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From: chrisp@oliven.UUCP (Chris Prael)
Newsgroups: net.auto
Subject: Re: manditory seatbelt laws ???
Message-ID: <148@oliven.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 7-Jun-84 14:07:03 EDT
Article-I.D.: oliven.148
Posted: Thu Jun  7 14:07:03 1984
Date-Received: Sat, 9-Jun-84 08:26:52 EDT
Organization: Olivetti ATC, Cupertino, Ca
Lines: 33

>A manditory seatbelt law probably would not work. How could it be enforced?
>Nobody is enforcing the use of unleaded gas or catalytic converters, are
>they? Not that I have seen.
>Mark Hamilton

What you seem to be saying is that the enforcement of a traffic law is at
the whim of the police. Quite true. I doubt very strongly that the police
anywhere see the fuel/converter questions as falling in their area of
responsibility.

Note however that Brittain, Sweden, Australia, etc. all have manditory seat
belt laws, that these laws are enforced fairly strictly and that they all
have a high level of compliance.

This is not to be taken to mean that I favor a mandatory seat belt law. I
think that it is a stupid idea. If there is anything wrong with the highway
safety situation today, it is the unfortunately low number of fatalities
that this country experiences. (A philosophical point which should be 
argued on some other net.) Nor do I think that "saving lives" is a legitimate
ground for this kind of statist intrusion in any individual's life. There
has been too much of this kind of "big brotherism" in the US in the last
two decades!

On the other hand one can (barely) justify a mandatory seat belt law FOR
THE DRIVER ONLY, on the grounds of accident prevention. There is a
statistically significant class of accidents in which the main collision
would not have happened if the driver had not been displaced from behind
the wheel by the first impact.

Personally, I would prefer that natural selection be allowed to work.
And note that I wear a belt always.

					Chris Prael