Did you know that Georgia is the only state that doesn’t require pickup truck drivers to wear seat belts? It’s true. What’s more, it’s costing the state four million dollars in funding, because they won’t pass this law.
At the same time this became news, the governor passed a law to charge speeders $200 more depending on where they’re caught, and $400 more when they try to renew their licenses.
Huh.
This seems to be a convoluted logic, but our reckonin’ might be off.
As pointed out by Senator Tom McCall in the video linked below (worth watching just for his quotes):
I’m just of the opinion, that we don’t need one more government amendment telling me that I have to wear a seat belt
The law obviously doesn’t tell one they have to wear a seat belt, just that one will be fined if they don’t. Like many laws, it’s imposing a penalty if you fail to follow an agreed upon convention. It’s like arguing against a law telling one they have to not speed. A person can—they’ll just be fined if they do.
The reasons for this lack of seat belts is unsurprisingly tied to lobbyists, rural areas, agriculture, state’s rights, david v. goliath, red v. blue, good v. evil, trucks v. cars, ford v. chevy, king cotton, and probably the War Between the States, in some way.
Hey, to each their own, it just doesn’t make a lot of sense to us.
This does help put into the context, however, the observation that a casual attitude towards safety has been noted about the South, previously.