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 railcar rushes past and collides with a nonher vehicle in the intersection. I scream 911 then, after a few minutes, an ambulance pulls up on the scene. The EMT pulled a soldiery from his car his head a bloody mess from the impact with the windshield. They cat him in the ambulance, after a bit of trouble regulateting him on the stretcher, and rush him to the emergency room. Later that night while watching the sextette oclock news I see an interview with the guard chief he stirs that the man died in the hospital.However, the driver likely would cook lived if he would arrest been p each(prenominal)ing his pose rush. With scenes such as this, it is manifest that shadower blasted ammunition laws should be in effect as swell as enforced. Vehicle fatalities wargon a big impact on mortality rate and amends premiums therefore, enforcing lowlife blast laws tail assemb ly obtain a positive effect on society. Automobiles assume progressed through the years, and pay back become faster, yet the faster you go the greater the impact when an hazard occurs.Federal and State agencies have developed speed limits and other guidelines, which when enforced, assistance honour passengers safe. Even though these laws argon in place, accidents still occur however, when the tight-laced precautions be taken, risks can be minimized. As technology progresses so allow vehicles therefore, safety will continue to be a major concern. It is up to the travelists to decide to tire a lieu hit, yet law enforcement officers ar the ones who argon there to enforce induct smash laws. bum belts atomic number 18 installed into both car and truck, but should we have to wear them?Every state has a different law about who does and does non have to wear them, but in the state of Indiana if you argon in a car that is equipped with seat belts and anyone above the ag e of 14 you are required to wear a seat belt. Also, boorren must social occasion the mitigate car seat for their weight until they reach 135 centimeters tall or their 12th birthday, whichever comes first. There are several other terra firmas that you do non posit to wear a seat belt such as if you are a driver who is reversing, or supervising a assimilator 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, driving a good vehicle on deliveries that is traveling no much than 50 meters between stops, or a licensed hack writer driver who is playing for hire or carrying passengers (Using, 1). If there is a reason that you cannot wear a seat belt due to medical reasons, your physician must issue you a Certificate of Exemption for Compulsory piece of ass Belt Wearing. You must keep this in your car at all times and handy if a police officer pulls you all over.There are strict seat be lt laws world-wide but, according to statistics, they are hardly followed. almost 50% of lives will be lay asided in an accident if plenty wear seat belts. substructure belt safety statistics show that broadly the younger population between the age groups 16-35 is hardly found wearing seat belts. roll in the hay belt facts also prove that 70% of the citizenry wearing a seat belt have pr change surfaceted injuries even on meeting with an accident. It is found that nearly 10,000 lives can be saved every year tho 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 observed to drive faster, followed more closely, and braked later. In other words, people who are naturally cautious voluntarily choose to wear seat belts, and voluntarily drive safely. When reckless people are forced to wear seat belts, they compensate for the enlarge safety by driving more reck lessly. Furthermore, no jurisdiction that has passed a seat belt law has shown evidence of a reduction in road accident death. (Veksler 1) nates 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 believe in their efficacy, because they have heard that wearing seat belts might actually make up them their lives in certain types of accidents (Mikkelson 1). The constitution allows everyone to have the freedom 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 prophylactic Bureau first required automobile manufacturers to install lap belts for all seats and shoulder 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 fo r 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, import that police can stop and ticket a motorist alone 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 related to vehicle accidents can be avoided if the occupants wear their seat belts. around say seat belts can be the cause of deaths. Although this may be true, it is proven that in most cases seat belts are far more likely to save a life than kill the occupants of a vehicle.As create verbally in the innovation Almanac and Book of Facts, In 2006, safety belts and child restraints saved an estimated 15,808 lives (U. S. Motor 1746). Seat belts do save lives therefore, the laws that promo te their use should be enforced. When police have the authority to stop a motorist solely for not wearing a seat belt, which is called primary law, motorists have more of a reason to wear their seat belts. Furthermore, vehicle redress premiums could decrease if seat belt laws are followed.It makes sense that insurance companies film 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 telephone line diary The safer all drivers are, the fewer injuries there will be, which affects everyones insurance premiums (Seat Belts 18). If drivers would just take that extra step before driving, and buckle their seat belt, society as a whole might notice a decrease in insurance premiums in the future. Insurance providers may not notice the change right away, but in the long hemorrhage they would have to notice that fatalities are decreasing.Though law enforcement classs such as Click-It-Or-Ticket hel p raise the use of seat belts, they do so by sour 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 substantially since the first state law was passed in 1984, legion(predicate) motor vehicle occupants continue to travel unrestrained (1619). manytimes threats stop unforesightful of reaching the amount of people intended.Perhaps if programs were developed to punish drivers who secure 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 annotation when a driver was properly restrained that information could be provided to insurance companies those companies would know which motorists were driving safely, and could reward them with discounted premiums. We as American citizens should have the prize in if we wear them or not. There are many reasons that man y people do not wear them, but here are just a few.Some people touch sensation if they are spill a speed of less than 40 miles per hour, then they do not need to wear them however the National Transportation precaution Board (NTSB) states that 80 percent of all crashes come at speeds of less than 40 mph and 75 percent of those are within 25 miles of home (Silverman 1). other 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 erect the shoulder belt under their arm. In doing this, it can cause knowledgeable 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 world taken from them for being told what to do in their car. They feel that their car is their rampart and they should not be told what to do in it, especially by the gov ernment. 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 choice Office 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 living 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 hinder 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 redu ction of vehicle related fatalities and help decrease the cost of insurance premiums, other programs such as a reward program could further 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 globe 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 doctor Insurance Premiums. Hudson Valley Business Journal 6. 34 (1995) 18. Regiona l Business 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 One snatch 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/