Re: OT: What Has The World Come To
 

Seat belts and helmets don't just save lives, they lessen injuries. People don't always die from their injuries. Sometimes they are seriously injured and incapacitated. The cost of their health care falls, at best, to everyone else in their health plan, and at worst to the all of us through government assistance.

But I would support people being allowed to sign a waiver that says they can drive without a belt/helmet if they agree not to accept the use of of community health care resources that would not have otherwise been used to care for them.

And I'm not talking about a DNR here. I mean even injuries that you would probably have recovered from. If you can't pay your bill out of pocket without my insurance premiums or taxes, I'd rather let natural selection take it's course and give my money to someone with enough sense to buckle up thank you.

No offense. Don't want to step on your freedoms after all.

Re: OT: What Has The World Come To
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">I sure hope in your protest against oppression, you never get ejected through the windshield.

Re: OT: What Has The World Come To
 

Riding a bike, peddle, motor, whatever, without a helmet is just plain dangerous. I know from first hand accounts and many hours of helping people who have been injured. Some did not make it because they opted not to ware a helmet and their heads hit the fallen trees over the trails. To many poeple ride without helmates and they pay the price.

Re: OT: What Has The World Come To
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">But that's the point. They pay the price, but they don't pay the BILL.

I am all for freedom. By all means, live free or die to your hearts content. But if you are going to do the first, do the second one quickly and don't ask me to pay for your intensive care stay.

Re: OT: What Has The World Come To
 

And I feel manatory laws such as helments , seatbelts and any safety laws are required. People are careless. If fear of a 50 dollar fine forces people to put helmets on when bike riding I am all for it. It is a law that benifits everyone. Your choice is to ride or not ride. And if you ride without a helmet. It is your insurance companies choice to void the policy.

The only one I am against is photo radar. That to me is a cash grab. Especially when it is placed on a highway or a major street.

Why not set it up around schools when there is heavy children traffic flow or on neighbourhood streets where there are parks.

Then the photo radar would actually ding motorists where driving fast is dangerous. And have an officer there to hand out the ticket to the driver.

Re: OT: What Has The World Come To
 

I always use seatbelts because I was educated about them. However I would be proud to defend Yef's right to not wear one, and not to be harassed and fined by the police if he doesn't.

I don't ride bikes, but I am tempted to get a bike and ride one outside a police station, just so I can scream bloody hell about it.

If we want to be unsafe, that's our own business. We can certainly do it in other ways besides the ones that busybody laws cover, too.

In my case, these laws are not making me any more safe.

They are however making me entertain thoughts about violent uprising against my tyrranical bastard safety-perverted government. Such laws are not appropriate in a supposedly free nation. Maybe people who want to live under such offensive laws should split from the United States and for a "Land of the Forced to be Safe."

PvK

Re: OT: What Has The World Come To
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">YIKES not you!. some other a-hole. I wasn't refering to you (but some other nameless person on these board who is gone now i think) and i'm sorry if that's the way it read.

Re: OT: What Has The World Come To
 

I can agree on the seatbelts, but again not on leaving your kids in the car. I mean most people would be horrified if you locked someone in an oven and cooked them to death with it....but when you do it accidently in a mobile greenhouse they shrug it off?

The law does need to be sensible, obviously. Locking them in at night isn't a threat for example..most of the time, but those cases would be covered under other things.

Re: OT: What Has The World Come To
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Why do you feel this is a problem? Set it up in both areas I'd say. So what if it is a cash grab. Better speeding motorists pay for our dept than me with rising taxes. People in Ontario drive too fast. I'd be willing be most serious accidents are caused in some part by excessive speed. Photo radar does slow people down. At least everyone I've talked to about it admits the watch their speed more.

Re: OT: What Has The World Come To
 

Ever thought about "setting up" photo radar?
Here's my evil plan: Cover your real license plates with fake 666 plates. Get a devil mask and drive fast past the radar site while giving the devil finger salute. News is so slow here, they'll probably probably do a story on the mystery devil speeder.
Some of these laws that are meant to protect us go way too far. The USA is really missing out on some good economy cars from overseas just because of minor things like the placing of turn signals and tail lights. Portland use to have some city buses from Hungary, but they had too much power. They added so many governors to them that it made them break down way too many times. Oh my god, too much horsepower for hilly terrain!