Seat Belt Laws

Let me start off by saying that I agree that wearing a seat-belt makes good sense and is advisable.  Don’t take this personal, it’s not an indictment, it’s just my personal observations and views on the subject. Seat Belt Laws are a Scam!

However; I feel that seat belt and similar so called safety regulations/laws are largely a sham and a money-making opportunity for law enforcement.  They give the false illusion that the local, state and federal government entities involved are doing something good for the health and well being of their constituents.  Restated: I do not believe that the state and local governments see it as anything more than a money generator as well as a smoke and mirror show to draw attention away from the real issues of the day.

If the driver of a private vehicle is not wearing one, hefty fines are levied.  If the driver has his on but the passengers do not, again the driver gets fined.

I have ridden in privately operated shuttle vans where seat belts laws were enforced and the driver made sure all were wearing them before the shuttle started out.  This is because a 15 passenger shuttle buss is easy prey and fines are calculated by the number of people not wearing them (not one fine per vehicle to cover all offenses in the vehicle).  Again this smells of money making. 

If they were really enforcing seat belts for public safety than all forms of transportation would be required to provide them, enforce use and be liable for infractions.  Why doesn’t this apply to public transportation?  Am supposed to believe that it’s for the public’s safety but public transit never gets in accidents therefore no risk of injury exists? That answer would be utter nonsense!

Montgomery County MD School buses had seat belts installed and before the project was even completed they decided to pull them out again because the kids were playing with them or using them as weapons.  If public safety was really an issue they would have been replaced by a rigid bar type restraint similar to the ones worn at an amusement park. Safety is not the issue, money is.

In every mass transit accident where people have been hurt the majority of the injuries have been incurred by people who are thrown from their seats.  If public safety was the issue than all mass transit would have seat belts and be liable for their rider’s non-compliance just as a private companies or citizens would be while driving privately owned vehicles.

I have rarely been in a cab where the patron was required to wear one even though they are generally available in cabs.

Show me a commuter rail where seat belts laws are enforced.  How about a public bus?  Nope not there either.  They aren’t even available in most cases. In the seldom cases where they have been installed they are not enforced and are usually taken out after very long. I have never been in mass transit; buses, subways, and ‘regular’ or ‘light commuter’ rail service or on an aircraft (other than landing or take off in a commercial plane) that seat belts are required.  As a matter of fact I don’t believe that I’ve been in a public bus or subway that even had a seat belt available.

I have been in passenger cars on the railroad,  that did have seat belts available but wearing them was not enforced and most of them were down between the seats and obviously had rarely if ever been used.  I have also been on light rail and commuter cars that didn’t have any restraints of any type available.

I have seen them in government owned/operated transportation, shuttle buses and vans but again there is no enforcement or liability and no fines are levied.

Arguments against mandatory availability and use usually center on the cost of installation, upkeep and monitoring use.  None of which are valid if safety is the real goal. It’s my personal belief [with obvious exceptions] is that the government should be susceptible to the same regulations and laws applied to its citizens.

The argument that some people cannot wear a seat belt due to special circumstances is not valid because the same person with the same “special circumstances” would still be required to wear proper restraints in a private vehicle.

Once again we see that the government exempts itself from legislation that is supposedly passed for the common good and in the name of public safety.

This is not a safety issue it’s a money maker. Period.

Prove me wrong. Put them in all forms of public transportation.

Oh and I just have to ask this… A few years ago the Governor of New Jersey was recently in a very bad accident and apparently was not wearing his seat belt. While I/m glad his recovery went well, The police were not going to write him up for it until he TOLD them to! Do they ask or neglect to write everyon4e up until asked to? I think not…

Just for the heck of it I picked a recent year at random to find out what the statistics really look like Here are some statistics for you to ponder:

EDIT: Of course these numbers change every year and vary from state to state.  You can check your state through most state police websites; check here for Maryland.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s own statistics say that in 2005:

• 614 people died on Maryland’s roads, of which, if we subtract the
• 85 which were on motorcycles (no seat belts there…) and the
• 7 people on bicycles (no seat belts there…) and
• 102 that were walking on a road (no seat belts there…) we have
• 420 of which
• 185 weren’t wearing seat belts.

So out of the 5,600,388 people residing in our State and millions that commute through it on our highways

• 185 folks died without their seat belts on and, of course,
• 139 of those deaths were alcohol related fatalities.
• That leaves 46 out of 5,600,388 residents plus commuters passing through

46 people died while not wearing seat belts and alcohol was not involved. That’s less than .00054% of the population plus estimated commuters passing though the state yearly and demonstrates that this law has a minimal effect, at best on the safety of motor vehicle occupants.

Conveniently for the government the NTSB does not show a breakdown which would demonstrate how many of these people died while in public transportation where seat-belts were not available and not enforced by the government.  I am sure some of the remaining 46 may well have been in that group.  I recall a couple instances one involving a school bus and one involving a metro bus but cannot recall the numbers or dates for certain.

Also keep in mind that 429 people died while wearing a seat-belt (or did not have a seat-belt available to them).

Actually my purpose is not necessarily to seek a repeal of the seat-belt law. I wear one and make sure my kids do too. I don’t want to come off as anti-seat-belt but I have a hard time when the government:

A: attempts to legislate common sense to citizens.

B: attempts a money making scheme while telling the citizens it’s for their own protection, again I come back to my original point above – why aren’t they required in all forms of public transportation and where is the enforcement equal to the enforcement focused on John Q Citizen? 

I am tired of the government saying do as I say, not as I do.

At the risk of repeating myself: Prove me wrong.  Put them in all forms of public transportation.  Or publicly justify not doing so by citing statistics while stating how much (or little) a life is worth in dollars.  Either that or stop passing seat belt laws and collecting fines to force their use in private vehicles.