North Dakota’s safety polices on slim side
May 28, 2012 at 7:22 pm in Grand Forks Herald
The number of people who died from their injuries in North Dakota is on the high side among the states while the equivalent number in Minnesota is on the low side, according to a new national report that suggests safety policies may play a role in such differences. Continue Reading

A free person can choose to be safe.
A person made “safe” by intrusive Government edict can never be free.
Freedom is more important than safety.
Hot debate. What do you think?
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Does that mean you don’t buckle up your seatbelt or wear a motorcycle helmet? Reasonable safety rules are in place to keep down the cost of foolish people causing others anxiety and expense. When police and hospital personnel have to scoop your tattered body from the roadway, it costs in ways that can not be recompensed. Your decision to not be safe has impacts on others. If along with your decision to not wear a seatbelt or a helmet, you had to sign an agreement that nobody had to pick up after you, then you might have a different take on your free choices. The same applies to reasonable workplace rules to keep people safe.
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The cost involved with scooping them up could easily be transferred to the individuals.
We as a society just need to put laws into place that spend less time protecting individuals from themselves and do more to protect the rest of us from paying their medical bills and the price to scoop them up.
If you are in a crash and wearing a seatbelt, insurance will cover you and the first responders will do everything to save you.
If you fly through the windshield due to no seatbelt, most insurance companies today will not pay the claim.
We need laws that will allow the hospital to get payment by forcing the individual to sell off eveything they own to pay the bill.
I for one am absolutely fed up with the lack of personal responsibility that we demand from one another in society.
I believe in Freedom, but i also believe in accepting the consequences to your actions.
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How about that first responser who has nightmares for years because he had to scape your innards off the road? Your choice has affected a person negatively and society has a responsibility to see the rights of individuals don’t intrude on the rights of other individuals.
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As a realist, you should be of the position that if you can’t handle scraping people off the road and some dismembered human bodies, you shouldn’t be a first responder. Likewise, If you can’t handle heart surgery, you don’t become a surgeon, and if you’re not prepared to take a person’s life to save another, you don’t become a cop.
You are not a realist. A true realist understands the people die, and many times it’s gruesome, painful, and horrific. A true realist is apathetic to such realities, and doesn’t force unrealistic policy on those who want to live free in reality.
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You aren’t being very realist, Greg.
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So are any safety regulations justified? What about speed limits. If you believe what you say you believe, then people should be able to go any speed on highways. Companies should not be forced to produce safe food products because freedom trumps safety. Is that what you are saying?
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There is a difference between rules that protect others from you, and those which protect you from you. The victim of of a DUI, speeding, talking on a phone while driving, could be someone else. The seat belt law is essentially a means of the government making revenue…Ca-ching!
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What about all the kids left parentless when somebody dies because they didn’t use their seatbelt. Many end up being supported by pubic assistence and we all pay. We all pay when an unbelted person without insurance piles up bills in the emergency room. I don’t think we are the independant actors you think we are.
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realist, read the post where i cover where people who refuse to take actions to save themselves are responsible for paying their own way too.
you could go from being extremely well off one day to bankrupt the next.
Your call.
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Those that give up Freedom for Security, recieve neither.
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Darwinism at its finest.
I agree to safety measures that protect individuals from other peoples stupidity however, i do not agree with laws that protect individuals from their own selves.
Sometimes the gene pool needs to be cleansed and if youre one of the folks i see everyday blasting down the roads with out a helmet and protective gear… well, once your gone, thats one less liability on the roadway.
Laws should not force you to wear the gear but i hope you have good insurance because your stupidity should not cost the rest of us.
Seatbelts are the same way.
I could care less if you wear yours. I know i am taking the precaution to save my self, if you choose to go through a windshield and die, well thats your choice.
I will say this though, if you are seriously injured and you did not use the proper protection i would like to see you be fully 100% responsible for all your own medical bills as a result.
Guess its time to sell everything you own, file bankruptcy etc….
Few cases like that might make people start acting a bit smarter.
DWI? Simple, first time you get caught you should be forced to put a blow device on your vehicle to start your car as well as have a bumper sticker on the front and back that lets everyone around you know to be aware that they are driving around a person who has zero respect for their safety.
second offense? your car should be forfeit and your license revoked for no less than 2 years.
If you have enough disrespect for other members of society to get a third DWI, its time that you never drive again and any violation of the ban would result in life imprisonment to protect society from you.
As you can see, you dont want me making the Laws.
I am for peoples right to choose, but be prepared to pay the price for your decision and i’m all for protecting one citizen from the wrath of another.
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Sorry but when I look at that map.. I see two of the states that have some of the largest budget deficits sitting with the darkest blue color. Why do i get the feeling that this is someone in government trying to justify a job position.
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Just more proof that the really dumb people in our society are self-limiting.
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You can’t make life “safe;” you can only manage risk.
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The main problem is the MIS-management of risk. Specifically, not allowing folks to assess their own risks, and take action to mitigate the risks they fear the most.
When intrusive Government assesses our risks and forces compliance with whatever the Special Interest Group of the Week decides is “best for us”; all the worst parts of “1984″ are made real, while our own risk-assessment skills atrophy.
Be nice, or I’ll explain the concept of Insurance to you. Some of you won’t like hearing the truth about it.
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