ESSAYS

The following is very stupid, but actually got an A, well, if Ulsted grades the same way every other teacher does. I am posting it to show how ridiculous I can be, though I'm sure no further proof is necessary. It received a 94%.

SEAT BELT TICKETING

While it is a well known fact that wearing our seat belts is the single most effective thing we can do to save ourselves in the case of a crash, I think it should still be our choice as to whether or not we buckle up. By choice, I mean a real choice, not some semblance of choice which really only means that, in the words of the 25 million dollar campaign, we either "click it or ticket." Seat belts have now been around for more than 30 years, and I for one have had statistics shoved down my throat about wearing my seat belt since I was in kindergarten. I thing that we, as a nation, know how effective seat belts are and should be given the penalty free choice in the matter of our own welfare.

The statistics are these: for 1999, 63% of the people killed in accidents were not wearing their seat belts. In 1996, more than 60% of people killed in crashes were unrestrained. It is also estimated that seat belts save 9,500 lives a year. With startling facts such as these, one would think we would all wear our seat belts regularly, without a fuss, but it was found that only 75% of people actually do wear them. I am not averse to seat belts, I acknowledge that they are good things that save lives. What I am averse to is the Nazi-like conformism the government is forcing upon us all with their ever increasing fines for us choosing to put ourselves in danger. Between now and June 1st, if you are pulled over without you seat belt on, you could receive a ticket for as much as $86.

Speeding tickets, traffic tickets, tickets concerning the working condition of the car I all understand, but seat belt tickets? The role of the government is supposed to be to protect us from each other, not from ourselves. Yet, the government is trying to protect us from ourselves, assuming that without enforcement of this, we are a nation lost. I may be alone here, but I had always just assumed America was the land of the free, yet we are not even free to make the most basic decisions of our own safety without pricey consequences.