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Click it or ticket
townhall ^ | 5/24/06 | Walter WIlliams

Posted on 05/31/2006 9:42:50 AM PDT by from occupied ga

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To: Gabz

How about injuries? Oh wait, that would mean you applied proper context. Just like drunk driving it goes deeper than just deaths. So how about it?

Just so you know when I was in high school my wrestling partner was wearing a seatbelt in a crash, the only to be wearing one in fact, and he now sits in a wheelchair. All were injured in the crash.

Many crashes will cause fatality regardless of belts but they do help. This is another bit of context you leave out when posting this stat. In a nutshell there is more to it than just what you tout here.

I agree a seat belt would be best left to each person. They do save lives in some cirmstances and it is wrong to ignore that part of it. Today it is the law and the best opposition to it today is against how it is enforced. Make them enforce it across the board or not at all. Do this by making it a part of the car just like brakes.

Brakes do not always save lives in a crash but they do enough of the time it is prudent to have them. Same can be said about airbags. Same can be said about turn signals and brake lights. Wouldn't you agree?

Should I say, "well, it is my choice to have brake lights on my car, I should be able to disconnect them"

I understand that seat belts and lights are not the exact same thing but they are hardly opposites right? Do you at least understand why they are both there? Will you say people should not be ticketed when lights are disconnected or burned out? They should not be told they have to signal or be ticketed when they do not?


241 posted on 05/31/2006 11:41:08 AM PDT by BlueStateDepression
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To: BlueStateDepression

OK then so it is OK to require a 17 year old to wear a belt but not an 18 year old or older? Or is it 20 year olds we restrain and not 21 year olds?



At the threshold at which reasonable people agree (democratically) that a youth is capable of making life and death decision for himself without need his parents' mandate, he can choose. 5-year-olds certainly need to be protected by government against parental neglect. 17 year-olds don't.

Perhaps driving age makes sense, because when a kid is driving, he is acting as an adult.

>>you not restrained while your kids are in the car? Protecting the children right?

If the kids are restrained, fine. Of course, you might bring in the nanny/police state if Daddy risks a coronary from bad diet, or death from dangerous sports, too, right (you did read the article, didn't you? These topics were covered.)

>>I hope you have fun trying to justify your position being that is directly contradicts itself when age is injected.

I did. Nice thing about having principles is that they apply quite universally.

>>Then I suppose you will have to admit that you define liberty by age. Good luck with that one HA HA HA HA.

Kids don't have the same liberty because they aren't knowledgeable or mature enough to handle the responsibility of the decisions liberty brings. Just because young 'ens aren't ready for liberty does not justify treating all adults as children.


242 posted on 05/31/2006 11:42:21 AM PDT by Atlas Sneezed (Your FRiendly FReeper Patent Attorney)
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To: RobRoy

Just like a punch in boxing, it is always the one you didn't see that hurts the most. I may cuxx and stew when I sit at a red light but I will continue to sit until it goes green and even then I will still procede with caution.

A nasty car wreck that damages your body will make you see things in a light that previously you may not have noticed.


243 posted on 05/31/2006 11:43:22 AM PDT by BlueStateDepression
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To: newgeezer

If you know of a way to determine with virtually 100% certainty whether the injured was belted, go for it.



We assign liability and responsibility on far less certain questions.


244 posted on 05/31/2006 11:43:56 AM PDT by Atlas Sneezed (Your FRiendly FReeper Patent Attorney)
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To: from occupied ga

"Click it or ticket" is government abuse of power. It is just an excuse to collect revenue and search without a warrant. And my insurance certainly hasn't gone down in the years since we were hit with "zero tolerance" for seat belt criminals.


245 posted on 05/31/2006 11:44:59 AM PDT by mysterio
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To: Old Professer

Indeed, but maybe you have only old cars that do not require you to press the brake pedal in order to put it in gear or that lock the doors once you do put it in gear.

Technology is vastly improved today but I would guess you know that already.

( I removed that wiring in both my 78 and my 79 Trans am) ;)


246 posted on 05/31/2006 11:45:17 AM PDT by BlueStateDepression
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To: BlueStateDepression
Gosh, I overestimated your ability. Shame on me.

BUZZZ, incorrect son.

Seat belts: have no effect on other people's safety.

All the rest do.

Red lights: apply to everyone
Speed limits: apply to everyone
Lines: apply to everyone
Turn lanes: everyone
signals:everyone
enforcement:everyone.

Here's your hat!


247 posted on 05/31/2006 11:45:50 AM PDT by Protagoras ("A real decision is measured by the fact that you have taken a new action"... Tony Robbins)
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To: Leatherneck_MT

I am free to avoid being forced to wear a seat belt. I can take a bus. I can take a taxi, I can ride a bike or I can walk.

Maybe it isn't me that needs to broaden the horizons eh?

Seems I see more freedom here than some that claim their liberty is being stomped on when indeed they have plenty of choices to select from.


248 posted on 05/31/2006 11:47:25 AM PDT by BlueStateDepression
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To: dfwgator
You do not have the right to drive, it is a privilege, and to keep that privilege there are rules to follow.

Spare me the socialist talking points. If I am forced to pay taxes and those taxes go to build a damned road, then you bet I have a right to drive on it. If you want to revoke that right, then send me a refund.
249 posted on 05/31/2006 11:47:37 AM PDT by mysterio
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To: BlueStateDepression

Should I say, "well, it is my choice to have brake lights on my car, I should be able to disconnect them"



No, because that would affect the safety of OTHER PEOPLE. (Those who crash into your car, lacking warning that you were braking.)


250 posted on 05/31/2006 11:48:09 AM PDT by Atlas Sneezed (Your FRiendly FReeper Patent Attorney)
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To: RobRoy
Which is why I stopped doing it.

Under those circumstances a red light is a suggestion, not a command.

251 posted on 05/31/2006 11:49:19 AM PDT by MARTIAL MONK
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To: BlueStateDepression

I am free to avoid being forced to wear a seat belt. I can take a bus. I can take a taxi, I can ride a bike or I can walk.



You define "freedom" oddly.


252 posted on 05/31/2006 11:49:37 AM PDT by Atlas Sneezed (Your FRiendly FReeper Patent Attorney)
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To: BlueStateDepression

>>If you are doing the right thing anyway and a law is passed that is driven at doing the right thing, how exactly is that affecting you negatively?<<

That is a question from a raw socialist perspective. It’s a twist on the old question, “If you have nothing to hide, why are you against the police searching your house without a warrant?”.

The problem is that once you make a decision for someone that really only involves them and their personal safety, you have taken away their freedom to choose their own destiny. They have become your ward.

If you take away a persons freedom to fail, you ipso-facto take away their freedom to succeed. After all, if their “success” is because you made the decisions for them, it is not their success, it is yours. Which means you are the one that has the power, not them. They are merely well taken care of pets.

This country was founded on the concept of individual freedom. It brings with it risks. But life IS risk.

If I were a gazelle, I would rather live in the uncertainty of the Savannah than the “safety” of a zoo. It seems many here like the comfort of the zoo.


253 posted on 05/31/2006 11:51:17 AM PDT by RobRoy
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To: half-cajun

The trooper who stopped my gf was actually very nice, so frankly overzealous. We are about as white as you can be, but he only gave a warning, perhaps since he knew we could fight this one in court and win.


254 posted on 05/31/2006 11:51:58 AM PDT by rwfromkansas (http://xanga.com/rwfromkansas)
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To: mysterio
Spare me the socialist talking points

I must have been asleep that day in my Political Science course, where they said that Socialism meant forcing people to wear seatbelts, instead of that whole public ownership of the means of production thing.

255 posted on 05/31/2006 11:52:27 AM PDT by dfwgator (Florida Gators - 2006 NCAA Men's Basketball Champions)
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To: chrispycsuf

I knew you'd get to the first person root of your emotion soon; there is no way to know whether a belt would have saved your brother but not crashing would have delayed it, at least.


256 posted on 05/31/2006 11:53:11 AM PDT by Old Professer (The critic writes with rapier pen, dips it twice, and writes again.)
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To: BlueStateDepression
I eagerly support the position to conserve each person's right to chose their own path thru life. Maintaining that every person has that right equally and should be observed as such.

To qualify that basic platform stance, I hold to be self evident, the fact that each person is indeed responsible for the choices they make and the actions those choices lead to.

Your profile page seems to be at odds with your authoritarian nannystatism.

257 posted on 05/31/2006 11:53:21 AM PDT by Protagoras ("A real decision is measured by the fact that you have taken a new action"... Tony Robbins)
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To: chrispycsuf
[ The dept of transportation is saving lives and i applaud them for it. ]

The Dept of Transportations job/charter is not to save lives..

Its to maintain roads(and other things) and to hand out serious obscene graft to many contractors paying obscene Union wages and to inflate costs to eat up the obscene gasoline and other energy taxes which make literally EVERYTHING ELSE go up in price too.. From a budget always bloated as bad as many entitlements..

Thats what THEY DO.. Saving lives is not on their charter.. Being a parasite on lives of the citizens IS what they do..

The Seat Belt Law is as ridiculous as the Miranda Law, purely government overreaching by liberal socialist fascists.. They are quite INSANE you know..

258 posted on 05/31/2006 11:53:34 AM PDT by hosepipe (CAUTION: This propaganda is laced with hyperbole..)
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To: chrispycsuf

My Lab could do that.


259 posted on 05/31/2006 11:54:01 AM PDT by Old Professer (The critic writes with rapier pen, dips it twice, and writes again.)
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To: RobRoy

Baiting? Maybe you just do not like reality other than what you see thru your eyes so you project instead.

Ever been on a country road when you come to a four way intersection that a snow plow has just com across? My guess is no or you would not have said what you did.

Ever been hit broad side by a deer that jumped out of a ditch that had 4 feet of weeds? ( environmentalists disallowing mowing for a time in the spring)

Ever hit a nasty pot hole in rural america? Heck ever even driven there?

Your comment of me baiting is dismissed as the drivel it is becasue many things happen in a vehicle that can rock a person around that have absolutely zero to do with off roading.

(((Not to mention after an initial collision that does not bring both vehicles to a complete stop.))


260 posted on 05/31/2006 11:55:24 AM PDT by BlueStateDepression
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