Why I would not invite lawyers to my house for dinner.

[wesw]

let s see...

he who would choose safety over liberty is deserving of neither. that s closer anyway. pretty spot on I think.

there was quite a market for organs in new jersey a couple of years ago. I was shocked as well.

[BoSoxGal]

That's not evidence, wesw - as I'm sure you know.

Assertion still evaluated as BS, absent evidence.

[Sue U]

Seat belt laws have nothing to do with "nanny state" over-protectiveness and everything to do with saving lives, limiting injury and reducing the public costs of motor vehicle accidents. Seat belt laws are sensible public policy measures that save taxpayers money.

That said, the real issue in this case is not whether wearing seat belts is a good idea for motorists and their passengers as a general proposition (it is). For purposes of this lawsuit, the issue is the factual causation of injury: the question here is whether and to what extent seat belts might have made a difference in this particular accident given the kinematics involved. Defendants will have to use expert witnesses in accident reconstruction, biomechanics and forensic pathology to establish within a reasonable degree of engineering and medical probability exactly what injuries would have been avoided and how. Without actual ejection from the vehicle, that is an exceedingly difficult exercise that often involves so much guesswork that it makes the expert opinions fundamentally unsound and inadmissible. And as Crackpot astutely notes, the unconventional seating arrangements in limos make virtually all the usual seat belt safety studies irrelevant in the context of this case.

I'd take this case in a heartbeat, and I'd bet dollars to doughnuts that I could get defendants' expert witnesses barred from testifying at trial because their opinions would be sheer speculation.

[BoSoxGal]

Why I would not invite lawyers to my house for dinner.

If you had the five of us to dinner, @w, it would undoubtedly be one of your best dinner parties ever!

[Sue U]

Why I would not invite lawyers to my house for dinner.

If you had the five of us to dinner, @w, it would undoubtedly be one of your best dinner parties ever!

Let me check my calendar and the flights to Indianapolis ....

[BoSoxGal]

I cross-posted with Sue; in response to her latest post, I'll defer to her superior knowledge in this area.

Admittedly, all of the cases I have seen have been dead people ejected from vehicles. Sadly, dead on the side of the road isn't conducive to organ donation, even.

I'd read repeatedly that in regard to the crash that took Princess Diana's life, experts have said she - and the driver, and her pal Dodi - might have survived if buckled in. Her bodyguard, belted in the front passenger seat, survived and was widely reported to have been the only belted occupant of the vehicle.

However, I just read in the Wiki entry on him that technical studies of the aftermath indicate that none of them were belted - so, he got lucky (if you call having your entire face crushed and reconstructed via numerous surgeries 'lucky').

[BoSoxGal]

Why I would not invite lawyers to my house for dinner.

If you had the five of us to dinner, @w, it would undoubtedly be one of your best dinner parties ever!

Let me check my calendar and the flights to Indianapolis ....

If @w's not up to it, give me 6 months to get my solo practice up and running (and a bed in each of the spare rooms), and y'all can come here to Montana for dinner! I'll feed you local fare - bison and walleye.

And if dinner isn't the highlight of your trip, Yellowstone and Glacier are just a few hours away!

[wesw]

by the way, I read franklin s autobiography a couple of years ago. a very profound work. I wish I had read it at 14.

he packed more info into one sentence than any other writer I have read. not a wasted word. not something you can skim over, or even understand without a background reading 18th century English.

I have to disagree, it is totally nanny state to require seat belts for adults. by your logic, we should ban beer, burgers and buggery.

yesterday we took our daughter to Wilmington Delaware for a doctor visit. I had to ride up into the nether regions of the megalopolis, which I try to avoid. I wore my seatbelt the entire time.
next week, if I go fishing, and travel the backroads to get there, as usual, I won t wear my seatbelt (unless my daughter notices). I wear the belt when I feel it is prudent to do so.

I think its unsafe to ride in a little smart car, so I choose not to. it s all subjective. if you prefer the govt making your decisions perhaps living in china would appeal to you more than messy america

[wesw]

if I am ever pursued by papparazi (sp?) i will buckle up. i always buckle up during heavy traffic and bad weather.

on a sunday drive in the country? rarely

[wesw]

I ride my bicycle sans helmet as well. if I was in new York city I might wear one.

[BoSoxGal]

if you prefer the govt making your decisions perhaps living in china would appeal to you more than messy america

Sorry, but that's a fairly dumb statement.

See, in America We, the people, are the government. And We, the people, via our elected representatives, have made the decision that wearing seatbelts is required by law - in 33 states (the smarter ones, no doubt):

http://www.ghsa.org/html/stateinfo/laws ... _laws.html

[wesw]

that s the theory. if it were only so in practice...

[BoSoxGal]

if I am ever pursued by papparazi (sp?) i will buckle up. i always buckle up during heavy traffic and bad weather.

on a sunday drive in the country? rarely

You might want to consider the voluminous data on traffic fatalities before making that decision. The majority of head-on collisions, for instance, occur on rural roadways - e.g., a 'drive in the country'.

[Sue U]

if I am ever pursued by papparazi (sp?) i will buckle up. i always buckle up during heavy traffic and bad weather.

on a sunday drive in the country? rarely

You might want to consider the voluminous data on traffic fatalities before making that decision. The majority of head-on collisions, for instance, occur on rural roadways - e.g., a 'drive in the country'.

Not to mention deer, road hazards (fallen tree limbs, ruts/potholes, debris) and your own inattentiveness. Wearing a seat belt only when you "feel it is prudent to do so" is idiocy.

[oldr_n_wsr]

NY law (as far as I know) is anyone riding in the front seat has to wear a seat belt. Back seat riders over a certain age, do not. Kids no matter where in the car need to buckled in to a car seat, booster seat, etc depending on age (or size).
Hospitals will not let you take your newborn home if parents do not have an appropriate car seat for it.

I am so used to wearing a seatbelt I feel "naked" when I don't have one on while riding in a car.

Limo's, party buses, etc are different. Seating arrangements are not standard and seatbelt use may cause ore problems. Sitting sideways along the length of the limo and a head on crash may cause the belt to strangle you.

I didn't have seatbelt on when I got in my accident on my motorcycle . It was determined that the guy who hit me was100% at fault.
ETA
Seems to me many make fun of lawyers (myself included) until they need one.

[Crackpot]

Not to mention all safty devices rely on your hips being firmly planted in the seat. (The first thing to move when you're unbelted).

[Crackpot]

I think its unsafe to ride in a little smart car, so I choose not to. it s all subjective. if you prefer the govt making your decisions perhaps living in china would appeal to you more than messy america

Not subjective at all those cars are extremely unsafe (and comparatively not very fuel efficient). And the is plenty of scientific data backing all that up.

[wesw]

well you may have volumes of data, but I see accidents on the highway almost daily, its been years since I ve seen one out in the country.

[wesw]

I ve learned a lot here in the last couple of days. I m a racist idiot!

[Crackpot]

It's not a question of the amount of accidents rather the severity of said accidents