[SuperJon]

However, you can still choose not to wear it, get in a wreck, get ejected from your vehicle, and be lying on the pavement unconscious while an EMT is cutting ALL your clothes off in the street in front of everyone with camera phones to check you for injuries...your choice.

You just hit the nail on the head and made the point most people are trying to make. The decision to be stupid should be a decision. The government shouldn't tell us we can't make the decision to be stupid.

[Baldspot]

No seat belt, then no medical coverage seems like a fair trade for me. The problem is the dummies that don't wear seat belts tend to be more than willing to let the public at large cover the costs in the form of higher insurance premiums.

I'm ok with not letting the gov't tell us what to do, but let's be men and not push the consequences off on others.

[LUconn]

Constitutionality is not the right argument. Obviously the constitution does not forbid this. The constitution forbids very few things. The state can make a whole lot of wacky laws that don't violate our rights like "you have to wear white shoes in a public library". It has nothing to do with who owns the roads (aLUmnus actually owns his own road). The argument is, is it Virginia's concern that a 30 year old adult in ATrain's back seat is wearing his seat-belt? No. It's that guy's.

[ALUmnus]

But is it constitutional?

We didn't wear seatbelts at all growing up. Heck, our van didn't even have enough seats for everyone to sit in.

You know who I really feel bad for are the people who have died choking on their food. If only there were laws in place that would mandate how many times we had to chew each bite, we could have saved so many lives. Where are the lawmakers on this? WHERE ARE THEY? I demand accountability, they obviously have charge over our lives.

Does the state buy your food? Does the state own the restaraunt you eat in? No and no. Does the state own the road you drive on? Yes, so therefore, the state does have the constitutional right to make you wear your seatbelt.

However, you can still choose not to wear it, get in a wreck, get ejected from your vehicle, and be lying on the pavement unconscious while an EMT is cutting ALL your clothes off in the street in front of everyone with camera phones to check you for injuries...your choice.

The state doesn't buy my car, and to some extent, yes, the state possibly does buy my food. The question here is the state's responsibility.

[SuperJon]

And technically, I'm paying for the roads with my taxes, tolls, and gas.

[Hold My Own]

I tell you what...if I start paying for everyone's health care then they better buckle up b/c I need to make sure the idiots on the road driving drunk and stuff...but then again if I'm paying for their healthcare they also have to have a 3 drink limit on everyone and they need to force everyone to be under a certain amount of body fat...I'm not fond of paying for the heart attacks of the 500 pounders out there...but that's a whole different subject

[El Scorcho]

Does the state own the road you drive on? Yes, so therefore, the state does have the constitutional right to make you wear your seatbelt.

First of all, you do realize that all of us are the state, right? It seems a lot of people forget that in the United States it's "we the people". The state owns squat. You and I own it. Period. Talk like that is what makes liberals think they can boss people around.

Second of all, "the state" has no constitutional rights. The state has constitutional obligations and that's it. Only individuals have rights.