was totaled, and a suitcase thrown from the trunk landed over 50 yards away (hard to believe but true)—but our total injuries were one cracked, rib and some bruises, from the seat belts. The troopers said they had no doubt that if we hadn’t been buckled we all would have been killed or seriously injured.

Thanks for this time on the soap box and your respect for the exchange of ideas. The Forum is just what it’s name implies—a place to voice opinions and share information. Please drive safely, whether you buckle or not!