Seat Belt Laws

Jennifer Isaac English 112 November 10, 2011 Say Yes to Life and Saving Money As I sit at a red light, a motor motor gondola auto acceleratees past and collides with a nonher fomite in the intersection. I c wholly(prenominal) 911 accordingly, afterward a few minutes, an ambulance pulls up on the scene. The EMT pulled a man from his railcar his head a bloody mess from the impact with the windshield. They put him in the ambulance, after a bit of trouble getting him on the stretcher, and rush him to the emergency room. Later that night while watching the six oclock news I see an interview with the guard captain he states that the man died in the hospital.How incessantly, the device startr presumable would need lived if he would bind been pauseing his shadower rap. With scenes such as this, it is evident that fanny belt laws should be in effect as well as enforced. Vehicle fatalities have a big impact on mortality rate rates and amends premiums therefore, enforcing sea t belt laws can have a positive effect on partnership. Automobiles have progressed through the categorys, and have father faster, yet the faster you go the great the impact when an accident occurs.Federal and land agencies have developed pep pill limits and other guidelines, which when enforced, help keep passengers safe. point though these laws argon in place, accidents still occur however, when the proper precautions be interpreted, risks can be minimized. As technology progresses so will vehicles therefore, prophylactic will continue to be a major concern. It is up to the motorists to influence to snap off a seat belt, yet law enforcement officers be the ones who atomic number 18 there to enforce seat belt laws. enthrone belts atomic number 18 inst solelyed into every car and truck, yet when should we have to accept them?Every state has a different law ab protrude who does and does non have to wear them, but in the state of Indiana if you are in a car that is eq uipped with seat belts and anyone above the age of 14 you are call for to wear a seat belt. Also, children must use the correct car seat for their weight until they reach 135 centimeters tall or their twelfth birthday, whichever comes first. There are several other antecedents that you do not expect to wear a seat belt such as if you are a number one wood who is reversing, or supervising a learner driver who is reversing, in a vehicle used for police, fire, and rescue services, a assenger in a trade vehicle and you are investigating a fault, campaign a good vehicle on deliveries that is traveling no much than 50 meters between stops, or a licensed taxi driver who is playing for hire or carrying passengers ( victimisation, 1). If there is a reason that you cannot wear a seat belt due to medical reasons, your doctor must issue you a Certificate of Exemption for Compulsory undersurface smash-up Wearing. You must keep this in your car at all times and handy if a police officer pulls you all over.There are unforgiving seat belt laws world-wide but, according to statistics, they are hardly followed. Approximately 50% of lives will be salve in an accident if community wear seat belts. topographic point belt rubber statistics show that mostly the junior population between the age groups 16-35 is hardly found corrosion away seat belts. Seat belt facts also prove that 70% of the concourse corroding a seat belt have prevented injuries even on clash with an accident. It is found that nearly 10,000 lives can be saved every year only by wearing a seat belt (Pandit 1).According to studies cited by the Independence Institute, When subjects who normally did not wear seat belts were asked to do so, they were ascertained to drive faster, followed to a greater extent than closely, and braked later. In other words, people who are by nature cautious voluntarily choose to wear seat belts, and voluntarily drive safely. When reckless people are forced to wear s eat belts, they make for the increased safety by driving more recklessly. Furthermore, no jurisdiction that has passed a seat belt law has shown evidence of a abate in road accident death. (Veksler 1) Seat belts were designed to save peoples lives, this only works if they are worn correctly or even at all. Many people do not wear their seatbelts because they do not desire in their efficacy, because they have heard that wearing seat belts might actually cost them their lives in certain types of accidents (Mikkelson 1). The constitution allows everyone to have the emancipation rights, but how fair is it for the government to dictate what we can and cant do when it comes to wearing a seat belt. The U. S.National Highway Safety part first required automobile manufacturers to install lap belts for all pose and raise belts for front seats in 1968 however, most Americans did not regularly use safety belts until 1984, when the first state laws were passed mandating seat belt use. As of today, there are 48 states in which it is illegal for a driver or passenger to travel without a seat belt (the exceptions are Maine and New Hampshire). Of those 48 states, 10 have primary enforcement, meaning that police can stop and shred a motorist simply for not wearing a seat belt.The other 38 states with seat belt laws have secondary enforcement, meaning that police can only ticket people not wearing seat belts if they pull the car over for some other reason. If not all states have to wear them, then why make it a law? Many fatalities that are connect to vehicle accidents can be avoided if the occupants wear their seat belts. Some claim seat belts can be the cause of deaths. Although this may be true, it is be that in most cases seat belts are far more likely to save a life than kill the occupants of a vehicle.As written in the universe Almanac and Book of Facts, In 2006, safety belts and child restraints saved an estimated 15,808 lives (U. S. Motor 1746). Seat belt s do save lives therefore, the laws that elicit their use should be enforced. When police have the authority to stop a motorist whole for not wearing a seat belt, which is called primary law, motorists have more of a reason to wear their seat belts. Furthermore, vehicle insurance premiums could return if seat belt laws are followed.It makes sense that insurance companies charge more because accidents are escalated due to negligence of the driver by not wearing his seat belt. This point is reiterated in the Hudson Valley pipeline Journal The safer all drivers are, the fewer injuries there will be, which affects everyones insurance premiums (Seat raps 18). If drivers would fitting take that extra step before driving, and buckle their seat belt, society as a whole might witness a decrease in insurance premiums in the future. Insurance providers may not notice the change right away, but in the long run they would have to notice that fatalities are decreasing.Though law enforcemen t course of studys such as Click-It-Or-Ticket help bring on the use of seat belts, they do so by threatening drivers with fines for not buckling up. Laurie F. Beck, from the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control wrote, Although rates of safety belt use in the United States have increased easily since the first state law was passed in 1984, many motor vehicle occupants continue to travel unrestrained (1619). Sometimes threats stop short of arriver the amount of people intended.Perhaps if programs were developed to reward drivers who get pulled over and are wearing their seat belt, then we would see a stronger increase in seat belt use. Patrol officers could be required to note when a driver was properly restrained that information could be provided to insurance companies those companies would spang which motorists were driving safely, and could reward them with discounted premiums. We as American citizens should have the choice in if we wear them or not. There are ma ny reasons that many people do not wear them, but here are fairish a few.Some people feel if they are going a speed of less than 40 mph, then they do not need to wear them however the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) states that 80 per centum of all crashes come at speeds of less than 40 mph and 75 percent of those are within 25 miles of home (Silverman 1). Another reason people do not wear their seat belts are because they believe they are uncomfortable. They believe the combination of the lap and shoulder belt is uncomfortable, so they either do not wear it or they put the shoulder belt under their arm. In doing this, it can cause internal injuries if they were ever in an accident.A different reason that some people do not wear their seat belt is because they feel their independence is being taken from them for being told what to do in their car. They feel that their car is their fortress and they should not be told what to do in it, especially by the government. Some people feel that if they are thrown from a car they have a better chance of being saved then staying in the car with the accident. This is not true according to the Kansas Traffic Safety Resource index individuals who get thrown from their cars are more likely to get killed than those wearing seat belts (Silverman 2).Finally, many drivers say they want to increase their chances of surviving a car fire or a submerged car. They feel that if they are buckled is it not only going to take longer to get out of the car, but if they are dazed or not alert, it is going to deflect their chances of getting out of the car alive. Less than ? of 1 percent of all accidents involve car fires or submersion. If some type of reward program happened to be in place, the scenario earlier could have ended differently. maybe the driver would have suffered some type of injury, yet the seat belt could have stopped him from hitting his head on the windshield.Although seat belt laws promote the reduction o f vehicle related fatalities and help decrease the cost of insurance premiums, other programs such as a reward program could only reach motorists. The more benefits motorists see about wearing seat belts the greater the chance they will choose to wear them. References Beck, Laurie F. , et al. Associations Between Sociodemographics and Safety Belt Use in States With and Without Primary Enforcement Laws. American Journal of Public health 97. 9 (2007) 1619-1624. Biomedical Reference Collection Basic. EBSCO. Web. 29 Sept. 2011.Mikkelson, Barbara & David. Seat Belted. Snopes. com. Urban Legends, 4 July 2011 1-2. Web. 22 Sept. 2011. http//www. snopes. com/autos/accident/seatbelt. asp Pandit, Madhura. Reasons to Wear your Seat Belt. Buzzle. com. Buzzle. com, 2000-2011 2. Web. 28 Sept. 2011. http//www. buzzle. com/articles/reasons-to-wear-your-seat-belt. htmlSeat Belts, Car Seats Save Lives and run into Insurance Premiums. Hudson Valley Business Journal 6. 34 (1995) 18. Regional B usiness News. EBSCO. Web. 29 Sept. 2011. Silverman, Steve. Why People Dont Wear Seat Belts. eHow. Demand Media Inc. 1999-2011 4. Web. 28 Sept 2011. http//www. ehow. com/about_5456493_people-dont-wear-seat-belts. html U. S. Motor Vehicle Accidents, 2006. World Almanac & Book of Facts (2009) 1746. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 29 Sept. 2011. Using a seat belt. Direct. gov. Crown, 29 Sept. 2010 3. Web, 28 Sept 2011. http//www. direct. gov. uk/en/TravelAndTransport/Roadsafetyadvice/DG_4022064 Veksler, David. The whizz Minute Case Against Mandatory Seatbelt Laws. One Minute Cases. Politics, 21 May 2007 1-3. Web. 22 Sept. 2011. http//oneminute. rationalmind. net/mandatory-seatbelt-laws/