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Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!bonnie!akgua!whuxlm!harpo!decvax!decwrl!Glacier!kestrel!king
From: king@kestrel.ARPA
Newsgroups: net.consumers
Subject: Re: If you could save lives, would you?
Message-ID: <1201@kestrel.ARPA>
Date: Wed, 18-Sep-85 12:48:58 EDT
Article-I.D.: kestrel.1201
Posted: Wed Sep 18 12:48:58 1985
Date-Received: Sat, 21-Sep-85 03:51:09 EDT
References: <2778@harpo.UUCP> <26400001@hpcvrd.UUCP>
Organization: Kestrel Institute, Palo Alto, CA
Lines: 33
Summary: The real impact of seat belt laws

In article <26400001@hpcvrd.UUCP>, daver@hp-pcd.UUCP (daver) writes:

>  
>                                            I personally feel
> that if people want to kill themselves they should have the right,
> but that anyone injured in an auto accident while not using a
> restraint device should be limited in the amount of damages they can
> collect in court so the rest of us don't suffer from their
> stupidity.
> 
> Dave Rabinowitz
> hplabs!hp-pcd!daver

Hear, hear!

This may be one of the more important effects of the seatbelt law.
Violation of the law, where such violation contributes to an injury,
can be contributory negligence.  If the courts do their job payments
to accident victoms who fail to wear belts and who are declared not to
be the ones at fault in the accident wil be reduced.

Unfortunately I wouldn't bet on juries doing their job.  It's going to
be hard to not award a large sum to a person who was just hit by a
drunk, merely because he wasn't wearing a belt and wouldn't have been
hurt if he were.


Another effect, and one I actually would expect to see, is a child's
estate suing a parent for not having the child wear a belt.  This is
most likely to happen when the parent has insurance and the person who
caused the accident lacks same.


-dick


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