[Vision2020] Question for the Vision

[lfalen]

Very well said Kai. It is stupid and self destructive, but should be up to them, so long as it does not put some one else at risk. The same goes for helmets and life preserver.  I think Bungi jumping is also stupid and dangerous. Should it be outlawed?

Roger
-----Original message-----
From: "Kai Eiselein, editor" editor at lataheagle.com
Date: Mon, 20 Nov 2006 13:17:04 -0800
To: "Jennifer McFarland" jmcfarland at latah.id.us, "'Vision 2020'" vision2020 at moscow.com
Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Question for the Vision

> I believe that all persons under the age of 18 should be belted, and
> officers should be able to pull over a vehicle if they see an unbelted
> minor.
> Adults, however, should make their own choices.
> I say this in light of the fact that I ALWAYS wear a seatbelt and twice have
> walked away relatively uninjured because of them, including an end over end
> rollover.
> I've also been injured by a seatbelt; compression fractures in my back. But
> that was an oddball accident and if I hadn't been wearing a seatbelt, the
> doctors said I would have probably broken my neck.
> What is needed is better education as to WHY people need to use seatbelts
> and use actual, close up, gory photos of those that didn't. I've crawled
> into a car after a guy hit a telephone pole at 30 mph with no belt and it is
> not a pretty sight. Maybe if people see the real, unsanitized results, their
> seatbelt usage would change.
> I think our police have better things to do than play parent to adult
> drivers.
> It also seems a bit goofy to me to toughen seatbelt laws on adults, while
> having no helmet law for them.
> Just my two cents worth.
>   -----Original Message-----
>   From: vision2020-bounces at moscow.com
> [mailto:vision2020-bounces at moscow.com]On Behalf Of Jennifer McFarland
>   Sent: Monday, November 20, 2006 12:16 PM
>   To: 'Vision 2020'
>   Subject: [Vision2020] Question for the Vision
> 
> 
> 
>   Dear Visionaries,
> 
>   I hope you are all doing well as we enter the holiday season.  I issued a
> press release a little over a week ago alerting the public of our "Click It
> Don't Risk It!" seat belt compliance campaign.  I'm happy to say that of the
> 15 cars I pulled over yesterday, only one person was not in compliance with
> Idaho's seat belt laws.  However, I was just visited by a friend form the
> Lewiston Police Department (our partner in this year's campaign), and he and
> I talked about our laws relative to Washington's laws.  In Idaho, an officer
> must pull a car over for a "greater" offense (speeding, having a
> registration sticker in the wrong place, not having a front plate, etc.) in
> order to enforce the seat belt laws.  In other words, I cannot pull over a
> car just because I see a small child standing up in the back seat-I'd have
> to have other probable cause to pull over said vehicle.  The Lewiston
> officer I've been working with has spent a lot of time trying to change
> Idaho's laws regarding seat belt use to: 1. make it a primary offense, and
> 2. raise the fines so they are commensurate with other states' fines for the
> same.  I've heard arguments supporting both sides to this, but I am curious
> as to what Latah County's citizens think about our seat belt laws-whether
> they are adequate as they are, if they should change, how they should
> change, etc.  My own views on seat belt usage have as much to do with how I
> was raised as they do with a general aversion to the gruesome scenes I've
> experienced responding to collisions wherein the passenger(s) were not
> properly restrained (and having to notify next of kin).  But I also realize
> that my experience is just that-mine.  What are your thoughts?
> 
>   Thank you for your time,
> 
>   ~Jennifer
> 
> 
> 
>   Det. Jennifer L. McFarland
>   Latah County Sheriff's Office
>   Public Information Officer
>   PO Box 8068
>   Moscow, Idaho 83843
>   (208) 882-2216
>   Fax (208) 883-2281
>   http://www.latah.id.us/Dept/Sheriff_Main.htm
> 
>   Truth is the summit of being; justice is the application of it to affairs.
>   ***Ralph Waldo Emerson
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
>