Boxerworks.com

Freedom is very important to me as well. If we regulate everyone to comply with some idea of what constitutes safety, we may reduce injury, but will have even less freedom. I have pulled dead bodies out of a car or off the side of the road after ejection. A seat belt might have saved their lives. I remember one wreck, the driver was ejected when the Mustang convertible went airborne the first time at an estimated ton plus. She lived. The car landed upside down and she would have died with a seat belt. Her brother was under a guard rail maybe 50 yards down the road dead.
Cell phone use causes more wrecks than drunk driving, but the powers that be and the cell phone industry will not install an application to end all communications at more than walking speed. Many of us lived many years without a cell phone and the lack of instant communications did not mean the end of our lives.
Drunk drivers kill many innocent victims every day, but even when the US outlawed alcohol, the public ignored the law and the Volstead Act was repealed.
Laws to protect us from ourselves are written by people who want to limit other people's freedom without giving up those things they consider their rights.
Off the soap box and back to something productive.
Bob

Since I am required by law (and good sense) to carry insurance, I think it is perfectly reasonable to require people to wear seat belts/Helmets. I am not sure what to do about cell phones. I agree (without supporting info) that they are at least as deadly as booze.

I can't believe that new cars are coming with on the steering wheel texting and possibly facebooking. I feel reasonably sure that there will be some law changes to address this, its just too deadly. Perhaps we can only be saved by google cars. I am pretty sure the google car technology will be harder to retrofit onto an Airhead than ABS brakes would be.

PS - my opinion on Helmet laws has evolved (I think thats the word Obama used). I used to hate helmet laws because without them, you could leave your helmet unlocked on the bike. When they passed a helmet law many years ago where I lived, helmets got stolen. With craigslist so easy now, I suspect it no longer matters. Nice looking, unlocked helmets will walk. Here is a picture of my Caburg getting lifted from in front of one of the most secure buildings in Texas from which they dispatch the electric grid for the state.