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From: mmt@dciem.UUCP (Martin Taylor)
Newsgroups: net.politics,net.auto
Subject: Re: Massachusetts seat belt law
Message-ID: <1756@dciem.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 31-Dec-85 13:31:15 EST
Article-I.D.: dciem.1756
Posted: Tue Dec 31 13:31:15 1985
Date-Received: Tue, 31-Dec-85 14:33:04 EST
References: <285@gargoyle.UUCP>
Reply-To: mmt@dciem.UUCP (PUT YOUR NAME HERE)
Distribution: net
Organization: D.C.I.E.M., Toronto, Canada
Lines: 25
Summary: 


>A 1979 Univ. of North Carolina study estimated that the direct costs
>associated with non-use of a lap and shoulder belt restraint is about
>$500 per occupant per crash.  Direct costs include hospital costs,
>professional fees, lost wages, and funeral expenses.  The societal
>costs, which include direct costs, are about $2500 per occupant per
>crash.  Societal costs include all medical costs, funeral costs,
>legal and court costs, insurance costs, costs of investigating
>accidents, and costs from lost productivity due to disability, but do
>not include the unquantifiable pain and suffering experienced by
>victims and their loved ones.
>
This suggests a way of reconciling the "freedom if it kills me" approach
with the "it costs us all" problem.  Frame the law so that anyone
who wishes not to wear a seat-belt may do so on payment of a $3000
licence fee.  The car owner should display the "no seat-belt" sticker
on the windshield, and a passenger could keep the licence in the wallet.

It would be a minor crime (like driving without a licence) to be
unbelted in a car without having a stupidity licence.
-- 

Martin Taylor
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