Sombering reminders there !
I totally agree that what each of us does, has consequences....
that affect many more than just ourselves...

we ALL have done things we shouldn't have...
with some experience comes the realization that we AREN'T immortal and that MAYBE we care enough about others to not put them thru that !

 

Not to continue an argument, but the EMS and firefighters, police, whatever, all those guys do get paid to do what they do, altough it aint enough. I do wear my seat belt, but I dont think that someone should get a fine for not wearin one. The copers really do go overboard on that. That aint even what I'm mad about. What I'm really mad about is that theyll do anything to give you a ticket if they can prove it. Pullin you over for a broken liecence plate light so they can see if youre drunk and then ask to search your vehicle. Just stupid stuff like that. But, the worst is when you're at Canyon Lake (any of yall ever been there on a holiday weekend??) and the Sheriff's deputes stop everyone that they can to count life jackets. Almost anyone on a jet ski gets stopped and most get a fine for doing 180s in the water. It really ticks me off. Like I said, I couldnt care less if the dummy in the truck next to me dont got his seatbelt on, I know they save lives, but seatbelts dont increase your chance of living in a bad accident much, but I guess every little bit counts, right? Like i said good work you firemen and soldiers. Oh and by the way kick some tail in Iraq for me will ya? Shoot a couple of those regime basturds in the name of TEXAS!
Drew

 

I've been in Fire/EMS 15 years now. Yea, I know better, and should have been wearing that belt.
There are people out there considering themselves smarter than the lawyers and community leaders. As for me, they can do as they like when it comes to sacrificing themselves for the good of population control.
I just hope as they off each other, they not mame or kill us in the wake of ignorance.

 

oh goodness.. the can of worms... must they assume that i have no brain to make the right choice for myself?

i don't believe in the govt micromanaging my life. it is my choice, and if i myself am either a) stupid enough or b) have a big enough death wish, that i choose to not wear my seatbelt, law and fines or not, i'm not going to do it becuz of those reasons.

it's my life, i am my responsibility and i don't appreciate the govt insulting me by assuming that i am going to put my life at risk like that. i'm not holding one of bill engvall's signs so don't treat me like i am.

i was terrible about wearing that damn thing. i hated it. it's uncomfortable and it was just one more delay in me getting on the road. i was always in a hurry even if i didn't know why. but there have been several times where i just reached over and did it, and then i was in bad rush traffic and got into a little bumper bender, or my friend was being a moron and ended up doing a 360 in the middle of the hwy. i know the benefits, i just honestly feel like the govt's got bigger things to worry about, like it's own corruption before worrying about whether i'm stupid and not wearing my seatbelt or not.

it's like owl puke research. another waste of paper and time becuz people who want to avoid it will just not do it regardless of a law and a fine.

and, the world is not a pleasant place. unfortunately people see things they don't want to or never would wish another person to see. i saw someone shot in the throat when i was six. i had the girls blood on my hand becuz i touched a door **** it splattered on. it sux. the workers get out there and bust hump to help people but not everyone can be helped. i know that's not a very positive thing to say, but it's reality. all we can do is try but this is one of those fights that i think is better left until the bigger issues are resolved.

seatbelts are standard equipment... with the govt making the common sense choices mandatory becuz someone's kid wasn't taught and that parent couldn't accept reality and needed an outlet, we're starting to not think about common sense things that kept our minds just a little sharper. people are just assuming someone's going to tell them everything and they're not thinking anymore. thinking's hard when you've got good old govt to tell you everything you are and aren't supposed to do.

protect the innocent, the young, the elderly, those who cannot make up their minds for themselves at all or any longer, but leave the rest of us who have the ability to reason to make the decision for ourselves and let us live or die with the consequences of our own choices.

 

Protecting the innocent, the children, the elderly. If parents dont wear a belt, then neither will the children. Its by example that parents lead. Yet so many parents choose not to lead. Not to get too far off topic.
Its gray line to draw, seperating a parents right to teach unsafe practices, and a governments right to correct it. Not just seatbelts, but even infant and toddler car seats... Is the government to just sit back and allow parents to practice this russian roulette style of population control?
I see so many children running loose in cars, it pathetic to think so many adults have choosen to be so ignorant...or cursed with such stupidity.
I guess what you're saying is that anyone over 18 should be allowed to make that seatbelt choice. I guess protecting the elderly would fall under senility. If your young or old, you have to wear a seatbelt. I'd be okay with all that. Although I do see that has a big potential to leave lots of kids without parents.
I believe the law of wearing seatbelts was an honest and worthy campaign. As with so many other good things, those looking to make a buck, found a way to mess up an honest endevour.
To restrain, or not to restrain...that is the question.

 

Tell us what ya think. I like that. My son didn't used to wear his either until the 6th or 7th ticket by the wonderful Garland police. I wear mine not to be safe but keep the law off my backside. Your right tho should be my choice not the lawmakers . Any how with all the drug issues nowdays its just another reason to search ur vehicle(like the front liscense plate). They use it just for that around here in the Dallas area.

Hate it when someone wants to do my thinkin.

 

and that's something that should be on every parents mind if they drive off without their belt. if they care enough about their kids they'll wear their belt and if some child is left with only one parent becuz the decision to not wear the belt was made, then that child will have even more reason to wear their belt when they get into adult hood. if people would just use a little common sense, half the crap they made illegal wouldn't even been necessary becuz people wouldn't do it anyway.

(edit) you must have posted just seconds before I did becuz I didn't see what you said till just now. thank you very much, speaking your mind is one of the few things left that you have the control over. I also agree, I hate when someone tries to think for me. I really feel insulted like they're implying I'm to dumb to make the best decision for myself.

 

Connie, I don't think they are trying to imply that you are dumb; but the government must follow the same policies as public schools. Teach as fast as the dumbest student. If everyone used common sense, we would'nt have stupid warning signs on coffee cups saying "Caution: HOT" and we'll all be driving Ford's (sorry had to make the plug).

 

Hey yall guess what!? My old man got a ticket today for not wearin his seatbelt in Austin! But, my dad DID have his seat belt on even before the cop put his lights on, and I dont think that they can charge him with not wearin a seatbelt unless they see you with out it on when they approach the vehicle. They cant be SURE that your seatbelt wasnt on, maybe they just didnt see it. Any way, it really ticked off my dad, especially when he told the cop to write down on the report that his seatbelt was on when the cop got to the vehicle, and the cop said that he would wright it down on his report, and my dad would write it down on his copy. My dad said that he wanted to see the cop write it down, and the cop laughed and started to walk off. This really enraged my old man, who, for the most part, is pretty peaceful. But, he decided that shouting at the cop for his name and badge number was a better solution, and all the cop said was "Its on the citation." After my i read the ticket and told my dad that it was a $135 fine and not a maximium of $100, he said he isnt gonna pay it. Stupid Crooked cops. Those suckers.
Adios,
Drew

 

I think thats a good plan for your dad not to pay it. He should stand up for his rights. Let us know how long it takes for him to get picked up on his bench warrant.

 

Good point. So if people exercise a little common sense, they'll leave us alone with silly laws.
Even with the laws that exist, dont act guilty, and they wont mess with you. Dont weave thru traffic on a Saturday night, and you might not get pulled over for a DUI. Dont point guns out the window, and you wont get pulled over for drive-by shootings. Dont cruise the block in the ghetto, and you might not get pulled over for drugs.
Here in SC Texas we have a problem with people driving thru high water. Then these people sue because the road wasnt blocked. No common sense.
Last summer, during a hard rain, city put up a 'high water, road closed' sign. Lady drives, with her kids, thru the high water. Car drowns out. She, the kids, & the car get rescued. Several hundered dollar fine. After she has recieved her ticket, she turns the car around and drives thru the high water again. Same stuff all over again. How do we attempt to protect these people, without insulting the people out there who arent as stupid?

 

I wear my seat belt but to be honest I think the government should stay the hell out of my auto just as the courts have decided that they should stay off of my motorcycle concerning helmets and out of the beds of gay people. (no I am not gay but if you hand me over $1m........) LOL Ed

 

hes plannin to run till november this year. thanks for ASSkin.
Drew

 

Doin it for the cause and $130 Thats something to be commended. Almost a martyr.

 

yeah i didn't pay one for 2 years and when a friend of mine got hired on as a dispatcher at her local pd, she had to run a name/bday in the computer for practice and being that we've been friends forever, she ran mine and found a warrant for a damn ticket. it's ridiculous. if my seatbelt is on, i will not pay a ticket and i don't give a ... rip ... if i have to go in front of the judge and tell them what i think.

no, it's not directed at me specifically but i believe that logic is flawed. if you only teach as fast as the slowest student, you have an immense amount of people being ripped off of their education who may never realize their full potential because they've been surrounded by their educators coddling to the slowest student. i don't want to be talked down to becuz the person beside me doesn't understand fully. if they don't understand fully, they can ask a question just like i had to and receive an answer and learn from it not sit around and be coddled. or better yet, be faced with a challenge and have to turn their minds on. people are loosing their common sense becuz they are not being taught at a challenging level. coddle those who may simply just not care to try, and you take something from those of us who do try and do have common sense and do step up to the challenges of life therefore creating a feeling of distrust and degredation. it's a simular feeling to what women must have felt decades ago when their opinions were looked upon as no more valuable than a child's. the govt, in it's infinite wisdom (sarcasm) has decided we are no better than children in some matters becuz there are those who haven't been challenged enough to use their minds.

i don't mean to sound preachy but this is something that drives me crazy whenever i get to thinkin' about it. that's why i usually try not to. i think it's stupid to make it a law becuz it should be common sense and since it is about yourself and does not really affect anyone else, it should be your decision to make. i understand that the workers scraping the streets are affected by the sight, they chose the job and understood what it entailed before signing on. people driving around, bystanders viewing a flying body, will most likely be horrified into protecting themselves and becoming more conscious about their own safety. the world has it's bad things and it's good and without the bad, we don't always value the good as we should.