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This Speakout has not been edited

By Joel Grotzinger, Monument

Click It or Ticket! Although it seems on the surface like a battle not worth fighting, this program smacks me in the face as a violation of our liberties and proof we are a country that needs to rethink our priorities.

To start, I always wear my seat belt, because I believe it could save my life. However, I don't think those who choose not to take the safety precaution should be treated as a criminal for making that choice. They are in no way risking anyone's well-being but their own. Police should focus on things like aggressive drivers who not only risk their own life, but ours as well!

The justification of the Click It or Ticket program is for our health and safety. Statistically, if everyone wore their seatbelt, it could prevent 15,000 deaths annually. There are many ways the government could make decisions for us in the name of our own well-being. Should we require helmet usage for adults on bicycles? How are motorcycles even legal, they have no seat belts at all!

Each year, obesity claims the lives of 300,000 Americans and adds over $100 billion in health-care costs. Does this mean the government should have regulations that dictate what or how much we eat? Perhaps a ticket for high cholesterol or high blood pressure is in order. Maybe government mandated exercise programs.

Whether seatbelt usage is a good idea is beside the point, for nutritious diet and daily exercise might also be good ideas. The point is whether government has a right to coerce us into taking care of ourselves. I think in a free society, each person has the right to make their own health and safety decisions. Each person owns himself.

On a different note, let's look at the government fiscal irresponsibility. Again this issue seems unworthy of discussion compared to other government waste running in the hundreds of billions, but to me it is still tax money used unwisely and worthy of a closer look.

Statistically, there were 42,028 traffic fatalities in the U.S. in 2006, of which 15,434 were not wearing seat belts. In Colorado, seat belt use has increased from 77.7% to 80.3% over the 3 year period of 2003-2006. That's an improvement of 2.6% or the potential of saving approximately 400 lives per year nationwide. The overall fatality rate has not changed in the past 10 years, so its impact is questionable. The U.S. Dept of Transportation has allocated $124.5 million for FY2008 to States that have Seat Belt Laws, of which $50 million must be spent on behavioral safety activities. This translates to a cost of $125,000 to $311,250 per live saved, depending on how you look at it.

These days this is deemed a government success story. But let's compare this success story to how this $500 million could be spent to save lives.

More than 30% of children in developing countries - about 600 million - live on less than $1 a day. Every 3.6 seconds a person dies of starvation, usually a child under the age of 5. These are real lives, our brothers and sisters, who can be saved as well, by eradicating extreme poverty. It costs $25 to feed a child in Africa for 100 days. The $124.5 million per year allocated to Click It or Ticket program to save 400 lives could feed 1,422,857 starving children for the same year.

I don't know about you, but I'm asking my government representatives to

1)stop infringing on our liberties that cause no harm to others,

2)stop spending my hard earned tax contributions trying to protect people from themselves and

3)allocate more of our resources to eradicate extreme poverty in the world and value all life equally.

READER COMMENTS

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It's all about the "bejamins'. ($$$$$)

I remember when the first seat belt law was enacted. It was always to be a secondary offense, NEVER to be a reason to pull peolple over. Once the first step was implimented, it was inevitable that it would become a primary offense, if only for "the public good", and to "protect the public". This is just another "for the children", protect all, Big Brother control of you and your lives in the State-apporved manner.

You are getting what you asked for; slavery.

Linda has it on this one, it is indeed a way for police to justify illegal checkpoints and get around the 4th Amendment of the US Constitution.

FACT: Seat belt usage reduces the risk of dying in a car crash by nearly 50%.

(Source: http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/cars/rules/regrev/evaluate/806572.html)

FACT: Fatal car crashes in rural areas alone cost taxpayers close to a BILLION dollars every year.

(Source: http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/people/injury/airbags/RuralCrashes/pages/CriticalNeed.htm)

Now, tell me again why you shouldn't have to wer your seatbelt?

Relax, the government is not trying to be "big brother" here and infringe on your right to kill yourself.

Next time, study the facts and statistics for yourself before making kneejerk comments.

Mick Dee,

By your logic about unbelted uninsured drivers, I presume you are against unlimited immigration from Mexico, right?

Hey Mick, I don't drink! Not a drop. I just happen to care that the constitution is being reduced to nothingness and the freedom our soldiers are fighting for no longer exists. I would like to be able to freely travel without having a cop in my face.

What about the cost to the taxpayers when un-belted drivers and passengers get in a wreck and go to the hospital and can't pay the bill? You and I pay for their bills and their poor decision to not buckle up. Click it or ticket son, pull them over!
P.S. Linda, stop drinking so much and driving over the holidays, and you really don't have to worry about "random check points" do you?

What about the cost to the taxpayers when un-belted drivers and passengers get in a wreck and go to the hospital and can't pay the bill? You and I pay for their bills and their poor decision to not buckle up. Click it or ticket son, pull them over!

On the other hand, maybe more illegal aliens will be stopped because you can't strap in 14 people in a car.

Ii is all about saving insurance companies money.

Although I agree with you on the click or ticket campaign you are wrong in that this is not about the government protecting us from ourselves. This, like many of the laws our legislators are writing, has nothing to do with safety and everything to do with revenue and getting cops around the fourth amendment. One of our so called representatives even said as much citing how much money this could bring into the state and how many "big cases" could be made if the police could pull more people over. Even though the bill making the failure to buckle up a primnary offensed died, they jammed us with random check points over the holidays. They are determined to destroy every scrap of constitutional protection we have left. We are rapidly becoming a police state.

You started off strong, then lost me at feed the world.

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