Darwin Award for Anti-Seat Belt Moron

[Aerdria]

Originally posted by Rosuav
AGREE!! Similar for other traffic offenses that people complain about. If you exceed Point Oh Five (0.05% alcohol), you should have to assist at an an accident involving a drunk driver - my father is heavily involved in the police, and he knows something of how messy things can be.

My mother was a school bus driver. One time, while driving a junior high football team home from a game, a drunk driver was going the other way and decided for whatever reason to suddenly veer left, directly into her back tires. If he had chosen to do this a split second later, he would have gone directly into the first car behind the bus (parents of one of the players, who's kid happened to be sitting in the back of that bus).

And the guy tried to tell the cops that the other driver ran into him. He didn't even realize he'd hit a school bus.

[Lebeau]

Well, I can agree with the economic aspect of opposition to seat belt laws. And people are going to be stupid no matter what you do. All these public awareness commercials and we still have problems with drunk drivers and people not wearing seat belts? I don't know about the whole "being instrusive" deal. Isn't the police's job to protect? Bottom line, if you're not doing something dumb or dangerous, you have nothing to worry about.

I once hated wearing seat belts. I only wore them when the driving situation was potentially dangerous or I knew I was going to be speeding. (Pretty smart, huh?) August '98: I had a BAD accident. Fell asleep behind the wheel. Road curved and I didn't. 80mph into a guard rail into oncoming traffic. I bounced off of guard rail, sliced off my driver's side rear tire. Back window shattered into the back seat. My window was down and my head bounced off of where the window would have been if it were up. Either I would have hit or the window would have shattered in my face. The car coming the other way saw me swerve and pulled over to help. My car ended up rolling harmlessly into a field with me sustaining nothing but a bruised forehead and shoulder from the seat belt I decided to wear that day. I have worn it every time since. By all accounts, I should be dead.

I don't think any measure of public awareness will help anyone. Only an experience like that or good home training can do that. But I think I will agree that it is a bit overboard.

[Aldurin]

What a jackass!

[Jarkis]

Originally posted by Aldurin
What a jackass!

Your're not talkin bout Lebeau are you? Haha..

well anyway. I still stand at detterents like heavy fines and demerits to your drivin license.

It works here.

[Shadarach]

Yeah, but Singaporeans are used to seemingly (to non-locals)draconian laws, like getting arrested for chewing gum on the street.

Is that law still in place? Or has it been relaxed?

On the matter of seatbelts, I have always worn one, most of the time I don't even realise I have put mine on. And I refuse to go anywhere with anyone until everyone has put theirs on. I guess being hit by a car or being in a car accident has an effect on some people, especially regarding motor vehicle safety.

[Alydar]

Originally posted by Shadarach
Yeah, but Singaporeans are used to seemingly (to non-locals)draconian laws, like getting arrested for chewing gum on the street.

Is that law still in place? Or has it been relaxed?

I heard they just flat out banned chewing gum. I've also heard that public restrooms have cameras in them to check whether people flush the toilet or not, and if you're caught on camera not flushing the toilet then you get a heavy fine. Is that true?

Also I hear that possession of drugs results in an automatic death sentence no matter the amount. Though I wholeheartedly support a law like that. But is it true?

[tharun]

Originally posted by Rosuav
AGREE!! Similar for other traffic offenses that people complain about. If you exceed Point Oh Five (0.05% alcohol), you should have to assist at an an accident involving a drunk driver - my father is heavily involved in the police, and he knows something of how messy things can be.

Rosuav sings .o( My object all sublime, I shall achieve in time )o.
Rosuav sings .o( To let the punishment fit the crime, the punishment fit the crime! )o.

Having spent a brief year in the US, in the town I lived in (Allentown) there were a lot of drunk drivers. I can't help but think that this was because of a lack of an alternative. There was ONE taxicab company in town that was super-unreliable/unavailable a lot of the time (they'd bought up the other two taxicab licences for the town way way back in the day). It was a monopoly system anyway.

I like to think that if there was a reasonable taxi service available not so many people woulda been driving their trucks around after getting so drunk they got thrown out of bars. They would have taken taxis home.

Maybe it was just local stubborness and if a reasonable option was available they wouldnta insisted on bouncing their vehicles home.

Probably the same in Britain, but I never lived in a smaller town there. Not as a driver anyway. Here in Korea there's ALWAYS taxis available that are dirt cheap. But its also a somewhat poor country still which makes it cheap. (but still the 10th richest country in the world)

Drunk and seatbeltless drivers upset me. Both can be avoided if the individuals and the community help to stop it.

-tharun

[Jarkis]

Originally posted by Shadarach
Yeah, but Singaporeans are used to seemingly (to non-locals)draconian laws, like getting arrested for chewing gum on the street.

Is that law still in place? Or has it been relaxed?

was wondering when someone would bring that dumb law out. Well to tell you the truth, it is now relax. You cannot sell it but if you can bring it into the country without being caught, then by all means chew all you want and you won't get fined or arrested.

As for Singapore, why we are such a fine city is because of the many heavy fines in place for the most little of offences, like $1000 for smokin in a public facility or $1000 for peeing in the bushes or $200 for eating on the trains and buses. $500 for bringing 'durians'(a very pungent smelling fruit) onto trains. Oh, we raised the littering fine to $200.

So just imaging the fines for traffic offences. Drunk driving I think is the same all around the world.

This however, is a two edge sword. One, you will get the socially responsible citizen. The other, a good citizen, but once he is in another country he goes berserk and forgets all the rules implemented in his home country.

And Alydar. On toilets having cameras is bull. Drugs, if you are trafficking is death . Possession gives a heavy sentence up to 13 years. Consumption is up to 5 years.

And again, no such things as cameras in toilets. We are strict but we are not a police state.

[Dalaena]

I admire that kind of attempt to teach people to be responsible citizens. I'm pretty sick and tired of living around people who think that it's okay for THEM to break the rules, but if anyone else does it, why they just committed a deadly sin.

Double standards really get to me.

[Salimar]

I think the output of this story is that he wanted to play with death, he did and lost the game.

He didn't cause anybody's death with his behaviour, he wasn't irresponsible in the way that he would affect someone else. He just dived in the swimming pool knowing he didn't know how to swim... his decision.

good luck next time

Salimar