Why The Seat Belt Law Was a Bad Idea.

  I don't think the seat belt law was a good idea. I really don't. I am not saying this because i don't believe it saves lives , I am aware that it does. Or at least seat belts do.  The law, well it's hard to say. It is easy to say with certainty that that one little law has lead to a lot of other curtailments on the rights and freedoms of folks in general. It is a wonder what precedents will do.
  I came to BC riding on a couch in the back of an international travelall. I shared it with a bunch of other stuff we were bringing from winterpeg. I am not saying it was the smartest thing for my folks to do, but it wasn't against the law either. We used a couch as a back seat for a while. We also rode in the back of our pickup truck. Neither practice was all that safe, but the latter was a joy I will not forget. Sometimes I think many of my childhood memories were made special by the fact that I was doing things I can no longer do, rather than my age. Still, I am not advocating such devil may care vehicular adventures. My problem with the seat belt law has more to it than the dent it made in my enjoyment of life.
    Legislating personal safety is an infringement on personal rights, period. It doesn't matter if one feels it is a reasonable law, or whether it saves lives. How reasonable a law is is a completely subjective. I for one see no reason why bungi jumping, karaoke and jazz music should not reasonably be prohibited. Banning skate boarding, motorcycles, snowmobiles and swimming would save a lot of lives. Of course, seat belt laws don't proscribe an activity, they just require safe behaviour. That's the real problem though, the regulation of behaviour.
   Any idiot can, and will tell you that there is no such thing as absolute freedom, that there are laws against rape and murder and so on and so forth. They are idiots for pointing out the obvious, and the obviously inapplicable.  Law regulating behaviour were created in order to prevent us victimizing each other. If there were no victim, there should be no law. I don't have a problem with that sort of law. It's when the state starts forcing safe behaviour on me that i bridle. I have a right to live and die, so long as I don't harm others doing so, or at least I should have. If I want to be fat, or drive off a cliff, or sky dive it is my life, and only mine. I DO NOT consider the 'your behaviour costs others money treating your injuries' to be a legitimate justification. Besides being incredibly petty, it doesn't make sense considering it is the governments fault that I am on public health care is it not. First you force me to buy medicare, then you begrudge my use of it.
   For the record, I generally do wear my seat belt. I do so because I was convinced that it is the smart thing to do, not because I thing the cops will catch me (public education rather than legislation should have been the approach). SO whats the big deal? One word: precedent. Whenever someone wants to promote a law against some victimless activity there is the ready made precedent , ready to be trotted out the moment someone suggests that 'you can't regulate personal safety'. The old 'what about the seat belt law' argument rears its ugly head. It has been enough to see through a motorcycle helmet law, a bicycle helmet law, a motorboat operators course, rules against keeping exotic pets,  and who knows? maybe a toboggan helmet law, a smoking ban, a law against obesity (or at least supersizing those fries), a snowmobiling course, and perhaps even a playground helmet law. In every case the logic is the same. A: it save public money, and therefor can be demanded by the general public (whom the actual law will generally not affect) B: It will save lives (who can argue with that) and C: we have done it before with the seat belt law .
    The inability of most people to separate the good idea (wearing seat belts) from the bad idea (making it a law) has started us down the trail towards a society where the human right to be stupid can be restricted based on nothing more than the possibility that it might cost money.  If you think this is a good idea then I would remind you that 'stupid' is a very subjective term. I would also advise you to enjoy your freedom while you still can.