Hey there fellow Hoosiers.  I caught something on the news this evening that does not make me happy.  If you are not a fan of wearing a seat belt, then you too probably won't be happy.  To make a long story short, there has been a bill introduced in the senate (SB88) concerning the usage of seat belts.  As the law stands now hoosiers that drive trucks or suv's plated as trucks are not required to wear a seat belt.  This proposed law will now include these in the legislation.  And if that isn't enough to piss you off, the current law states "front seat occupant" whereas the new proposal seeks to eliminate that part as well.  In laymans terms = YOU WOULD HAVE TO WEAR A SEAT BELT IN THE BACK SEAT!!!

This Bill has passed the senate, and is now headed to the House.  Here is a link to the introduced bill  SB 88  Motor Vehicle Restraint Systems

If you are like me, and think that wearing a seat belt should be YOUR CHOICE and NOT THE GOVERNMENT, then I urge you to contact your representative, tell your friends, tell them to tell their friends...  

This BS has to end!!!

ETA- To continue my rant, it really gets me when they say it's not about money, it's about saving lives.  What a crock of SH**  .  That's why they do a "fiscal impact"  estimating an annual revenue of over 800 thousand dollars from extra citations that will be issued through this law , plus if it passes, Indiana would be eligible for a one-time federal grant of $15.7 million.  Yeah, it's not about the money any more than leasing the Toll Road!

While I hate laws bing created for things that should be choices, you can't deny that seatbelts save lives.  I work for an accident reconstruction company and I can say, without a shadow of a doubt that they DO save lives.

YMMV

Honestly, I've had times where seatbelts have saved my life, and I've had times where a seatbelt damn near killed me. I think it should be like wearing a helmet on a motorcycle... it should be personal choice.

Yes it should be a personal choice, it's my life! They ought to pass a law banning talking on a dam cell phone while driving. My $0.02

Quoted: While I hate laws bing created for things that should be choices, you can't deny that seatbelts save lives.

+1  I wear a seatbelt 100% of the time in a vehicle--car, truck, SUV, font-seat, or back-seat.  I have 5 relatives that have walked away from multiple-rollover accidents (2 accidents, years apart) and said that the tetanus shot at the hospital hurt more than the crash.  I'm sure that they wouldn't have walked away if they weren't wearing seatbelts.  I wouldn't ride a motorcycle without a helmet either.

I do think that if you want to risk your life by not wearing them that's your right, but I don't want my taxes or insurance premiums to go up even a penny to pay for your preventable injuries.  Unfortunately I can't think of a practical way to tell what part of a victim's injuries are because of non-use of seatbelts or helmets and what part they might have had anyway.

In Indiana can the seatbelt be a "primary reason" for a stop?  I know in some states seatbelt alone isn't enough to pull you over.  They have to have some other traffic reason to make the stop, but can add seatbelts to the ticket.  Often the driver gets a warning for the speed or whatever prompted the stop and just gets the seatbelt ticket.  

this is the kind of response you expect from a conservative forum like this

I also feel that it should be a personal decision along the lines of motorcycle helmets. In both situations, the only person suffering injuries will be the one who refuses to wear the safety device.

That said, I have a little story to tell you all. I used to be the biggest duck in the pond when it came to refusing to wear seatbelts -- I've easily had over a dozen seat belt tickets. I used to joke that it was worth it to pay a seat belt ticket or two a year -- sort of like paying a special fee to be exempt from wearing them.

Well, that all changed on the morning of September 2, 2003. As I was pulling out of the driveway in the morning darkness, I had a funny feeling (call it divine intervention) to put my seatbelt on, and did so. Ten minutes later I was driving 60 MPH into the side of an SUV that had ran a red light on the divided highway. The impact sent me across both southbound lanes, the grass median, and both northbound lanes. Luckily, no one travelling north collided with me.

I had the wind knocked out of me, and it took me a few moments to exit the vehicle. I was taken by ambulance to the ER. I had the blackest bruise you could imagine across my chest, stomach, and left bicep, and it took weeks to disappear. Anyway, the sight of my mother crying hysterically in the ER when she found out that I'd been wearing my seatbelt was enough to make me realize that from that moment on I'd be wearing a seatbelt. She told everyone who entered the room that my life had been spared by that seatbelt.

Quoted: While I hate laws bing created for things that should be choices, you can't deny that seatbelts save lives.  I work for an accident reconstruction company and I can say, without a shadow of a doubt that they DO save lives. YMMV

I agree with CAR-15. While I do believe it should be a personal choice, I also know I wouldn't have any parents right now if it weren't for seatbelts.
I also wear seatbelts now all the time because of the horrid experiance my parents went through.
But, I must make a confession........

When I'm rolling down the road on my big beautiful black cruiser bike, I don't wear a helmet.

*in the voice of Yoda*... mmmmmmmm "temping fate you are" hmmmmmmmm.

I know....... kind of senseless isn't it. But, that's the beauty of personal choice.

While my odds are increased of surviving an accident in my Jeep by wearing a seatbelt, I don't think my odds are better on a bike wearing a helmet. If I'm going to get smashed by some dork talking on a cellphone while on my bike then I much prefer to die instantly rather than die slowly in a hospital.

If it is such a "safety" concern, then why doesn't everyone wear 5 point harnesses like race car drivers do?
Wouldn't that be even "safer"?
Think of the children...
Heck, I don't see why cops don't just start pulling over school buses and greyhound buses and start handing out tickets. Should be the same. Safety ya know.

It all comes down to $.
The only reason that Indiana even started one was because of greed.
It should be a choice.

Here is another way at looking at it....... would you want your teenage son or daughter NOT wearing a seatbelt while driving or riding with there friends ect?  Now i say Not me!  Just a year ago my daughter was driving her car (18 at the time) she was a very good driver and always wore her seat belt..... she dodged a dog and dropped off the edge of the hwy which had about a 10 drop off to the shoulder of the road sending her into an enbankment spenning her around totaling her car. She was NOT enjered at all just shaken up and worried what I would say when i found out.  I to a few yrs ago was spared because  of wearing my seatbelt.  Now it didnt bother me for me not wearing it just into town or so but when you get that call saying your teenage son or daugher was in a crash IT HITS HOME and i dont care what your views are.  IF it takes a law to make my kids wear there seat belt then il swollow my pride and opions or what ever it takes to keep them safer!  I was like many of you till that happen and it woke me up.  Guess thats one reason they call us parents.  To each our own with  our opions thats what makes the world go around but this is mine.  Love my kids and family so ill do what it takes to keep them safer at all times.  

I agree whit shadow about the "all comes down to money" and I do think school busses should have seat belts and the kids be made wearing them.  Theres a thin line i think about what the goverment should and should not make us do when it comes to this kind of thing and i dont know the answer.  It shoud be our choice but some espeially the younger drivers and passengers cant or wont make the right choice because its not cool or what ever ..... in that case it should be made by law...... but i do agree at a point it should be our choice.  Im not making since at all lol  .  when i think of me being cut out of a pickup that over turned on a icy road which that happen and i was only brused or my daughter totaling her car total front end crash and not enjured at all but pride...... I have made my choice i guess  as for me and my family we BUCKLEUP.

While it may save lives........I'm agreeing with the fact that it should be a personal choice.

I always wear my seatbelt and make everyone riding with me do the same.

I also oppose any law that enables the government to coerce people into wearing them.

As far as the liability issue goes, I think we should insitute a system where if you sign a waiver for any public medical assistance if you're in an accident while not wearing a belt, you can be exempt from any laws forcing you to wear it.

i'm all for the requirment for kids under 18, but an adult in a ''free'' country should be alowed to make a choice that only affects themself and no one else period. i like rino's idea of waiver for those that would chose not to wear it so it won't effect anyone else. i've had 2 serious accidents without a seatbelt and walked away from both, i don't want to push my luck though. the first one i managed to roll a lifted chevy trk. hard 3 times at about 40 m.p.h., the other was a head on with a trk. at about 40 m.p.h. each last winter. unfourtunatly it totaled my m1009, but it's almost done being rebuilt better than before.

Im with offroader333, it should be required until you turn 18 but after that it is your choice.  mandatory for anyone under 18 no matter what they are riding in or where, and hold the person driving the vehicle liable if they are not.  personally I wear it all the time.  I figure it has a better chance of helping me than hurting me.  I have heard, we all know how that goes, that a study was done that showed it was safer for children in school buses not to wear them.  Who knows if its true or not.  But I am led to believe very few people are killed ech year in a school bus accidents, especially when compared to normal motor vehicles.

What does Indiana law say about kids under 18 and motorcycle helmets?   Over 18, it's your choice, but I think anyone under the age of 18 should have to wear a motorcycle helmet as well.  
(maybe that is the law now and I don't know.  It's been a while since I have ridden or was 18)  If you are old enough and wise enough to make the informed choice, then so be it but don't let kids under 18 go around acting stupider than they already do.  (I'm not too old to remember how stupid I was in a car and on a bike)

Kray, under 18 --helmet over 18 their choice.

Alright as someone not that far out of highschool, my school, Hamilton Southeastern Highschool and the three other schools in the area, Carmel, Noblesville, and Hamilton Heights, as a whole loose numerous students every year the bulk, over 18. We usually loose about 1-3 students a year from HSE alone. Granted most of them are the completely retarded and lack any and all common sense but I've been in a couple accidents, it's not only the teenagers but the bulk of the poeple in my area that can't drive. When we have little people in H2's H3's that are barely seeing over the wheel, the people who read while driving the mini-vans (tangible evidence of evil), I don't know how many of you have had to take a day off in highschool to go to the funeral of a classmate... Granted there are uually other contributing factors (crappy music too loud, booze, and the ADD every kid seems to suffer from). But still I lost a friend of mine she was 18 and 3 days old, wasn't wearing a seatbelt, brakes went out, over corrected, spin out hit a tree and was flung through the windsheild. As for personal preference, seriously what's the big deal? About the biggest obsticle the seatbelt has ever posed to me is hindering makeout sessions and movment to the backseat, soloution, one click it's off. If you notice most vehicles these days have some pretty good options for adjustment that come as standard safety features. Hell my crappy ass Durango as it turns out has adjustable shoulder height on the dang thing so we can fit a mudget on up to someone about 6'6" .

I don't mean to attack anyone's personal views on this law, I'm simply voicing an opinion and sharing soem of the things I've picked up on.

You guys do realize that in Indiana, it's possible to get a ticket for no seatbelt from a cop on a motorcycle with no helmet!! Irony!
I say to each, his own! If Rhino doesn't want to wear his seatbelt, that should be his choice; not .gov's
Gump

My car is my property. No one should have the right to force me to wear something like a seat belt on my property. Now, I would choose to wear one anyway. I've walked away from too many wrecks and have been somewhat lucky to not wear them. But it's immoral in my opinion to force me to wear one. The same thing goes for car seats.

Yeah this is BULL Crap .

MONEY MONEY MONEY .
It's a rich mans world .

Calll your state Reps and Senators too .
I did befor daylight saving s .  It worked then ........NOT  !!!!

Oh never mind
WE"RE SCREWEDD !!!

It boils down to this:

Would it be beneficial to you to wear a seatbelt?
Absolutely.  

Should you be forced to by legislation?
No.

Should kids wear one?
Absolutely.