Reject National Seat Belt Law

We the supporters, members and visitors of the Seat Belt Choice Coalition and its web site, www.seatbeltchoice.com, strongly urge the members of the U.S. Senate and President Bush to reject SB 1993, titled "The National Highway Safety Act of 2003", specifically the seat belt provisions.

Seat belt laws are offensive to most Americans, regardless of whether they wear one. Law abiding citizens do not want to be told what to do in their own vehicles. Furthermore, it is an insult to Americans when a national legislative body such as the U.S. Senate, particularly Sens. Clinton, Warner and DeWine, determines that we are too stupid to make our own safety decisions and thus they feel they must do so for us by forcing the 30 states with no primary belt law (meaning being stopped solely for no seat belt) to adopt such by compelling us to buckle up under penalty of a fine or lose federal highway money.

Seat belt laws also create strained relations between law enforcement and citizens. Police are generally overworked as is, protecting us from crime and terrorism. To assign them the task of observing seat belt usage, in addition to removing criminal elements from society, is a poor use of federal money. Funds that could also be used to repair deteriorating roads and ease burgeoning traffic congestion but diverted to monitoring whether a safety device is being used in a vehicle is a prime example of government waste.

While seat belt use has claimed to have saved lives, its use has also achieved unintended results. Such examples include fires, submersions, jackknifes and whiplash, resulting in more serious injuries or deaths. Not one crash has ever been prevented by using a seat belt but if Congress really wanted to save lives, more productive ways of doing so would be to increase a police presence on our roads to remove impaired and aggressive drivers, tailgaters, weavers, speeders and others who put law abiding motorists at risk and implementing programs that better educate drivers and thus prevent crashes.

In certain states where seat belt enforcement is aggressive and percentages exceed 80-90\%, such as California, Oregon, Washington and New York, it has not translated into less fatalities, according to figures from the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), an arm of the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA). In some locales, more deaths and injuries occurred as a result of forced belt usage. And it should be noted that FARS shows New Hampshire, the only state with no seat belt law, and Massachusetts with its secondary law and one of the lowest belt usage states in America, have consistently over the last 9 years scored among the top 5 states for fewest fatality percentages per 100 million miles traveled. Such examples show that it's not seat belts saving lives but safe driving.

That being said, the primary reason Congress must reject SB 1993 is because seat belt laws are unconstitutional. They violate the 4th Amendment, the right to be secure in one's own "persons....papers and effects". They also violate the 14th Amendment in that they create unequal protection. Such examples include: exemptions of certain vehicles from seat belt use, exemptions of passengers in back seats, exemption of certain jobs such as postal carriers and lax or no helmet laws for cyclists.

The bottom line is that competent individuals must have the right to make their own safety decisions without government intrusion. Just as doctors are obligated to discuss the benefits and risks of elective surgery and thus allow the patient to make up his or her own mind whether to go through with it, Americans must have the right to know the pros and cons of seat belt use and then make an educated decision accordingly without being compelled one way or another.

If this bill passes, what would prevent Congress from passing legislation to monitor eating and drinking habits in the home? I'm sure they are well aware the obesity police are on the prowl, imposing their so-called wisdom in terms of nutrition and seeking taxes on foods they deem unhealthy. The autonomy of competent Americans to make decisions that do not affect others must be considered sacred at all times.

We insist our elected leaders in Washington reject a national seat belt law and allow liberty to be restored across the fruited plain. God bless America.