Question: Does South Carolina need a strong seat-belt law?

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but a law is intrusive

I personally believe in wearing a seat belt and find it ludicrous when others do not. However, I am a firm believer that itis their choice. Personal freedoms have a barrier — my rights stop when I start infringing on someone else's rights. The choice of another driver not wearing their seat belt will never infringe on my rights nor will it ever directly injure me.

I think that it would be good if South Carolina was able to have additional highway funding that would be granted if this law was passed, however, the additional funding would not be nearly enough to put a dent in the state Highway Patrol's deficit. And speaking of state troopers, aren't they overworked anyway? Yet now we would like to add another law that they must now enforce.

I don't like high insurance rates; neither do others I am sure. However, personal freedoms seem to outweigh the other considerations.

Jamie Rhyne, 28, lives in Greenville, is a manufacturing supervisor and a student at Greenville Technical College.

Yes, seat belts save lives

Some people see the choice to wear seat belts as a matter of "personal freedom." But in our society, personal freedoms stop when others are injured and killed. This is especially true when it comes to children's safety as passengers in a motor vehicle.

When adults fail to buckle up, it sends a message to our children that it's "cool" to not use your seat belt. As adults, we should set good examples for our children. As citizens, we all pay for those who do not wear seat belts. The higher health-care and insurance costs that result from unbelted drivers and passengers involved in crashes get passed along to everyone. Research proves that the costs of hospital care for an unbelted driver are higher than those for a driver who wears his seat belt. It's the taxpayer who bears the cost, not the individual involved.

So yes, I agree that the state needs "strong" seat-belt laws. If you break the law, there are consequences you must pay. Enforcing laws that protect lives is more important than policing broken tail lights or litter.

Ericka Suber, 29, lives in Easley and is a team assistant with a local manufacturing company.

A law won't make us safer

If a stronger seat-belt law is about saving more lives, then implementing the law would be putting a Band-Aid on the problem without fixing it. If you want to save more lives, then enforce the speed limit. And, restrict driver cell-phone use in a moving vehicle. Really crack down on drinking and driving.

If a police officer is unable to stop a driver committing a moving violation that would require a seat belt to save a life, how then do we expect the officer to enforce a seat-belt law that doesn't really solve the original problem?

A far more effective way to reinforce the good habit of wearing seat belts is to install a 6-year-old child into the back seat of every vehicle purchased in South Carolina.

I have yet to meet a 6-year-old child that was not obsessed with everybody in the vehicle wearing a seat belt. And I have yet to witness anyone who didn't comply with the child's demands. It seems wearing a seat belt is a small price to pay for peace and quiet.

Kelly Merck, 30, lives in Central and works full time in staff development with a nursing home and part time as a music minister with an Anderson church.

We should

encourage safety

I believe that motorists who choose not to wear a safety belt when they drive should be fined in the state of South Carolina.

Each year, innocent people lose their lives because they are involved in accidents and they were not wearing their safety belts. These lives could have been saved if people would actually follow our laws.

I support random checkpoints on highways and city roads. Not only does this protect the lives of all motorists, but it also allows officers to do their job and protect motorists from those who do not follow the law.

South Carolina ranks first in the nation in drunk-driving fatalities. It scares me to think that our state will continue to allow drivers to not wear a seat belt and then hurt themselves and others while driving under the influence.

It's important for our state to protect us as long as we continue to support it and give our tax money to improve road conditions and safety. The money the state would make from catching violators would undoubtedly help us make our roads safer.

I would be willing to spend a few extra minutes in traffic knowing that the driver to my left was following the law.

Cindy Youssef, 18, is a graduate of Southside High School and a student at Furman University.

It won't infringe on rights

South Carolina does indeed need a primary enforcement seat- belt law for all drivers and passengers in the car. Today, young people are well-trained to "buckle up" every time they step into a car.

When I was a kid in this state in the 1970s, very few people wore seat belts. (In fact, I had a grandfather that disabled a noisy alarm in a Ford Maverick that sounded until one buckled up.) I'll be the first to admit that I had to get used to wearing them — I did not like the feel of them at first.

Strangely, now I find them sort of comforting. My wife, who is 4-foot-9, often has a problem with older model cars that do not allow motorists to adjust them to a proper height. All these problems have been rectified on today's cars. The seat belts are more comfortable, safer (unlike the solo lap belts in the 1970s), and more efficient in counteracting the force of a collision.

Asking South Carolina motorists to buckle up is not an "intrusion of big government into private lives." Instead, it is a prime example of a law for the public good. If a primary enforcement law is necessary to save lives, then I support it wholeheartedly.

Rusty Godfrey, 33, lives in Greenville and teaches social studies at the South Carolina Governor's School for the Arts and Humanities.

Seat belts are pro-family

I used to have to beg my husband to wear his seat belt. He commutes to Spartanburg daily for work and I was terrified he would become a casualty on the treacherous Interstate 85. But after he drove through town a few times and got caught in a couple of seat-belt checkpoints, I no longer worry about him wearing his seat belt.

He decided he didn't want another ticket over something so "trivial." Fear of a ticket can create a positive habit.

So naturally, I support a stronger seat-belt law. Regardless of whom a driver thinks he's not hurting, he would certainly be hurting his family if died in an accident.

Our state's ranking is one of the worst in the country for traffic fatalities. Stronger action should be taken.

I realize some of you think your rights are being trampled, but this bill is being created for the same reason your parents didn't let you jump off the roof holding the corners of a sheet: for your own protection.

Amy Guy, 24, lives in Greenville, is a homemaker and works part time out of the home as a photo retouch artist.

It would change behavior

Wearing a seat belt has always come naturally to me, and the practice was further reinforced by sitting through educational films with titles like "Red Asphalt 3." Unfortunately, about one-third of South Carolina drivers don't wear their seat belts, and this resulted in more road fatalities and injuries. If studies show that passing this law would save 100 people's lives a year, why is there opposition?

We might not have the resources required to concentrate on the enforcement of this bill, but I think that the mere threat of enforcement is good enough. Just as seeing a police cruiser in your rear-view mirror will make a reasonable person slow down, even if they aren't speeding, a "strong" seat-belt law might make people buckle up.

However, the good this law will do far outweighs the bad, as police will have another source of revenue, fatalities and injuries will decrease.

Andrew Mansbach, 18, lives in Greenville, graduated from Southside High School and attends Furman University.