azza1625/createdebate-arguments huggingface dataset:
Debate: Should the US have seatbelt laws?
Side: Yes - they save lives

"Everyone knows the consequences, and if you decide you don't want to wear one, that's a personal choice."Not true, not everyone fully thinks through the consequences of their own actions. If they did you wouldn't see people smoking, drinking excessively, or driving without seat belts. Peer pressure is another thing to take into consideration at that age. If you have the choice to wear it or not and people in your group of friends decide it's uncool for you to wear a seat belt and laugh at you when you do, then you will stop wearing it and grow into the habit of not wearing it.I wear my seat belt whenever I drive just out of habit, I don't put on my seat belt saying, "The consequences of not wearing this seat belt means I could possibly die." I do it because I've been doing so for about 10 years now.
Debate: Should the US have seatbelt laws?
Side: No - it's a personal choice

For adults it's a personal choice. For kids yes, for the same reasons laws are different for kids about other things. Not wearing a seat belt only harms yourself, and though your death could effect family and friends indirectly, it doesn't make it any less of a personal decision. Risk always exists. I am in Canada where we have nationalized health care, which is probably the best argument for seat bell laws, as your otherwise prevented injuries will have to be paid by rationing of tax revenue. This, incidentally, is one illustration of how socialism can make justifications to sacrifice personal liberty/responsibility.
Debate: Should the US have seatbelt laws?
Side: No - it's a personal choice

The United States should not have seatbelt laws for the simple fact that they cannot be universally enforced. I see the commercials all the time "Click it or get a ticket" but at the same time I can count on one hand how many times I have seen Police Officers on patrol with seat belts on. They can ticket me, but who tickets them? A law that cannot be fairly enforced due to double standard should not exist.
Debate: Should the US have seatbelt laws?
Side: Yes - they save lives

If a police officer is driving without a seat belt, take a picture or record the license plate and report the offense.As a citizen of the US and member of the general public, you have your own rights as a check on the police force's power. You are not a policeman. However, that isn't to say you don't have any power.
Debate: Should the US have seatbelt laws?
Side: No - it's a personal choice

Take a picture?Now that should get you fined if your driving and taking pictures.
Debate: Should the US have seatbelt laws?
Side: No - it's a personal choice

Oh sure we should do exactly that! The police have always been VERY good about punishing their own! (Please take note of my sarcasm) Government officials and law enforcement personnel have almost always been governed by the "do as we say and not as we do policy." So, please do take a picture of an unbelted police officer to your local police department and watch them try to keep a straight face as they take down your statement.
Debate: Should the US have seatbelt laws?
Side: Yes - they save lives

My aunt's friend is a police officer. He was put on leave without pay for one week after parking next to a fire hydrant when investigating a report of domestic violence in New York City. Don't just assume that nothing will happen and use that as an excuse, it's just lazy. Thing will happen if people car about them.
Debate: Should the US have seatbelt laws?
Side: No - it's a personal choice

There are laws stating specific exemptions for certain people to be able to be beltless, police are among this list. seriously how many of you people have researhed anything on this?!
Debate: Should the US have seatbelt laws?
Side: Yes - they save lives

If you are oppose laws that cops get away with then I guess you oppose laws in general.
Debate: Should the US have seatbelt laws?
Side: Yes - they save lives

That makes no sense whatsoever heelspider! It's apples and oranges. No one is above the law and the police should be setting an example for the citizens of their jurisdictions. When you see them doing something they could ticket you for and you cannot return the favor, it makes a person angry and frustrated...not opposed to the law in question.
Debate: Should the US have seatbelt laws?
Side: No - it's a personal choice

There is an article at Reason magazine (http://www.reason.com/news/show/33169.html) from 2005 that details the difference in style between the fight against seatbelt laws, and the fight against helmet laws.In particular it also offers some historical background on the origin of seat belt laws that suggest their enactment had more to do with the will of the auto makers (to avoid having airbag laws):"In contrast to the motorcycle industry's stance on helmets, automakers played an early and conspicuous role in the debate over seat belt laws, which they began pushing in 1983 as an alternative to the air bags the federal government was threatening to require. That strategy took on a new urgency in 1984, when Secretary of Transportation Elizabeth Dole said the federal air bag mandate would begin to take effect in 1986 but would be lifted if seat belt laws covering at least two-thirds of the U.S. population had been passed by April 1989. (As with the drinking age, which every state has raised to 21 because of a 1984 law that threatened to cut off highway funding if they didn't, the supposedly federalist Reagan administration did not hesitate to impose its preferred traffic safety policies on the states through indirect means.) The auto industry set up a lobby group, Traffic Safety Now, and invested some $100 million to push seat belt laws in the hope of meeting Dole's deadline."
Debate: Should the US have seatbelt laws?
Side: No - it's a personal choice

The government should stay out of personal choices....however, insurance companies could easily state that benefits would not be paid without someone wearing the seatbelt....do not forget, it was the insurance companies which wanted seatbelts installed, not pissed off mommies
Debate: Should the US have seatbelt laws?
Side: No - it's a personal choice

It's not a matter of whether you should or shouldn't wear a seat belt, it's about whether you have the right to make that decision for yourself. We seem content to stand by and let our personal liberties get consumed while believing the propaganda that it's only to protect us from ourselves. Shouldn't we have laws prohibiting families with children from buying homes with pools? Statistically, children in that environment are far more likely to suffer severe brain injury and death as a result. What are we going to say when that propaganda starts being milled about? Skateboards, Rollerblades and bicycles too...all statistically shown to be unsafe.This is going to sound absurd, but isn't the seat belt law (and all "self-protecting" laws like it) just perpetuating the reproduction of stupid people not smart enough to do everything available to protect themselves? These type of laws are just the governments way of insulting you and picking your pocket simultaneously.In Texas, there used to be a helmet law and then it was repealed. How could that happen? Two reasons, the first is that motorcyclists are known for their "born free" philosophy towards life. The thought of Uncle Sam telling them what to do was enough to motivate bikers to fight the law. Second, from the governments perspective, there weren't enough motorcyclists to generate enough money off tickets to make fighting the battle worth it. It certainly wasn't because motorcycles are safer.Now when I'm driving home in my car (with it's steel cage, sheet metal, air bags and yes...it's seat belt), and some helmet-less maniac blows by me at 90 mph on his/her bike, mixed with my normal thought of "suicidal maniac" is another thought..."live (or die) free, man!"
Debate: Should the US have seatbelt laws?
Side: No - it's a personal choice

If someone decides to not wear a seatbelt, then dies, then there will be one less stupid person on the roads.
Debate: Should the US have seatbelt laws?
Side: No - it's a personal choice

The figure given for money saved by seat belts is $8.8 million. For the sake of argument, I'll assume thats true. Considering how much money the American people spend on everything else, most notably our "war", this is a drop in the bucket for something that actually is benefiting us. Killing the stupid.
Debate: Should the US have seatbelt laws?
Side: No - it's a personal choice

If you want to die, it's your choice. I was spared by wearing a seatbelt, but I believe it's someone's choice.
Debate: Should the US have seatbelt laws?
Side: No - it's a personal choice

I don't believe the government, whether it be local, state, or national, should have the right to require me to wear a seat belt.Some will claim that my right ends where other's rights begin. To which I ask for proof that people who don't wear seat belts have more accidents than those who do. Until that is proven I see no logical reason for the government to interfere in this area.However, having been in accidents myself and worked accidents (when I was in law enforcement) I highly recommend that people wear their seat belts.
Debate: Should the US have seatbelt laws?
Side: No - it's a personal choice

In order to better understand the question, one must ask what the purpose of government and laws in direct relation to the people. The most commonly excepted purpose for government is to protect the safety of the people, for that is paramount to anything else. Therefore, when applied to this seatbelt question, one may draw the conclusion that a motorist who is not wearing his/her seatbelt is in no danger of harming another citizen other than their self, and it is therefore unconstitutional to have mandatory seat belt laws.
Debate: Should the US have seatbelt laws?
Side: Yes - they save lives

Do you know what the word "Doublespeak" refers to tbird267? Your argument is a pretty fair example of it. If the safety of the people is paramount to anything else, how do you infer that it is OK to hurt yourself but just not anyone else? How do you see that the driver is in no danger of harming another citizen other than themselves? Unconstitutional? Please explain your comment!
Debate: Should the US have seatbelt laws?
Side: No - it's a personal choice

Thank you, someone who understands the purpose of our government. The other arguments are bordering on absurd. If government truly was to protect us from any harm we could do to ourselves then the most ridiculous laws could be rationalized such as making it illegal to drink too much water. Drinking too much water too quickly can cause medical problems and if way overdone can and has caused death. So shouldn't drinking too much water be illegal? What about stubbing our toe on a rock. Maybe it should be illegal to walk within 100 feet of any rock?
Debate: Should the US have seatbelt laws?
Side: No - it's a personal choice

We're becoming a nation willing to give up our tiny little freedoms in order to become just a tiny bit more safe. I don't believe the "social contract" obligates us to abide by laws which protect us from ourselves. So I only wear my seatbelt whenever I choose to. When I'm eventually caught, I will loudly and proudly pay my debt to society.
Debate: Should the US have seatbelt laws?
Side: No - it's a personal choice

dude you are speaking it just how i see it as well. It's about control and money and it has very little to do with saving lives. Read about what I wrote earlier just follow the money I have a cop friend that tells me everything and it is a business to them of writing tickets
Debate: Should the US have seatbelt laws?
Side: Yes - they save lives

Will you not strap your kids in as a choice and pay the fine when you don't. What if your kid goes through a windshield because you "choose" not to strap him in? Is that how far you want to take your absurd agruement?
Debate: Should the US have seatbelt laws?
Side: No - it's a personal choice

If people wish to run the risk of being seriously injured or killed in a car crash, let them. Motorcycle users aren't required to wear helmets, why should car riders be different?
Debate: Should the US have seatbelt laws?
Side: No - it's a personal choice

this is he first real argument for either side that makes me say HELL YEAH, i have read a lot of facts that support both sides of the argument. i have come to the conclusion that by far it makes sense to wear a seat belt. saying that does not give the government the responsibility to make sure i do so by threatening me with a fine. i live in a state that does not have a helmet law, we have a eyeglass law(while riding). i am amazed that this is allowed to happen while i am forced to wear a seat belt. i feel it is a money generating machine that we have all been force fed to believe. there are facts that some accidents that occurred while the driver or passengers of either vehicle were wearing their seat belts and were more severely injured by that fact. in short i feel that it is a personal decision that i should make. my car is my own little piece of space that i control, and is my personal decision on which one i drive and what i do in it.
Debate: Should the US have seatbelt laws?
Side: No - it's a personal choice

The Us needs to have a national seat belt law because seat belts save lives and reduce injuries in crashes. Some people find that wearing a seat will not save your life and it does. Wearing a seat belt is very important. I think that in some states there should be a state law telling people to buckle up. I say click it or ticket
Debate: Should the US have seatbelt laws?
Side: Yes - they save lives

"Motorcycle users aren't required to wear helmets, why should car riders be different?"I don't know where you live but motorcycle helmets are required in the majority of states. All helmets and restraints save lives and serious injuries whether you care about people or not.
Debate: Should the US have seatbelt laws?
Side: No - it's a personal choice

"Motorcycle users aren't required to wear helmets"At least in Mississippi you are required to wear a helmet whenever operating a motorcycle. One of the main reasons behind needing to wear your seat belt happens in cities where you might get your car hit by someone who isn't paying much attention. If you aren't wearing a seat belt you could get bumped out of your seat or repositioned to where you no longer have control of your vehicle. Your seat belt would keep you in control of your vehicle at all times, and it has been proven that seat belt's save more lives than it takes.
Debate: Should the US have seatbelt laws?
Side: No - it's a personal choice

If a driver of a car loses control because he or she isn't wearing a seatbelt, and kills a bystander, it is not a matter of them "wanting to run the risk", it is a matter of them injuring or killing a pedestrian. The rights of the individual are not as important as the rights of the group. Laws in America shouldn't be as selective as to allow a single individual a slight decrease in comfort while driving to put the general public in potential danger.
Debate: Should the US have seatbelt laws?
Side: No - it's a personal choice

If anyone can't control a car without having a seatbelt on, they should not be allowed to drive at all as they are completely incompetent, My parents drove tens of thousands of miles before the seat belt laws were passed and not once did either of them lose control of their vehicle because of lack of seatbelts.
Debate: Should the US have seatbelt laws?
Side: No - it's a personal choice

State mandatory seatbelt harness laws are unconstitutional. They infringe on a person’s individual rights as guaranteed in the Bill of Rights, namely, the Fourth, Ninth and Fourteenth Amendments.
Debate: Should the US have seatbelt laws?
Side: Yes - they save lives

So when your kid goes through the windshield because you choose not to strap him in because it is unconstituional...you will be very proud? Right...safety my friend is #1....
Debate: Should the US have seatbelt laws?
Side: No - it's a personal choice

The government has no right to tell me what I should do to protect myself. As long as I'm not hurting anyone else with my decisions then i really don't see the point in seat belt laws..... oh wait yea i do REVENUE!! The only argument for seat belts is that you might be in a crash with another driver that is not wearing a seat belt and he/she might fly out of their car and hit you! When AND ONLY WHEN their actions infringe on your rights can you put laws in place to protect innocent people!
Debate: Should the US have seatbelt laws?
Side: No - it's a personal choice

I agree;The goverment has no right to tell me what to do. I am eighteen, when I go on trips with my friends they all put their seatbelts on, i just say "i'll put it on when i want to". Even on planes most of the time i dont!
Debate: Should the US have seatbelt laws?
Side: No - it's a personal choice

If someone wants to risk there life not wearing a seatbelt, let them. Police need to be worried about more important things then if some idiot is wearing there seatbelt. Only exception to this is if they are under 18
Debate: Should the US have seatbelt laws?
Side: No - it's a personal choice

We should not have to wear our seat belt its my choice wether i want to be safe or not. It is rediculous how the state/goverment runs our lives we have no freedom anymore we have to do what they say or we pay.
Debate: Should the US have seatbelt laws?
Side: No - it's a personal choice

if u die it should be your fult. so you make the choice to die or get hurt.
Debate: Should the US have seatbelt laws?
Side: No - it's a personal choice

I am a former cop and Nooooooo. What people fail to understand is that you can not put a value on freedom. The guy that said we would have to carry the burden well what about the burden of death that every soldier carried protecting the rights and Constitution of this country? As Benjamin Franklin said, "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." I have seen people kill because of seat-belts and if it is a game of chance then the choice should be yours. Child safety is up to the parents not the state same as medical treatment for your child its up to you. Wake up people if you think a pencil pushing blood sucking member of the National Transportation Safety Admin has a clue think again! The people that put the crime statistics out want go to where there is real crime LOL.
Debate: Should the US have seatbelt laws?
Side: No - it's a personal choice

How easy some of us give up freedoms. The feds bribed the states with money to pass this law. It is funny how the ones pushing this bill can claim " They died because they where not wearing a seat belt" and if they where wearing one "they would have died anyways". Then there's "trapped in a burning car by a seat-belt", ''drowning unable to release seat belt". The list is endless on both sides. My brother-in-law was T-boned and lived because he did not have one on. I myself put it on in rain and expressway driving, but 30 to 40 my fear is the side not the front or back, so i do not like them on. To call someone stupid for not using one or using one, is just that. All this law does is give the feds and gov the ability to say what you must do with your property and your body, and you think it will stop there? In the publics best interest you should not skydive, mountain bike, ski, scuba, and by the way that radio station you listen (studies have shown) makes you agitated when driving. I am not property of the state, neither is my car. If you need the state to tell you how to live or die catch a flight to Cuba or Russia. It cost society! o please everybody makes money in crashes and death, body shops, lawyers, doctors, florist, insurance company's with higher rates, heck even the grave diggers. I know its cold to say that but for the love of this country fight for your freedoms to be able to decide.
Debate: Should the US have seatbelt laws?
Side: No - it's a personal choice

Yoadrian, grah30 I so agree with bothof you!!! My best friend was tboned and killed because she wore her seatbelt! My neighbor escaped his burning car because he wasnt... This issue is SOO close to home for me!! I have a recent seatbelt ticket and I guess i will be going to court! we all speak about it being unconstitutional... we talk alot... but what can we do? We need more than talk and arguement....we need an action we can all get behind and demand we are heard! any physical ideas out there?
Debate: Should the US have seatbelt laws?
Side: No - it's a personal choice

Not wearing a seatbelt does not threaten the safety and the lives of others. It is not like drinking and driving or speeding, where other drivers could easily be hurt by your actions. Buckling up is not a public safety measure like street lights and center lines. It only affects the driver’s well being and the driver’s safety. Not wearing a seatbelt is currently a crime. But who is it a crime against?
Debate: Should the US have seatbelt laws?
Side: Yes - they save lives

Not wearing a seatbelt threatens every life inside the car the unbelted person is riding in. If you people truly want to debate that not wearing your seatbelt can't harm others within the same vehicle as you go watch some PSAs.
Debate: Should the US have seatbelt laws?
Side: No - it's a personal choice

No it's a personal choice. Police don't even use their own seat belts. they say its all about safety and saving lives and all of those good things they tell us. It's about writing tickets and getting money for their dept. I have a cop friend and their department needed a new helicopter so they would have rallies like you would see at a car dealership, but rallies to see who can write the most tickets. For every ticket a cop writes 60% of the total payment of the fine goes to that department. Just follow the money people.
Debate: Should the US have seatbelt laws?
Side: No - it's a personal choice

No, it is personal choice. True, seat belts save lives, but the government should force people to strap them in because it is just a revenue generator. This is akin to the issue on smoking. Smoking is a personal choice. Government has no right in preventing the free choice. Again another tax generator, SIN and SALES TAX.
Debate: Should the US have seatbelt laws?
Side: No - it's a personal choice

This goes along with a similar debate on victimless crimes in which I have said, and will say again, that whether or not I have on a seat belt changes nothing about the crash, as it pertains to you. You are hurt the same, your car wrecked the same.Yes, wearing them is safer, but whether or not I want to is my choice.
Debate: Should the US have seatbelt laws?
Side: Yes - they save lives

No, it is in you best interest and safety that you do. Unless you're rebellious and you choose not to care about your safety and well being, then it is not a victimless crime (or a crime for that matter) and you personally did not choose well and caused the matter yourself. Then you have to know it was you, and you can't blame anyone else.
Debate: Should the US have seatbelt laws?
Side: No - it's a personal choice

Government should not exist to protect you from yourself. If I go bungy jumping should I be penalized?
Debate: Should the US have seatbelt laws?
Side: No - it's a personal choice

Seat belt laws are a very good example of how the government uses "good intentions" to strip us of our rights. They don't save lives they just provide the police an excuse to pull someone over. Before seat belt laws police had to have a good reason to pull you over, now they don't need one and can just say they thought you weren't wearing a seat belt. For those of you in favor of seat belts, just wear them and stop stripping the rest of us of our constitutional right please, thank you.