Wearing Seat Belts Should Be An Option – An Option With Significant Consequences
I believe that wearing a seat belt improves your chances of surviving a crash. I believe wearing a seat belt minimizes injuries you might receive as a result of a crash. Seat belts do save lives. Unfortunately they will only work if you the driver and the occupants of the car choose to wear them.
State law in Louisiana provides that all occupants of a motor vehicle wear a safety belt. Children need to be in approved and appropriate child safety seats. That is the law. That is not an opinion that is a fact, yet some choose to ignore the law because they feel their personal freedoms have been taken away.
I have an idea that will give the freedom lover his freedom and it will relieve the burden of those of us who bear the financial responsibility of paying medical costs for people who are injured for life in accidents because they did not wear a seat belt.
I would love to say the idea is new but it's not. In fact it was a feature that was included in many cars some 40 years ago.The people hated it. It is called the seat belt interlock system. Basically the vehicle can not start unless the passengers in the front seat of the vehicle are buckled in. Every car on the market today has a seat belt warning let and buzzer or bell that reminds or annoys the hell out of you until you buckle up. This takes things a step further. It renders the vehicle useless unless the belt is buckled.
Go ahead throw your one in a million scenarios at me. I was being chased by mad clowns. I needed to get home to poop. I just robbed a bank and needed to leave quickly. The fact is if you have time to push the button or turn the key to start the car you have time to buckle a seat belt.
Here is where my maniacal plan really makes sense. Obviously if you want to by pass the system you buckle the belt behind your back and don't wear it. I have no issue with that. That is because you are making a conscious choice to not wear the seat belt. Good for you! Here comes the part that isn't so good for you.
If you are killed or injured in a crash and you have chosen to bypass the seat belt in your vehicle all of your insurance is now void. That means your car insurance, your medical insurance, your life insurance, it's all no longer applicable because you chose to act in an unsafe manner. That means your family will be on the hook to pay for you, your damages, and any other reparations deemed appropriate.
Suddenly that freedom of not clicking a seat belt has a consequence that isn't about you. Wearing a seat belt becomes about doing what's best for those that you love. I know seat belts don't always save lives. I do know they save more lives than they take and I think they are a good idea.
Tell me how you feel about this? I don't want to fight, I want to do what is right for me, for you, for your family. Sometimes the best way to get to a meeting point in the middle is to have someone start the conversation on the far end. As they say in tennis, the ball is now in your court.