Individuals Should Decide Seat Belt Use

By Julie Fox

I find it very unfortunate that the newspaper articles appearing in several Chicago-area papers in December concerning the Algonquin seat belt case of Ken Prazak have missed the point of his and many others' arguments against mandatory seat belt laws.

The requirement for an adult to wear a seat belt should be an issue solely between an individual and the insurance company, because not wearing a seat belt does not create an unsafe act other than to the individual who chooses not to wear one. One of the roles of our government is to protect the rights of individuals against harm from another. Seat belt laws do not apply in this case, as they only affect the safety of the person who chooses not to wear one.

When government starts making decisions for individuals, where does this end? If they can mandate seat belts, why can't they mandate proper eating habits? After all, eating unhealthy food is also an unsafe act, one that only affects the individual involved, but not the safety of those around them.

There are already people promoting this, so don't think is it farfetched to think that this could be the next step.

I choose to wear a seat belt because I feel it is safer for me to do so. Yet I also saw the photos of Ken Prazak's auto collision in 1993, where someone ran a stop sign, hit him broadside, and would have cost him his life if he had been wearing his seat belt.

Does this mean that seat belts aren't safe in general? Of course not. I choose to wear one because I feel it is more safe to do so. But what about a person such as Prazak, where that was not the case on at least one occasion? Don't they have the right to choose what is safest for them based upon their experience?

As adults and individuals, it is our constitutional right to decide what we should or should not do with our lives, as long as it does not infringe upon the rights of another. The wearing of a seat belt by one individual does not infringe upon the rights of another.

An insurance company has every right, as a private organization, to require — or not require — the wearing of a seat belt as a requisite for coverage.

While I have no issues with wearing a seat belt personally, I do have an issue with the government's mandate that cars must have air bags as a safety measure. I am 5 feet, 2 inches in height. People have died due to the impact of air bags. The shorter one is, the more likely that is to happen.

In my case, the airbag would hamper my chances of surviving in a serious accident, yet the government feels that it is OK to mandate this, even if some of us could die as a result.

Where does it end? When does the government stop telling adults what is best for us? Isn't it up to us to decide that? Standing up for our rights as individuals is something we all need to do now, or the slippery slope brought on by seat belt laws and other regulations will continue to affect all of us. It's time to stop this now. I commend Prazak for his efforts to bring this ludicrous and unconstitutional law to the attention of the public.

 This article appeared in the Courier News on 01-06-06

Julie Fox is the Fox Valley Libertarian Party Treasure and Former Chair, She also is a Former Trustee at the Dundee Township Library District Board, and Former Treasurer of the Libertarian Party of Illinois