Quote:
Originally Posted by BandB
Yes, you and a lot of the rest of us were idiots. My parents refused to wear seat belts....Most young people have grown up now always wearing seat belts. It's their norm. Now, we do need to make proper use of PFD's a norm and if government intervention is what it takes, them I'm all for it.
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Beautifully articulated.
It's about changing the culture of an activity. Seat belts are now part of our culture (in the US of A, anyway). Bike helmets, too. Slowly, ever so slowly, the new cell phone use while driving laws are taking hold. Before too long, this will be part of our culture.
I do somewhat resent being made to follow rules that I don't value, but part of the process of culture change is changing people's values. You young whippersnappers don't know what a monumental pain in the ass it was when auto manufacturers first started putting seat belt warning chimes into cars. Worse were the passive belt systems where the shoulder belt was attached to the door. People spent a lot of time trying to bypass these safety systems before the culture simply changed.
The end result of all this culture change? Millions and millions of lives saved, millions and millions of injuries made much less severe, and billions of healthcare dollars saved. In civilized societies we accept the restriction of certain personal liberties for the good of the whole.
But changes sure are hard!