2026-10-22: I found these old writings when I was cleaning up some stuff and added them here.
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Its a dire condition in which we find our society today that there even comes a thought like that proposed in the issue as to whether adults should be legally bound to wear seat-belts or not if they understand the dangers involved. One thing which I cannot comprehend is why would someone not want to wear seat-belt if they actually and fully comprehend the dangers of not fastening them.
First I would like to propose a question, what wrong do people find in wearing seat-belts? Some might say that it proves inconvenient to fasten and later open it for short trips. But do they realize that the same uncomfortably fastened seat-belt might actually save their lives from some drunk driver who happens to hit your car on your short trip. Without the seat-belt there always remains the chance that that short trip might become their last trip. Seat-belts do not completely guarantee safety but they do get the odds highly in your favor. Basically what I want to say is that the small comfort which these people are talking about vanes into nothingness when compared to their lives.
A great person, Mahatreya, said and I quote, "Habits don't care where they are formed. And once formed they become manners." We always teach our children to have good manners and abhor the bad ones and it is proven by repeated studies that kids learn the most from the actions of their parents, so when our kids see us not wearing the seat belts they would also follow suit and no amount of teaching from their parents or teachers that they should wear seat-belts will help. In this case the kids, without having a complete picture of the actual consequences of wearing or not-wearing seat-belts, will also avoid fastening them.
Finally, the increasing accidents and the severity of the injuries caused by them would be a trouble for the nation as a whole too. Since increased accidents would put more pressure on the already overworking healthcare facilities of the country, and only because you thought it was uncomfortable to wear the belt for your short trip to grocer's. Continued casualty increase would also directly affect the economy because any nation's best resource is considered to be its human resource.
So to sum up my points I would only like to say that the potential damages of people avoiding to wear seat-belts are much higher than the possible comforts that it may provide to them. So it is advisable to legally bind people to wear seat-belts. Yes it surely would have been a completely different picture if the adults did actually understand the possible dangers of not wearing seat-belt, then they would not need to be bound legally but it won't matter because then such a question would not have even risen to their minds.