If I were in charge ...

[dmm]

Keep in mind that there are costs to society when a person is seriously injured in a car accident. Nobody pays those kind of medical bills on his own; we all collectively pay. And if a person is permanently disabled, again, we all collectively pay. Unless you are the kind of libertarian who advocates leaving injured poor people to die in the street like roadkill, you can't complain about stuff like seatbelt laws while maintaining logical consistency.

Same with stuff like "no smoking for minors," "no drinking for minors," "no cocaine for anyone," "babies must be in carseats," etc. Either we're all in this together, or we're not.

Having said all that, I must admit that I don't like the seatbelt law. I was once struck from behind by someone doing 50 mph who didn't see the red light. A hard-shell suitcase in the rear seat was shoved into my back. I think that if I HAD been wearing my seatbelt, my spine would have been crushed and I would be dead or crippled.