This comes from the article, Frustration Over Corzine Not Buckling Up (which is an understated headline if ever I’ve read one):
TRENTON, N.J. — Last year, New Jersey law officers ticketed 271,182 people for not wearing seat belts in violation of state law. This year, one will stand out: Gov. Jon S. Corzine, who was critically injured in an automobile accident last week.
Does that mean he will be ticketed? Because he certainly deserves it. We trashed a perfectly mediocre Governor in Ohio a little while back because he improperly accepted a paid-for golf outing. Imagine what should happen to a Governor who’s guilty of the real crime of… um… how does not wearing your seat belt hurt other people again?
David Wald, spokesman for state Attorney General Stuart Rabner, wouldn’t say why state police assigned to protect the governor didn’t insist Corzine obey the seat belt law.
Because they’re incompetent, or they assume that the Governor is above the law just like they are.
There was another revelation Tuesday that is likely to add to talk about the governor’s accident _ Corzine’s SUV was going 91 mph in a 65 mph zone just before the crash, according to state police. [Emphasis added.]
Wow! Two crimes in one vehicle, one committed by the chief law enforcement officer of the state of New Jersey, and another committed by one of the officers charged with upholding the laws that are so important to our highway safety. In Ohio, if you’re caught moving 26 MPH faster than the speed limit, you lose your license. If you’re a highway patrol jerk in New Jersey, or any other state for that matter, I guess you feel that such a law doesn’t apply to you.
Many people are amazed Corzine didn’t follow the law and buckle up.
Amazed doesn’t even begin to cover it.
“With all due respect to the governor and with complete compassion in mind for the injuries he sustained, he has set a poor example,” said David Weinstein, AAA Mid-Atlantic spokesman.
“A poor example”? A piss poor example. A horrendous example. A criminal example. A dereliction of duty.
The governor, in fact, has been a proponent of seat belt usage.
As a U.S. senator in 2001, Corzine proposed having the federal government direct states to pass laws requiring children under age 16 wear seat belts.
You hypocrite bastard. You’d have the feds tighten their grip on the states even more by also requiring seat belt laws for children (”Won’t someone please think of the children!”), and you can’t be bothered to obey the current laws the feds force upon the states that require you to wear a seat belt, especially when the law enforcement officer driving you is moving dangerously and illegally fast.
Lisa Lewis, founder of the Partnership for Safe Driving, questioned whether a seat belt would have helped Corzine, because his vehicle was traveling so fast.
“Seat belts are not designed to protect us in crashes at very high speeds,” Lewis said.
If seat belts are not designed to protect us at very high speeds, then why is there a law requiring that I wear one on the highway? The logic that I’m too dumb to know what’s good for myself, and that requiring seat belts would save the lives of those dumb people, was used to justify the law to begin with. And now some woman from this partnership, whatever it is, tells me that seat belts are pointless on the highway in any case, and that Jon Corzine is excused for not wearing one. What the hell.
Some people are hopeful Corzine _ once he recovers from injuries that include a broken leg, ribs, collarbone and sternum _ can turn his accident into a message about the importance of using seat belts.
I’m hopeful that sensible people will turn Corzine’s accident into a message that, even at the most trivial levels, those who make and enforce the laws disregard them, while writing and enforcing them with nothing but contempt for you, the citizen, in mind.
I focus on these small-time laws and violations because they are the prime examples of government micromanaging lives. For those of you scared about civil liberties and the Patriot Act and domestic wire tapping and other things that are very unlikely to affect you, stop and think for a moment about the small controls you’ve given government every day and how they affect you every day. Think of how allowing government to dictate your minute behaviors implicitly gives them the permission and power to tap your phone, or whatever else gets you worked up, while brazenly disregarding and violating the same police-power-enforced standards they expect you to live by. It’s the broken window theory of government - let the little things slide, and they soon become giant problems.
Let’s take back control and fix these broken windows.
On a side note, I’d like to make an observation. Obviously Jon Corzine and his state trooper driver broke some laws and probably endangered other people on the road. Yet nowhere in any article, even on Fox News, have I seen it mentioned that Jon Corzine is a Democrat. I do not mention this because I believe any particular party philosophy is at play here. Rather, I believe there is a double standard in the media where Democrat means good, and Republican means bad. Had Jon Corzine been a Republican, the word “Republican” would appear in every article about him (as well as “right-wing”) and the tone of the coverage would be much more critical. The focus would be less concerned with the person, and more concerned with the politics.
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April 18th, 2007 at 7:00 pm
yes!!!!
April 18th, 2007 at 7:08 pm
There are 2 things I’ve thought about, in regards to seat belts, that do effect others:
1) Without a seat belt, you become a projectile. That really only effects others in the car, however, so it’s not really any cause for people outside the car to care.
2) Without a seat belt, the driver has an increased chance of being, if not outright ejected, at least bumped into a position where they are no longer in control of their vehicle. You now have an out-of-control vehicle which does endanger others.
They’re weak arguments, I know, but at least they’re arguments. None who pushed for these laws talked about effects on others; it was strictly about “personal safety.” After all, we can’t trust people to take care of themselves can we? I mean, next they’ll be asking to be able to run their own lives or something. Don’t they know how much smarter the government is and how lost they’d be without our great elected officials? Don’t they?
April 19th, 2007 at 7:18 pm
Yeah, I’ve heard the projectile argument before too, and I think it’s a bunch of bullshit. As much as I wish there were a non-swear word to express my feeling about that idea, there’s not.
In Ohio, motorcycle drivers are required to only wear sunglasses. They are not required to wear a helmet. I don’t know of any state where motorcycles are required to have a restraining device, like a seat belt, nor am I aware of a motorcycle produced with such a device.
If seat belt law proponents were genuinely concerned with drivers becoming projectiles, there would be restraint devices required for motorcycles as well. Likewise, motorcycles are much more likely to become dangerous objects themselves when uncontrolled than an automobile. So I don’t think either of those reasons holds a drop of water.
I’m tempted to say that the reason for seat belt laws is to provide a revenue source for the state. The linked article states that New Jersey ticketed 271,182 people for seat belt violations last year. At $46 each, that’s $12,474,372. I don’t know how significant that amount is for the state, but government’s desire for money is insatiable. However, I believe most states instituted these seat belt laws after the federal government threatened to take away highway funding if they didn’t. So I don’t know that raising revenue is the answer when those who demand the law don’t gain from it.
To me, that simply leaves self-righteous, elite, know-it-all blowhards who think they know what’s better for you than you do forcing their alleged wisdom down your throat in the form of making you a criminal for not complying with their utopian vision of seat belt usage.