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Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!rcj
From: rcj@burl.UUCP (Curtis Jackson)
Newsgroups: net.legal
Subject: Re: Seat Belts
Message-ID: <795@burl.UUCP>
Date: Sun, 4-Aug-85 19:42:32 EDT
Article-I.D.: burl.795
Posted: Sun Aug  4 19:42:32 1985
Date-Received: Mon, 5-Aug-85 07:49:33 EDT
References: <316@baylor.UUCP> <145@batman.UUCP> <2193@amdcad.UUCP> <1385@peora.UUCP> <1026@mhuxt.UUCP> <2104@iddic.UUCP>
Reply-To: rcj@burl.UUCP (Curtis Jackson)
Organization: AT&T Technologies, Burlington NC
Lines: 33
Summary: 

>CON seatbelt laws: the "Slippery Slide"  (Thanks to Bob Edge for the name)
>   The point is this: some restrictions on personal freedom, while not
>   overly intrusive in themselves,  establish a "slippery slide" toward
>   more intrusive restrictions on freedom.  The classic example is 
>   antipornography laws which have a tendency to "slide" into
>   restrictions on free speech which are unacceptable to those who place
>   a high value on civil liberties.

Hear, hear!!

>Suppose you are driving without your seatbelt and I, in another car,
>make a mistake which causes us to have an accident.  Under this proposal
>you couldn't force me to pay for the permanent disability and/or pain &
>suffering which wouldn't have happened if you had been taking reasonable
>precaution (wearing your seatbelt).  Yes, my negligence caused the
>accident, but YOUR negligence caused it to be a lot worse than it would
>have been.  I still pay for the damage to your car, and your trip to the
>emergency room, but not your six weeks out of work, or your burial
>expenses, the loss to your family, as the case may be.

Suppose you are riding a motorcycle and I, in a (much safer) car,
make a mistake which causes us to have an accident.  Under this proposal
(it sounds like) you couldn't force me to pay for the permanent disability
and/or pain & suffering which wouldn't have happened if you had been
taking reasonable precaution (not riding a motorcycle which has no enveloping
superstructure to protect you).

Get my drift?
-- 

The MAD Programmer -- 919-228-3313 (Cornet 291)
alias: Curtis Jackson	...![ ihnp4 ulysses cbosgd mgnetp ]!burl!rcj
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