Just for you: a chapter from a book in progress. You can buy a copy of the whole book, right now, in PDF format, or, if you like, as a paperback. See the collected chapters so far, FREE online at If You’d Asked Me… For details, visit our home page or send a request through our Contact form.

28.

Why is it illegal to not wear your seatbelt? The only person it could endanger is yourself.

Because the rest of us end up having to foot the bill for someone who fails to wear a seatbelt.

We all pay the salaries of the police officers and firefighters who have to extricate you from the wreck that turned you into hamburger. We all pay car insurance and health insurance premiums to companies that cover the your unnecessary medical bills, which wouldn’t have been incurred if you’d bothered to put your seatbelt on. We pay the salaries of the judges who have to adjudicate at trials over the liability for the accidents in which you were severely injured.

Nope. You’re not the only one who is endangered when you drive around without a seatbelt.