Boomhauer

So using a child seat invariably means the person/s do not trust Allah or believe in him ???

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The Libertarian in me thinks helmets and seat belts for adults should be a choice, i.e. not mandatory.

Dubaiexile

Priorities right again;

http://gulfnews.com/news/gulf/uae/he...r-12-1.1222073

jam25mack

That reminds me of the main anti helmets for motorcyclists protester in the US. He was riding at a protest and half way through the ride he fell off and died of his head injuries..... retard!

Yoohoo

The economic rationalist in me sees helmets and seat belts as insurance against huge medical bills that need to be borne by somebody - state or family - if one doesn't actually die from one's stupidity. Public good vs private freedom to be as stupid as one likes is a vexed issue if you don't put limits on that freedom.

scrubbedexpat141

So I bet you love smokers then? Binge drinkers too?

Yoohoo

Smokers pay quite a lot for their stupidity via taxes and increased healthcare insurance premiums. There are also lots of rules around when and where and with whom they can smoke. Their freedom to be stupid around me has been seriously curtailed, so my point stands.

Binge drinkers get pinged by the courts if their behaviour impacts others, and as far as I know being drunk is not a defence to any crime. There are also similar laws we see for smoking, against public drinking and drunkeness that curtail one's personal freedoms too.

No, I think on balance we're getting there with smokers and binge drinkers. We've got a long way to go with seatbelts and car seats though.

scrubbedexpat141

How much do you think the costs of emergency response and medical bills of an accident with seatbelts differs to one without?

So, as a smoker, if I live to 100 and have paid for ciggies every day I have a right to be aggrieved for not benefitting from the healthcare available because of the tax I've paid?

I'm not disagreeing that seatbelts and car seats should be used, they absolutely should, but rationalizing it with macro-economics seems like a long, complicated way of trying to convince folk.

Millhouse

I've always thought that if they wanted to reduce deaths and improve driving standards a huge metal spike mounted from the steering wheel and pointing directly and the driver's chest would be a better method than a seat-belt.

Lots of interesting stats on seatbelts. The death rate is roughly the same with or without them. We just drive faster and take more risks now that we have them.

Yoohoo

It's not really macro-economics. It's plain common-sense. Very different things.

scrubbedexpat141

So the common-sense way to get people to wear seatbelts is to tell them that if they don't and eventually get hurt it's not fair on everyone else because they all contribute to the tax pool which will pay for their care?

Yoohoo

Well, isn't that what they do when they run advertisements showing if you hurt yourself and you needn't have your family unnecessarily suffers?

It's about convincing people that their actions have consequences and effects not just for themselves but for others - some of whom they actually care about.

mikewot

Bang on the money! These selfish inconsiderate cnuts need to realise the consequences of their actions have a ripple effect, it's not just confined to them alone.

scrubbedexpat141

I think appealing to a person's selfishness is the best way; wear a seatbelt or you have a greater chance of premature death.

After all, taking into account your point of the consequences won't matter to Charlie big bananas who thinks he is invincible.

Yoohoo

Agree that many folk here think they don't need to follow the rules and scaring them into behaving is often the best way.

The selfishness angle probably would work with the mandatory child restraint thing too. Charlie big bananas does wear his seat belt (unless it's going to wrinkle his outfit of course) but he refuses to put his child in one. Sometimes he justifies that with 'but the child cries when I put the seat belt on. It is cruel to make him cry'.... He needs to understand that the happy, non-crying baby ending up dead or injured is a lot worse for everybody - including him.

scrubbedexpat141

Good point, thinking locally, I don't understand the mentality of not strapping the kids in.

I've wrestled with my Nephew in the UK to get him into a car seat when he was younger, it took most of my strength, a lot of negotiations and a trip to Maccy D's.

Bastard.