Posted on 02/17/2005 10:28:42 AM PST by freepatriot32
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -- A Senate committee advanced a bill Tuesday that would require drivers and all passengers to wear seat belts in trucks, SUVs and cars.
After hearing emotional testimony from family members of those killed in crashes, the Senate's public policy committee voted 10-0 to endorse the bill. It now moves to the full Senate, which approved similar legislation last year before it was blocked in a House committee.
The bill requires people in front and back seats to buckle up in all vehicles with seat belts, with exceptions for trucks used on farms. People who cannot wear seat belts for medical reasons are also exempt.
The bill is being dubbed "Megan's Bill" after 24-year-old Megan Minix of Kokomo, who died last year when the pickup truck she was riding in flipped over. She wasn't wearing a seat belt because she felt safer in the truck, her father said, even though she always wore one in her car.
I wonder how different our lives would be if Megan would have had her seat belt on," a tearful Darrell Minix told the committee. "She was my little girl."
A group of high school students from Evansville told senators they also supported the bill. Adrian France said teenagers like herself would start wearing seat belts in trucks and as backseat passengers if Indiana's law was changed.
"We're afraid of getting a ticket, not of dying," France said.
Bill sponsor Sen. Tom Wyss, R-Fort Wayne, said the bill would likely face opposition as it moves through the legislative process.
"It's not without controversy," he told senators. "You're going to hear from constituents talking about their freedom and liberty."
Wyss said legislators should focus on public safety, not personal rights.
"We're talking about human life and human injury," Wyss said.
Rep. Bob Alderman, R-Fort Wayne, said adults should make their own choices on whether to wear seat belts without interference from lawmakers.
"There's a group of us who still understand personal freedom," Alderman said.
Alderman said if the bill was assigned to the House public policy committee, of which he is chairman, he might give it a hearing but would not guarantee a vote on the proposal.
Rep. Cleo Duncan, a Republican from Greensburg who heads the House's transportation panel, said she was undecided on what she would do with the bill.
"We're going to have to keep an open mind," Duncan said.
Minix said he would return to the Statehouse to testify if the bill gets a hearing in the House. He said his daughter was not standing up for her personal freedoms by not wearing a seat belt - she simply knew she didn't have to wear it.
"She wasn't trying to make a statement," he said. "This could happen to anyone."
Ahhh, okay then. But you'd be surprised on how many here would disagree with you.
I agree with you on all points.
I pretty much have to... I can not in good conscience applaud our soldiers willingness to sacrifice their lives for my freedoms and THEN, I be willing to surrender them to save a few bucks on premiums.
I'm responsible for myself and if I value myself and my family, I'll protect me.
Thanks. I type fast when I'm pissed.
Okay, that's as good a definition as I think I'll see. So it works for me.
I think I'll take a pass on those, but I respect your right to disagree with me. After all, nost people do! ;-)
you are right.....I see both sides......I for one think that obesity is a health crisis but don't know what anyone but the actor can do about it.......I think it helps raise medical costs and such just like children being obese terrible for the nation as a whole....but of course, I logically would say that you can't legislate to someone that wants to destroy themselves.....but sometimes I wish we could protect people from themselves but that would lead to too much govt intervention......too bad our society is getting so soft it has to eat it's ass off and especially the kids cause once they do so, they are in for a life usually of battling it.............too bad
Is calling someone a "nost person" an insult? :^)
< sarcasm >It's good to see that we are expending time & effort on people in trucks not wearing seat-belts (I think Georgia & Indiana are the only 2 states where this is true) instead of using the energy to combat those pesky meth labs. Priorities, priorities.< / sarcasm >
You thimk you're fummy, dom't you?
They are wrong because of 2 reasons:
1. I as a grown adult do not need the government to tell me I have to wear a seatbelt. FOLLOW THE MONEY!!
2. Our representatives should be more concerned with the terrorists that are trying to kill us and start protecting our borders. FOLLOW THE MONEY!!
Wakka wakka wakka....
I agree with most of your list. But there is a "chicken and egg" problem here. It is perhaps because of the law that your criteria are not implemented. I would prefer to work toward enacting your criteria than accepting a fascist law.
I'm not saying its common. But at 50 km/h, an a person weighing 176 lbs. will strike whatever it hits first with a force of 6,215 lbs. That body is hitting something, maybe in the road. It also is another object that has to be avoided by other drivers.
I can see why! Incidentally (and somewhat topically) who the heck are the "Pittsburgh Stillers"?
they lobby the senators so they will require older and older children to be in car seats. which generates more income for the companies. THat was my point. Now you watch since 16 year old drivers are more likely to die in a auto accident they will require special saftey care seats for teen age drivers.
I hate the seat belt law requirement.
It definitely is an infringement of my freedom.
Because they are.
That's how ya pronounce "Steelers" up hyar in PA. At least, being a transplant from my beloved South, that's what I am told.
I see you're assuming deceleration at 1136 ft/sec^2, or 35.31g's, with the body stopping in 0.04 seconds after traveling 0.9140 ft, or 11 inches. What if they slam into something that doesn't deform 11", or it takes them more than 0.04 seconds to come to rest? ;-)
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