Do You Buckle Up? Is It Because of a Law?

Searching Snopes on another topic today, I ran into the following true story:

Anti-seat belt law advocate is killed in automobile accident

Talk about ironic.

Seatbelt laws were passed in my state while I was in college. The only time before where I wore a seatbelt was in driving school and for the drivers' test. Once I had my coveted license (I can date!) I never buckled up again until the law went into effect (especially since seatbelts interfered with certain aspects of a date, if you get my meaning).

When the law went into effect I felt somewhat like this guy ("Uncle Sam is not here to regulate every facet of life no matter the consequences"). So I grumbled and started buckling up only if I thought a cop was in the area. Then I started buckling up most of the time. Then almost all the time. Then all the time.

Today I feel naked without it. If the seat-belt law were repealed or I moved to a location that didn't have it I would still buckle up.

Being nearly 20 years older and wiser now, I know that the belt is one of the only things keeping me safe on a highway filled with idiots. So although I might agree with the sentiment about government regulation, this is one area where I agree with the nanny state since this regulation gets people into a habit that might save their life.