"My friend Eddie's Uncle Joe heard about this truck driver who narrowly avoided a fiery wreck by plunging his truck through the gaurdrail and down a 100 meter cliff. If he had had his seatbelt on, he would never have been able to jump out at the last second and hang on to the gaurdrail."

http://hyperphysics.phy-...du/hbase/seatb2.html#cc1

Kind of a faulty argument, innit ?

Personally I don't understand why people don't wear seatbelt. It's a direct investment in your safety. And safety on the road does not depend just on your actions but on the actions of every driver you encounter.

I understand that people sometimes forget (although if you drive a lot, you eventually figure put something is "wrong" so signal noise, despite being annoying, is very effective. Maybe even more than tickets ?

I've never been fined or pulled over. Usually I don't speed, but in the right conditions (good weather, low traffic density, highway, knowing the road) I really don't see it as a problem.

It is a proven fact that with increased speed there will be more injuries and fatalities, the faster the speed the more lethal it becomes on average.

This means that with increased road speeds the government has to put more effort and money into emergency-response units, like police, medics and the fire department. This money does not grow on trees but is paid by all citizens of that country including you.

The same is true for wearing seat belts or not, it has been proven again and again that wearing seat belts on average greatly decreases the risks of injury and death. At times it happens that a person's life is actually saved by not wearing seat belts but lets not forget that in the other 99 cases a person's life was actually destroyed by not wearing a seat belt.

And if there are people who say they don't want help in the case they have an accident with speeding or not wearing seat belts: Please remember that when emergency-response units are helping you when an accident occurs they are not available for helping other people at that moment, as they cannot know beforehand if you might not care if they will help you or not.

As for the speeding, it is more of a question if a fine feels morally correct or not for it to be accepted. Getting a speeding ticket for driving 2km/hour too fast does not feel morally right, however with 10km/hour it already is. So my advice to governments is to only give a fine when the citizens know and feel that they were indeed morally wrong.


Kind regards,

The Traveler

To throw some data into the discussion regarding seat belts:



http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/Pubs/811659.pdf

what is the sampling size for each year? of course, the argument is moot if the sampling size increases for each year.

Reduce planetary overpopulation...don't wear your seat belt!

The sample is the US population if I'm not mistaken. This information is collected from real-world traffic collision reports.

if the point is to contend that there has been an increase of lives saved because people
are now aware, and wearing seatbelts, that's a bit misleading, since it correlates to increasing population.

Well, I suppose you could look at the second column to the right (lives saved if 100% use) with a negative correlation and draw your own conclusion.

ahh crap, overlooked the other column for airbags.

i think im on average about 5 miles slower than the speed limit.

Since I am a stoner, I am almost always driving illegally. So I try to cut down my chance of problems probabilistically. I don't go more than 5 over and always make complete stops. Other than having a break light out, I haven't been pulled over in a long time.

Now when I had my motorcycle, speed was a different issue. Having a bike that can out run the cops changes your risk taking experience.

I agree with what has been said with driving with the flow of traffic. If you are in a decent sized city, it is almost a given that everyone on the highway will be driving 8-12 mph over the speed limit. In this case, I actually feel it is more dangerous to be the one car going a different speed than everyone else.

However, if you've been pulled over this many times, it is obvious that you are sticking out in the crowd. I would consider it unnecessary, if not reckless. And as Trav said, dangers increase with speed.

I VERY rarely drive with anything illegal in my car, but out of respect for the safety of those around me, I drive about 5 over in town, and 6-7 over on the highway. I have not been pulled over for speeding in 12 years. In addition, speeding tickets are extremely expensive where I live, and I can't think of many more useless wastes of money.

On a side note, I wish EVERYONE driving with their damn cell phone next to their steering wheal as they text would be pulled over and given extremely expensive tickets. I consider it attempted manslaughter.

Maybe you should ask yourself why you're always driving over the speed limit? Maybe you should slow down. Learn to meditate and take a deep breath. Are you often stressed out?

I used to always drive very fast. I just couldn't drive on the speed limit. I was always in a hurry, always stressed out. I still am very often but now I'm much more aware of it so I try to slow down. Speed cameras have cost me a lot of money my friend