CT>SB>Seat belts are also required because they protect more than just *you*.
  >SB>A driver who is being thrown about a car during an accident has less
  >SB>chance of gaining control of the car than one who is not.  He or she
  >SB>also has a greater chance of being thrown into another passenger, and
  >SB>killing or injuring them. Small children in car seats are almost never
  >SB>injured during accidents, unless they are seated in a front seat that
  >SB>has an air bag; or unless an unbelted person is thrown against them.
CT>Please let me jump in here then I will go in peace....
  >The mandatory seatbelt laws or MULs as Elizabeth Dole called them
  >were brought about by vehicle safety standard 207. This standard
It is true that the seat belt laws in many states were passed only after
federal manipulation of moneys going to those states.  I am aware of
that.  I am also aware of the fact that seat belts *do* save lives.  I
*never* allow anyone to ride in my car who is not fastened in; and that
is true even though New Jersey does allow adults riding in the back seat
to choose not to buckle in.  Not only do I not want a passenger's death
on my hands if it can be avoided; I don't want that passenger getting
thrown into me, and causing *my* death.  I also suspect that most people
do favor seat belts, if they don't always comply with their own common
sense. Certainly most people I know do. If the majority really do oppose
it, they can begin a campaign against it, which could include threats to
vote out the officials who voted the laws into place. I want to point
out that the majority of people in many western and central states
opposed the mandatory speed limit of 55 miles an hour; and, after a few
years, that speed limit *was* revoked.  It was never revoked here in
Jersey, but I suspect most people here in Jersey actually support that
speed limit, except for certain sections of certain limited access
highways.
In any case, we are not a democracy.  We don't vote by public ballet on
each and every law.  We elect the officials who pass our laws; and those
officials *are* elected by the majority of the voters (or, in a few
cases, a plurality). So some laws probably are passed that do not
reflect majority opinion. But if the officials pass too many laws that
are opposed by the majority, they will eventually get voted out of
office.
And I've seen majority opinion work very well.  A couple of years ago,
the US Congress was sneaking an educational bill through their hallowed
halls.  The newspapers were ignoring it; no-one was talking about it in
their letters to their constituents.  The NEA had helped write it, and
was backing it 100%; and *they* weren't talking about it either.  Some
suspicious lady got a hold of the bill and read the couple of hundred
pages less than a week before the bill was coming up for a vote.  She
also checked where the count on the votes were.  It was an absolute
certainty the bill would pass.  But the lady saw a problem. The bill, as
it was worded, would effectively eliminate all home schools, many
private schools, most rez run schools, etc.  She saw it as a threat to
several groups of people.  (It was definitely a threat to Native
Americans.)  She got on the phone and called several key people to
inform them of what the bill said, including the Home School Legal
Defense Association, which is an international group. Info was flashed
out across the entire nation by telephone chains, by e mail, by internet
newsgroups, by BBSes.  With only about four days to go, the bill was
considered a "crisis situation".  During those next four days, the folks
in congress received more phone calls, telegraphs, and e mail on this
particular bill than had been received on any bill before in history.
There were senators and representatives who disconnected their phones
because they didn't want to deal with the public response any longer.
The bill, which had almost 100% support in Congress one week earlier,
did NOT pass.
                              Sondra
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