Why is wearing a seat belt a must while riding a motorcycle is allowed?

Question

not wearing a seat belt while driving is still a lot safer than riding a motorcycle. So why does the law requires wearing a seat belt?

Answer 1

For the same reason that Abortion is legal, but if someone kills a pregnant woman it is double murder. Double standards. Seems ridiculous right? I know. There is no good answer.

Answer 2

My state (TN) has a mandatory motorcycle helmet law. Legislation is currently pending that would remove the law for adults and require motorcyclists to carry quite a bit of additional insurance. If you don't want to wear your seat belt, are you willing to pay increased medical and auto insurance premiums for that privilege? If your actions had no impact on others, you might have my sympathy. What occurs, however, is after crashes persons arrive at the emergency room un-insured or under-insured to have expensive treatment of injuries that could have been lessened or prevented with safety equipment  This leads to increased insurance rates for everyone. Perhaps this points to a problem that transcends traffic safety, and a better argument would be more nuanced, but I think this is the major point to be made: By simply using our safety equipment we can lessen the impact of crashes on society at large and keep ourselves alive to affect change for the better, however we choose to define it.

Answer 3

It is the responsibility of adults to protect and train children to keep them safe until they reach adulthood. once a person becomes an adult what they do or how they do it is their choice, as long as it doesn't interfere with someone

Else's right to pursue happiness.

Requiring children to wear protective gear is logical, it will help them grow up old enough to make informed decisions regarding their pursuit of happiness requiring adults to wear protective gear is an infringement on their right to pursue happiness.

Good or bad as an adult it is their right to make their own decisions.

As long as it doesn't infringe on another persons rights to do the same thing.

Answer 4

... and in South Carolina, you can ride your motorcycle with no helmet but helmets are required of bicyclists in most cities.  Go figure.  <scratches head>

If seatbelts are so important to us;  why are there no seatbelts in the back of an ambulance?  Or on a bus?  Why do the police not buckle people in when they put them in the back of the patrol car?

Having been a paramedic on the street - I can assure you that you want to be in your seat belt when you roll your car (I promise).  But, being a Libertarian, I feel it should be your choice (if you're an adult) whether you elect to risk your own safety that way.  

The law requires wearing a seat belt because some people thought it would be a good idea to help protect you.  It made them feel like they were doing something beneficial.  It's called "feel good legislation" and usually involves limitting someone's rights with little measurable favorable result.  It also makes a considerable income (in fines) for the local government.

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Answer 5

because a car is a protective cage and if you are projected from the vehicle there is no longer the protection. a motorcycle is a 500lb+ vehicle that can crush you so you. in addition motorcyclist wear protective clothing that a driver does not. just wear your d**n seatbelt and stop complaining I am tired of losing friends to stupidity.

Answer 6

Just a sidebar here:  I knew a paramedic years ago who said to me, "I've never unbuckled a dead man."  That did it for me.  Since then, I always buckle up.

Answer 7

If I get in a wreck on my bike I can always bail from the bike and try to end up with less damages. In the car I can't bail and get less damage. In a car I would be slammed into a steering wheel, a window, and then another car without a belt and that's if I'm driving if I'm in the back there is another seat to hit. So there is more junk to hit yourself on in a car then there is on a bike. On a bike if I don't bail there is my knees hitting the tank and maybe the handlebars then the object that caused the accident.

Plus on a bike I could use defensive driving and usually avoid an accident all together. So quite your whining and wear the belt like an adult that you claim to be.

Answer 8

Well, seat belts are a 50/50 kind of thing like everything else. There have been people that died because they couldn't get out of the seat belt. But also some have been saved because they were wearing the seat belt. So either way, you never know, its a 50/50 chance.

Answer 9

Seatbelts save lives. Sure, it takes choice out of the hands of the individual but most people don't understand firsthand how important it is and would not put safety first if the law did not require it. I'm an EMT/paramedic student and I have seen many accidents where people would've survived had they just put their seatbelt on. In a collosion you can be ejected (or partially ejected, even worse) and the car will roll over you, or you'll get run over by traffic, or sustain trauma from hitting the ground or a tree. Also, with the way cars are made these days the seatbelts and airbags really need to be used in conjunction with one another. Helmets and proper gear are the motorcycle equivalent.  There aren't nearly as many bikes on the road as cars, it's not the standard mode of transportation so it's not as big of an issue.

Answer 10

It gives the government another reason to write you a ticket and take more cash in the guise of "safety."