I am fed up with the whining of all the people who write their letters to the editor and complain how a seatbelt law will take away their freedoms or infringe upon their rights. Your failure to use seatbelts and any other safety devices are infringing upon my freedoms and rights.
Huh? You may ask. I pay taxes just like everyone else, and my taxes go to pay the police and emergency personnel who come along with a broom and dustpan to pick up your broken bodies because you were exercising your freedoms and rights instead of your brain. I don't want to pay those taxes so you can exercise your stupidity disguised as exercising your freedoms and rights. I would sooner they be used for education or some other worthwhile project.Picking up your body and repairing it just because you want to exercise what you call your rights and freedoms is not, as far I am concerned, a good use of our tax money. If you really stop to think, you would realize that we have the responsibility to care for ourselves and others, before we have our freedoms and rights.
We are responsible to make sure that we drive safely and defensively, that we wear seat belts and use other safety equipment properly, that in our hurry to go from point A to point B we realize there are other drivers on the road who need a break, not a finger. Failure to fulfill our responsibilities will result in the loss of our rights and freedoms.
When I think of Utah drivers, the phrase that comes to mind is "Beam me up Scotty, there is very little intelligent life here." I really hope this changes.
W. Ray Pratt
Midvale