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From: debbiem@rruxe.UUCP (D. McBurnett)
Newsgroups: net.auto,net.flame,net.kids,net.singles
Subject: Re: Seat belts
Message-ID: <253@rruxe.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 19-Apr-85 12:43:56 EST
Article-I.D.: rruxe.253
Posted: Fri Apr 19 12:43:56 1985
Date-Received: Sat, 20-Apr-85 07:18:38 EST
References: <429@gargoyle.UChicago.UUCP>, <335@calmasd.UUCP>
Organization: Bell Communications Research, Piscataway N.J.
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>...But if I don't wear a seat belt, I'm not endangering anyone but
>myself.

This is undoubtedly true.  However, if you are a parent, you have to
think beyond the danger to yourself and consider what would happen
to your family if you were seriously disabled or killed.  Is it fair
for them to suffer the consequences?  And what about the example you
set for your children?  Are you really indifferent to their deaths
or injuries?  In becoming a parent, these are responsibilities that
must not be ignored.

>The REAL issue is, should the government(s) be making laws
>*requiring* people to wear seat belts just because it's "for your
own good"?...Where do we draw the line?

I am unalterably opposed to laws that are for an individual's "own
good".  To me, however, that's not the whole issue here.  If you
refuse to wear your seat belt, and end up as a quadraplegic, you
are probably going to receive some kind of disability pay, medical
insurance, or welfare-type payments from the government.  When any
one of these organizations shells out for your disabilitly, my
insurance and/or tax rates are affected.  I don't particularly enjoy
paying for your stupidity, I have other things I'd rather spend my
money on, like my own family.  I would much prefer the laws to be
changed so that if a person does not wear his/her seat belt, he or
she receives no monetary recompense for the resultant medical
costs.  In the absence of such laws, I can accept a law *requiring*
people to wear seat belts -- not because it's for THEIR own good,
but because it is in my own interests, and for the public good in
general.  Which is, after all, the business of governments.

Debbie McBurnett
Bell Communications Research, Inc.
Morristown, New Jersey

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