I don’t understand the whole campaign warning people that, if they do not wear their seatbelts, they will get a ticket. What is the real reason behind the whole campaign? Is Big Brother concerned about our pocketbooks or are the powers that be concerned about our health? If they are concerned about our health, why don’t they just tell us that failure to wear a seat belt is a huge multiplier when determining the probability of death if you have a wreck? I am a lot less concerned about the possibility of getting a ticket for failing to wear a seatbelt than I am going through the windshield of my car.
It’s hard to imagine our health is their main consideration when they allow us to ride a motorcycle without a helmet. Given the choice between a wreck on a motorcycle without a helmet and a wreck in a car while not wearing my seatbelt, in most cases, I’ll choose the car.
Just ask any Arkansas Razorback fan how much damage a low speed wreck on a motorcycle can do to someone who’s not wearing a helmet. Although, surprisingly, it appears that if you are the un-helmeted passenger on the back of a motorcycle, sometimes you can walk away unharmed. (Maybe, one day, Coach Petrino will tell us what really happened. My favorite rumor is the one where the girl’s fiancé catches them and puts a beat down on the coach on the side of the road.)
Anyway, wouldn’t we be better off if the signs on the highway told us that the foods we’re eating are likely to end our lives prematurely? Just think if every time you passed one of those lighted signs on the highway, instead of “Click it or ticket” warnings, we were told that fried and processed foods will shorten more lives than accidents without seatbelts. It’s not as sexy, but it’s a fact.
We’re spending millions of dollars around the country in an attempt to indoctrinate citizens on the dangers of not wearing a seatbelt. The thing is, based on the way my children act when they’re in a car, the only indoctrination we need is in the schools. No one needs a sign on the side of the road when you have a 12-year-old girl in the back seat “reminding” you that you need to wear your seatbelt.
I have nothing against seatbelts and believe one should be worn while operating a vehicle. My concern is the needless expenditure of tax dollars to remind me that, if I don’t wear a seatbelt, I’ll get a ticket. I certainly don’t need to know that police have been specially trained to determine whether or not I’m wearing a seatbelt. Although, I am curious about what exactly goes into that special training.
Maybe all of this money that is getting spent is budgeted for law enforcement and is going to be spent regardless. If that’s the case, I go back to my original point: Aren’t there other things that the government needs to warn me about? If nothing else, we could mix it up a little. Why does every message have to center on my possible arrest for a violation of the law? It could be as simple as “Smiles spread happiness.” I’m sure crime would go down in some measurable amount if more people were smiling.
Candidly, I’m not sure what my real problem is with the campaign. Is it money, is it Big Brother, or is it something else? I can’t say for sure, but there’s something about it I don’t like. Sometimes that’s just the way it is, especially for those of us way up in the CHEAP SEATS!
Bill James is a criminal defense attorney and co- founder of the James Law Firm, with offices in Little Rock, Conway, and Fayetteville, Ark. He may be contacted at Bill@JamesFirm.com.