Seatbelt and Helmet Laws

Governments role should protect us from each other, not from ourselves. Helmet laws are unreasonable because they take away our choice to decide for ourselves what we feel is safe. Seatbelts help protect people other than the driver. Helmet laws have no benefit to anyone other than the user. I feel that we as human beings should have control over our own safety. When a law has to do with another person’s safety the government should do all they can to make sure that the innocent are protected at all times. “Seatbelts prevent the driver from being thrown into a passenger during a crash, crushing a passenger, and help the driver keep control of the vehicle in a crash rather than being thrown from the driver's seat.” Helmet use among U.S cyclists were nearly non-existent before the 1990's. No one wore helmets in the 80's and before but when helmet use went up so did head injuries. Making cyclists wear helmets when motor cyclists don't have to makes no sense. As Amy Babich said, "Our message then is, "If you don't want to ride a bicycle without a helmet, ride a motorcycle instead." Helmets can promote injuries in different ways. A helmet can make the cyclists head larger, which can make a cyclists more likely to fall.
          Defense lawyers love helmet laws because they can shift the blame to the cyclist for dying even if the motorist was clearly at fault and even if the cyclist would have died even if she'd been wearing a helmet. A motorist who ran a red light and killed cyclist Ben Clough in 1998 didn't even get a traffic ticket. Another motorist who was incredibly drunk when she killed one cyclist and injured another safely avoided any conviction. I'm sure that wearing a seatbelt or a helmet is safer. But so is maintaining body weight and being healthy. “There are no laws requiring us to eat healthy and exercise every day. If the reason for seatbelt laws is that they are for our own good, the same argument can be made about things like exercise and having a...