When those blue lights came on behind me last week, I instinctively checked my speed and wondered about my brake lights. Turns out, when the officer approached me, I found out I was pulled over solely for the fact that I wasn't wearing my seat belt. I was subsequently issued a citation for my indiscretion. I am not excusing my actions; I was three minutes down the road after leaving my parent's house; I have a 6'7" frame and drive a small, two-door car. It's easier to just not put it on a vast majority of the time. The simple fact is, seat belt usage saves lives - and there is no disputing that. I don't have an issue at all with wearing a seat belt, and if I become a father one day, you better believe we won't be pulling out of the driveway until we are ALL buckled up. What I do have an issue with is the government mandating me to wear one.
"Click it or Ticket" is an ad campaign produced by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Their main purpose was to increase the use of seat belts in the United States - primarily targeted at teens and young adults. In 2009, my home state of Arkansas, along with Florida and Wisconsin, changed the violation to a primary offense. What this does is allow a police officer to stop and ticket the driver even if this is the only violation observed, where with a secondary offense, one can only be pulled over and ticketed if the offense occurs in conjunction with another traffic violation. The changing of the law in these three states brings the total number of primary violation states to 30. Additionally, 19 states have secondary laws, and only one state has no law requiring the use of a seat belt.
Not only does the law infringe on my civil rights, (yes, I'm going there) but also it is so hypocritical, it's laughable! In my home state, it's NOT against the law to drive your motorcycle 70 mph down the highway with no helmet, but it IS against the law to drive your Suburban 25 mph on a city street with no seatbelt. Not that that reason alone is reason for the opposition, but it just shows you how comical the concept is. Bottom line: the government is mandating a choice. People have the right to choose to smoke, which is harmful to their bodies. People have the right to choose to drink in excess, which is also harmful to their bodies. People have the choice to overeat, which, once again, is harmful to their bodies. People even have the choice to abort their baby, which is deadly to ANOTHER human life. Yet, somehow, I don't have the choice to buckle up or not. Perhaps money is a driving force in the mandating of seat belt usage. With our current struggling economy, many local municipalities as well as cities could certainly use this potentially large revenue stream. The state of Maryland was so eager to issue citations they even equipped officers with night vision goggles to catch offenders at dark.
Simply not wearing a seat belt differs vastly from drug use, overeating, or even tobacco use. Simply not wearing a seat belt does not guarantee harm to the driver. We should wear a seat belt because we care for our safety, not because the government mandates us to wear one. The "Click It or Ticket" program is just another step towards a government who takes choices and humanity out of being a free human in a free society. This program brings us yet another step closer to a government that deems what is right for us - what we put in our body, what activities are too dangerous for us to participate in, and how we live our lives. My America is slowly deteriorating beyond recognition, and this "little law" plays a bigger part than one might think.
"The point is whether government has a right to coerce us into taking care of ourselves. If eating what we wish is our business and not that of government, then why should we accept government's coercing us to wear seat belts?"
- Professor Walter E. Williams of George Mason University
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