Because John Barnhill (Readers' Forum, May 28) totally misstated the point of my letter, I would suggest he stop speed-reading the letters to the editor.
First of all, I never insisted that seat belts do not provide any protection. I simply reported the numbers that were published in the Deseret News and then reached a logical conclusion. Secondly, the Deseret News chose to edit my comments where I pointed out that the NHTSA (another government bureaucracy) launched a $25 million ad campaign at taxpayers' expense to promote seat-belt use. I was attempting to show that the cost of government promotion and enforcement of seat-belt laws far exceeds the cost that the rest of us may incur as a result of unbuckled drivers.
Thomas Jefferson held a similar view when he said, "If we can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them, they must become happy."
Dan Schmeidler
Sandy