[Spridgets] Why I wear seatbelts...

[WeslakeMonza1330 at aol.com]

In the UK after it became law to wear seatbelts the fatality rate dropped  
causing a similar reduction in the availability of vital organs for  
transplants.  So, while the odd person might have survived a crash because  they didn't 
wear a seatbelt the overall odds work in the direction that belting  up saves 
lives.
 
In a message dated 19/11/2008 20:28:18 GMT Standard Time,  
grbyrns at ucdavis.edu writes:

I spent  8 years doing tissue crossmatching for organ transplant at UCLA, so 
I  don't agree with the helmet law.  As long as motorcyclists carry enough  
insurance to keep their brain-damaged noggins off the public nickle, they  
should be allowed their freedom.  There are thousands of kidney  patients out 
there waiting for helmetless riders.  Several times I  stood in a hallway 
with a styrofoam box full of ice waiting for the  parents of a young male 
motorcyclist to say their final goodbyes before  the "harvest".  The helmet 
law in California has lengthened the stay  on the list for potential organ 
recipients and cheated Darwin out of his  due.  But if they don't have 
sufficient insurance to maintain them on  the tubes for their expected 
survival time, its not fair to make the rest  of us pay.  Motorcyclists that 
dismiss this as an unlikely scenario  have not stood in that hallway holding 
that box.

Glen  Byrns