To HELL with Seatbelt Laws!!!!!

[Angell]

I know the seatbelt issue is particularly sensitive for me right now. Two days before Christmas, a friend of mine was on his way home for the holidays....was the only one not wearing a seatbelt....due to running off the road and then overcorrecting, he was thrown from the car and is now in a coma (he was not driving). He was the only one injured. What could have been just a "scare" is now a borderline tragedy.
Besides, just because you are in a low speed zone does not mean everyone is obeying the limit, or stop signs, or lane boundaries, etc.
I personally never used to wear my seatbelt. My boyfriend made me a deal: he would stop smoking if I would wear my seatbelt. I've seen too much since then to ever go back...even if only going to Taco Bell down the street, ya know?

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"Love is a verb..."
enterangell@cs.com

[z edge]

Originally posted by DrTeeth:
A seatbelt law is to protect the aidworkers from mental damage when the have to scrape your worthless ass off of the pavement.
I guess this law is an attempt by the government to protect people who are too dumb to protect themselves.

I wonder if you are saying I am worthless and dumb here, please clarify...

[z edge]

Originally posted by zooropamanda:
um hello

children

need i say more?
i actually dont get what the problem with wearing one is?

I'll answer to you as well as about everyone else here;

I have no children.
I have great medical coverage with my great job.
I paid the fine day after christmas, $35 cash and not pennies.
I chose NOT to get a lawyer, i already have one for something else and its not worth it for something this trivial.

I posted this angrily 30 minutes after getting the damn ticket, which is my 3rd this year.

I got the ticket about 3 houses down from the driveway of my friend Dennis (nice respectable house/neighborhood) so I really could have just 'forgotten' as far as he knows or could have just been putting it on as I was driving away.

How did the cop know I didn't have one on, I have 20/20 vision and I can't tell through tinted glass?

I drive a nice car, wasn't speeding or breaking any other law, and those of you who met me would testify to the fact that I don't have a rough or criminal appearance?

I have no problem with seatbelts.

I wear seatbelts.

I do have problems with cops in norman oklahoma who have nothing better to do then harass good citizens like they are famous for (i could tell many many stories)

I have a problem with the city making the fine/court appearance 2 weeks from the citation date, during christmas???

Thats all


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U2Oklahoma&
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[Gina Marie]

Whoa!!! Don't mess w/ an angry z edge!!

But you really should wear that seatbelt-we all don't want anything to happen to you.

*runs scared from the angry side of z edge*

[zooropamanda]

Whether u have children is irrelevant. I don't either but enforcing a law that says we must wear them is beneficial to children because of idiot parents out there who wouldn't make their kids wear them otherwise.

I'm sorry you got a fine z edge but I still don't see an argument against it.

Now go hose yourself down under the sprinkler or I'll be forced to take away your Z from you again

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Slane/Lon tour pics

[bonovista]

Z Edge..
I think most of all will agree that we just want everyone here as safe as possible.

Most accidents do happen within two miles of your home. It's not your driving that concerns us, but the ass-wipe morons who drive like bats out of hell, constantly making the roads unsafe for us law abiding citizens..Not to mention all the children whose little lives are jeopardized daily by these morons.

So stay safe, cause we love ya..

[Diemen]

Originally posted by z edge:

I do have problems with cops in norman oklahoma who have nothing better to do then harass good citizens like they are famous for (i could tell many many stories) I'll answer to you as well as about everyone else here

This I can agree with. It seems like sometimes Norman police officers pull people over for lack of anything better to do.

However....

[b]I posted this angrily 30 minutes after getting the damn ticket, which is my 3rd this year.B]

If I got 2 tickets in one year for driving w/out a seatbelt (unless those other tickets were for something else, sorry if I'm wrong, but still), I'd be damn sure to have my seatbelt clicked in place before taking the car out of park, let alone backing out of the driveway.

[z edge]

Originally posted by zooropamanda:
Whether u have children is irrelevant. I don't either but enforcing a law that says we must wear them is beneficial to children because of idiot parents out there who wouldn't make their kids wear them otherwise.

I'm sorry you got a fine z edge but I still don't see an argument against it.

Now go hose yourself down under the sprinkler or I'll be forced to take away your Z from you again

DAMMNIT you can't have the Z

Actually, I agree that BY ALL MEANS children MUST wear seatbelts. I know that sounds like a double-standard, but kids are not mature enough to make THAT decision on their own IMO, also they are too precious and small to risk any harm.

Actually I feel everyone should wear them, my argument was against the LAW and basically the nature of my situation and the cops here.



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[z edge]

Originally posted by Diemen:
If I got 2 tickets in one year for driving w/out a seatbelt (unless those other tickets were for something else, sorry if I'm wrong, but still), I'd be damn sure to have my seatbelt clicked in place before taking the car out of park, let alone backing out of the driveway.

Actually one ticket was for a whopping 5 mph over the limit by 24th and alameda towards Hall Park (norman) on a deserted country road, the other was outside Fort Worth coming back from the Austin concert and I was speeding. It was 2 am and the cop swore up and down that i was drunk (i had 3 beers that day from 10 am until U2 started), telling me he was gonna take me in. Bebe, Eebz, O2, and Inca can probably vouch that I was NOT drunk that night (unlike the night before at Fados). You don't have to worry about me getting any more seatbelt tickets anytime soon

[z edge]

Originally posted by bonovista:
Z Edge..
I think most of all will agree that we just want everyone here as safe as possible.

So stay safe, cause we love ya..

Thats well put and very kind of you to say, and tomorrow night when I am drunk i will admit to being an ass-wipe moron( )

[zooropamanda]

yeah and learn how to quote in one post will ya, ya big ass wipe moron????

*steals the Z and swallows it whole*

[zonelistener]

Originally posted by z edge:
the other was outside Fort Worth coming back from the Austin concert and I was speeding. It was 2 am and the cop swore up and down that i was drunk (i had 3 beers that day from 10 am until U2 started), telling me he was gonna take me in. Bebe, Eebz, O2, and Inca can probably vouch that I was NOT drunk that night (unlike the night before at Fados). You don't have to worry about me getting any more seatbelt tickets anytime soon

Dammit -
When will law enforcement understand that a U2 concert may make us seem "Intoxicated" or "Elevated", but it is legal to drive "under the Influence of a U2 concert"!

[z edge]

I was drunk on the whole concert and Gwenness and I WAS elevated, PLEBA style. Law-dogs just don't understand!

[angelwhisper_29]

My father-in-law just got a seatbelt ticket and it is gonna cost him 100.00, ouch, he is a 68 year old man and was speeding 5 miles over, but the cop said no speeding ticket, just seat belt ticket (the speeding ticket would have only cost 50.00) Go figure!! I always wear mine, this sounds sad, but my hubby only wears his because our lawyer told him that should he be killed not wearing it, the kids and I would get nothing and that included any of his life insurance policy. Sad thought, but so damn true.

[MissZooropa]

Oki, I find this discussion kind of stupid. We all know why we should wear seatbelts and breaking that law can cost you, in both money and more valuable things.

To give you some perspective to this.
A few weeks ago I had two cars but I had only paid for one parkingspace outside my house. (I hire one space on the parkinglot and pay per month on my rent for my apartment) There are several other spaces you can hire but at the moment wasn't rented and never used. So I "borrowed" one space next to my other car til I was gonna get rid of one of the cars, we are talking about a week. One morning I had got a $50 fine for using a rentable, not rented space. Now we are talking about stupid fines, ok?? Not hurting anyone or anything, there are really not one single argument that can give sense to this.
So, please calm down and be happy you didn't lost your life instead of $35 for not wearing a seatbelt.

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"U2 on it´s own is a very interesting group and all. But U2 with it´s audience is a culture" - Bono

http://community.webshots.com/user/misszooropa
Pictures from Copenhagen (shirtless ones), London and Dublin, Slane.

[doctorwho]

Originally posted by sulawesigirl4:
Ah well. I was actually going to remind you of that. Our healthcare is not only NOT free, it's expensive as hell.

*moves to Canada*

Before you pack your bags...

Canada's healthcare is "free" - via taxes. The tax rate in Canada is around 50%. I would rather be as safe as I can and pay for my own illnesses, than have a good chunk of my annual salary pay for OTHER people's illnesses.

[CannibalisticArtist]

no healthcare is free, canada does it by charging more taxes, the US does it by making you get health insurance, or pay an excessive bill.

[Klodomir]

Angell, how is your friend doing?

[Achtung_Bebe]

It is true that z edge was NOT drunk the night of the concert... perhaps a bit hungover (correct me if I'm wrong) not to mention elevated PLEBA-style. All of these factors could have thrown the lil' officer off (btw I didn't realize he insisted you were drunk...sheeesh...)

On the subject of seat-belt laws. I have gotten to know multiple cops on the city/state level through my job, because officers get free coffee at CC's. It is a great thing, because they tell me that if they ever pull me off to the side of the road they will only let me off with a warning (sign of corruption in the system? Oh well I'm not complaining... ) anyway, they say that they hardly ever ticket for lack of seatbelt, especially around the holidays, because they hate to ticket around Christmas in general. They also claimed themselves that it is a somewhat silly law.

I do however highly recommend the use of a seatbelt. An accident I was involved in two years ago could have been much worse if the other party had not been wearing their seatbelt. I was driving down the road minding my business and they turn into me, knocking me into oncoming traffic (luckily no harm) it was rather high impact. I was listening to 'Daddy's Gonna Pay For Your Crashed Car' at the moment (freaky) anyway the other driver had just put on his seatbelt, he told me he NEVER wears his seatbelt but for some odd reason he did put it on at the stop sign just before turning into me. There's my bit of personal experience.

I have been ticketed twice in my life now, both for speeding, once for going 74 in a 55 (speed had just changed) and another for going 9 miles over in a school zone, which was a whopping $170 (the school zone was new, and there were no flashing lights, and I had gotten off of school at noon that day, which threw me off) but, if I had tried to explain this to the cop at the time, I am sure it would have mattered very little

[FizzingWhizzbees]

Originally posted by doctorwho:
Before you pack your bags...

Canada's healthcare is "free" - via taxes. The tax rate in Canada is around 50%. I would rather be as safe as I can and pay for my own illnesses, than have a good chunk of my annual salary pay for OTHER people's illnesses.

I doubt the basic tax rate is 50% though. That may be the higher rate, but not everyone is going to pay 50% on everything they earn.

For instance, I live in the UK and our healthcare is provided through the National Health Service (NHS) and is free to everyone. Our starting rate of taxation is 10%, the basic rate is 22% and the highest rate is 40%.

Personally I'm happy to pay taxes if it guarantees that nobody will be left in a situation where they can't see a doctor when they're sick. The NHS is certainly far from perfect, but I'd take that any day over a system which leaves millions of people with no access to healthcare.