Buckle Up!
The main ideas I will be addressing in this paper are safety, civil liberties, and financial issues of seat belt laws. I am a strong supporter of wearing seatbelts. I think that seat belts save lives but to make it a law does conflict with civil liberties. Do the lives seatbelt save out weight the freedoms it takes? I do not believe you can switch human rights for human life.
“Primary enforcement seat belt laws remain the best way to raise and maintain high seat belt use rates laws increase the use of seat belts." ( NTSB - Testimony. (n.d.). Retrieved from
http://www.ntsb.gov/Speeches/s090224-b.htm ) Seat belts do save lives. Seatbelts are the number one defense against motor vehicle injuries and fatalities (cite). Unbelted passengers can injure others in the car, not to mention a non belted driver may not be able to have as much control of a car in case of an accident. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) estimates that from 1975 through 2007, seat belts saved almost 242,000 lives nationwide. According to NHTSA, had all passenger vehicle occupants over age 4 used seat belts in 2007, an additional 5,000 deaths would have been prevented (NTSB - Testimony. (n.d.). Retrieved from
http://www.ntsb.gov/Speeches/s090224-b.htm). “Failure to wear a seat belt does not cause accidents, nor does it stop one (Brian Tilton N. Sutton, NH April 20, 2009 Testimony
to Senate ... (n.d.). Retrieved from
http://www.briantilton.com/SeatBeltTestimony.pdf).” If anything, an argument can be made that people who wear seat belts are more likely to speed and tailgate. They have a certain invincibility factor strapped to them. Injuries still do occur from wearing seat belts. "A 1995 NHTSA [Nati...
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... Greenhaven Press, 2010. Viewpoint essay
3. It's the law, except for cops: Seat belts optional when responding to emergencies, despite risk.
New Haven Register (New Haven, CT) (Sept 21, 2008): pNA.
Source Citation:
Kathryn O'Leary Higgins. "Primary Seat Belt Enforcement Laws Are Beneficial." Opposing Viewpoints: Cars In America. Ed. Roman Espejo. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2010. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. Ivy Tech Indianapolis / Marion County. 27 July 2010
Source Citation:
Kathryn O'Leary Higgins. "Primary Seat Belt Enforcement Laws Are Beneficial." Opposing Viewpoints: Cars In America. Ed. Roman Espejo. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2010. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. Ivy Tech Indianapolis / Marion County. 27 July 2010
It has been determined by the Supreme Court that it is proper to arrest someone for a violation of a seat belt law if it has been violated in the presence of an officer. All 50 states and the District of Columbia have statutes that permit warrantless misdemeanor arrests by at least some peace officers without requiring any breach of the peace. Because The “Click it or Ticket” program in North Carolina has served as a model for the nation and the Presidential Initiative for Increasing safety belt use Nationwide highly recommends that other communities adopt this program it appears as though safety belt laws will continue to exist for years to come.
An enormous division currently exists between the people who believe that automobile safety should be an option and those that feel it must be a requirement. The federal government feels the morally obligated to create the safest driving environment possible. On the other end of the spectrum, opinions exist that the average driver has ability to make the choice of safety on their own. Editorials, political assemblies, debates, and conversations have arrived on the concept of click it or ticket. This idea refers to ticketing any motor vehicle driver and passenger that is not fastened by a seat belt. Arguments have been made for both sides, and have been reviewed in multiple states.
In order to persuade drivers to believe seatbelts are a lifesaver many volunteers who has been
Is there in the world anything more essential than having a new opportunity of life? Although several individuals may possibly think an obligatory use of seat belt is a technique for causing people to feel a prisoner in their own car, putting on a seat belt would make the difference in a car accident. The use of seat belts provides security while driving; shows self-consciousness and has a role in government. That is why, the use of seat belts should be mandatory for drivers.
In 1966, the National Highway Safety Bureau (NHSB) was designed by the Highway Act. NHSB’s director, Dr. William Haddon, noticed that he could prevent motor-vehicle injuries by applying public health methods and epidemiology. Various passages demanded the government to set standards for the highway and motor vehicles. The federal government responded by developing new safety features in cars such as safety belts, head rests, and shatter-resistant windshields. Barriers, reflectors, and center line strips were placed on roadways to provide direction and illumination. Traffic safety laws, wearing a safety belt, and public education encouraged drivers to make safer decisions. The use of safety belts has skyrocketed from 11% in 1981 to 68% in 1997 and decreases When the community and government understood the necessity for motor-vehicle safety, various programs such as Prior to the implementation, the rate stood at 18 per 100 million vehicle miles traveled in 1925; however, the rate stood at 1.7 per 100 million vehicle miles traveled in 1997. With all of the new safety features with cars, public education and enforcement of safety laws, “motor-vehicle crashes remain the leading cause of injury-related deaths in the United States.” Over 23.9 million vehicle crashes were reported in 1997; estimated costs were around $200 billion.
Despite the many efforts that automobile industries have created, research has shown that many individuals disable these reinforcements although "seat belt use is the most effective way to save lives and reduce injuries in crashes" (http://www.cdc.gov/). Geller et al...
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the average number of children who die in bus crashes is five. Seatbelts would help to decrease
Current seat belt law originated from federal legislation in the 1960s that made it mandatory for all automobile manufacturers to include seat belts in their vehicles as a standard feature. Originally, the purpose of a seat belt was not to protect the occupants in the case of a crash, but rather to physically keep them in the vehicle, as driving was bumpy business.
Many people may choose not to wear a seatbelt because they don’t understand how and why they work. To begin with seatbelts are the first line of defense one has against an injury in a crash.
Stearns, Cliff. "Laws Permitting Concealed Weapons Ensure Public Safety." Concealed Weapons. Kacy Lovelace. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2011. At Issue. Rpt. from "Concealed Carry Permits Are Life Savers." Human Events (26 Jan. 2009). Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 5 Feb. 2014.
We have all heard the excuses before, “do I have to wear it? It isn’t like it’s going to protect me,” “it’s uncomfortable, I’m only going around the corner,” or “I’d rather be thrown out of the vehicle than to be stuck in a seat belt.” No matter how good of a driver you are, or you think you might be, there are always situations that are beyond your control. Such as, bad weather, drunk drivers, and road conditions. Sometimes, seat belts can be a life or death in an automobile accident. Not only is wearing your seat belt every time you get in a vehicle, but it is required by law in 49 states, with the exception of New Hampshire. Although seat belts are known to lock up and wrinkle your clothes, I believe that wearing your seat belt is beneficial because every fourteen seconds someone is injured in a traffic crash. Seat belts are not only known for holding you in place during a collision, but more importantly the are known to save the lives of the occupants in the vehicle.
Using seat belt when driving can help us to prevent death when an accident occurs.
Seatbelts have been around since the 1950s and have proven to save lives over the years. The teenage stigma is that they do not need to wear one because they will be fine. After thousands of accidents where the occupants did not wear their seatbelt, the Supreme Court decided to pass some laws. “In 1972, the agency requires dull passive restraints for front seat occupants” (Supreme Court). The agency that the Supreme Court is referring to is the Department of Transportation. This law is a staple in automobile safety and sets a level of precedents for future laws. After this law was passed, the amount of fatalities from traffic incident relating to seat belts usage had dropped. The Supreme Court did not stop there, they continued to add more laws. “...new motor vehicles produced after September 1982 will be equipped with passive restraints to protect the safety of the occupants of the vehicle in the event of a collision” (Supreme Court). Now all new motor vehicles must have a form of passive restraint added to their vehicles before they can sell them to the public. The government hoped to protect more lives of young drivers who did not insist on wearing seat belts by making them mandatory and being enforced by police officers. Since 1972, hundreds of thousands of teenage lives have been saved with this simple safety
Car accidents are the leading cause of death for people under the age of 35. Wearing a seat belt can prevent death in about half of these accidents. Did you know that every 15 seconds someone is injured in an automobile accident if they are not buckled up, or that every 13 minutes someone is killed in a crash. Failure to wear a seat belt contributes to more fatalities than any other single traffic safety related behavior. According to the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration seatbelts saved nearly 12,000 lives in the United States in the year 2000. The NHTSA estimates that more than 9,000 U.S. car accident fatalities in 2000 would have been avoided if the victims had been wearing seatbelts. Sixty three percent of the people killed in accidents were not wearing seat belts. The NHTSA a...
Most teenagers are excited to get their license so they are able to be with their friends. They believe it is fun to have a car full of friends and drive anywhere and everywhere. However, most teenagers are not aware that three or more teen passengers quadruples a crash risk (National). When others are in the car with a driver it causes a myriad of distractions. Teenagers are subjected to peer-pressure and therefore do not make mature decisions. For example, teenagers wear seat belts less often than older drivers because of peer-pressure (Millward). The seat belt is a restriction so if an accident were to occur the outcome of it will not be as extreme with it on. Wearing a seat belt is also a law and teenagers pressure each other to break that law. The fatality rate for teenagers is 3.6 times higher than driving alone (California). Teenagers are pressured to break laws and do illegal actions while others are in t...