Why is it that so many states have laws that force you to wear your seat belt but they're ok with motorcycles?

You don’t have to wear a helmet in a car, do you?
I’m not aware of the helmet laws in the US, but in Canada you have to wear a helmet while on any type of motorized bicycle, ATV, etc.

I would think that being strapped to a motorcycle might cause more harm than good. At least when you’re in a car, your seatbelt keeps you more or less in the same position, whereas on a motorcycle you might get crushed rather than thrown away and injured less seriously.

@Seelix Well fo course you don’t have to wear a helmet in a car, but here in the US not all states make it mandatory for you to wear a helmet. I agree that being strapped to a motorcycle would cause more harm than good. I just think that it’s weird that while you have to wear a seat belt in a car, that it’s even legal to ride a motorcycle.

I would rather wreck in a car with no seatbelt, than to wreck on a motorcycle with my helmet on.

In many states, if not most/all, you also need a special license to drive a motorcycle, which may cost more. I think it’s considered an up-front payment for when you later get hospitalized.

My family in law enforcement like to tell me that people riding motorcycles are referred to as “organ donors.”

@iamthemob I like that “organ donors.” Sad but true I guess.

My cousin died from not wearing a seatbelt. She flew out the window. Everyone else in the car, wearing one, survived. A crash is so fast that you keep going when the car slams to a stop. A seatbelt stops your momentum.
Like @Seelix said, motorcycle crashes, I think, are probably safer if you get away from the motorcycle. They tend to slide on the ground, don’t they? Not so much fun to get stuck by a belt to a sliding motorcycle. And you have to wear so much other gear, it’s the motorcycle’s equivalent.
It does bother me a bit that they make common sense into an enforced law, but I guess it being a law saves lives? Not that it can be enforced when it really counts: because you’re dead.

When I used to ride a lot I had a bright orange day-glo sticker on the back of my black, Bell brain bucket that said “Organ Donor”.
Obviously, I didn’t donate anything.

The seatbelt law is just one more way to get revenue throught citations issued by cops. The corresponding law for motorcycles would be a helmet law.
But in any case, it has everything to do with increasing opportunities for the state to get your money and nothing to do with the last seconds of your life.

Are you asking if seatbelts should be mandantory for motorcycles?

I think that the statistics show there’s some other reason than government revenue. Plus, @DancingMind‘s story above.

I’m pretty sure that seatbelt laws are mandated by the federal government. States have to have them, or else suffer steep penalties.

My guess is that there is no similar federal legislation with respect to motorcycle helmets. States, not having their arms twisted on the issue, can choose to eliminate the requirement.

Good Question, I have no idea.

More schizoid government. One can only guess why this is so. For the same reason that alcohol, which is toxic at relatively low levels, is illegal and cannabis is considered a Class A narcotic.

You’re absolutely right. If seatbelts are mandatory in automobiles and trucks “for safety’s sake”, then motorcycles shouldn’t even be allowed on public roadways.

@CyanoticWasp – wait, I thought marijuana was a plant, not a narcotic. ;-)

@Seelix wow.. you are on a roll today!

@iamthemob
The statistics are correct. That does not give the government justification for issuing punitive citations to people who ignore the statistics.
The only reason government quotes statistics is to beguile you into thinking they have something in mind other than a scheme to take your money, which is the best way to control you other than put you in prison.
The reason you would take the stats seriously is to help save yourself.
The government is charged with protecting you from enemies foreign and domestic. They are not charged with protecting you from ignoring data that might save your life.

strange…Universal_Scapegoat is gone! Deleted their profile.

I think seatbelts were originally put into cars only to prevent ‘passengers’ going through the window – it wasn’t ever about the driver. It was about the passengers.
I suppose back in the day they never thought that bikes would have passengers on them…

I used to have a bike, and loved it. I’d never want to see them banned… that’s crazy and a bit of an over-reaction.
Ban alcohol and tobacco first, then I would accept a ban on bikes.

I think it’s weird that seatbelts are not required on school buses.

@wundayatta Did NH finally pass a seat belt law? Last I checked, seat belts were not required unless you were under 18, and there are no helmet laws there either. Also, no car insurance is required unless you have an SR-22. I don’t think they would do so if there were steep federal penalties as a result,

Why is it that so many states have laws that force you to wear your seat belt but they’re ok with motorcycles?

Because so many people are willing to give up their freedom and liberty and allow the government to babysit them.

Most important words in the Bill of Rights: Congress shall make no law…

@bkcunningham Yes, but we are also a government of, for, and by the people, and if you haven’t noticed, many people are ignorant enough to act against their own self interests, or to not even know what their self interests are.

Imagine that you eat nothing but McDonalds and you put away three Big Macs for lunch and dinner, along with a 10-piece McNuggets, large fries, and a soft drink large enough to have an undertow. To many Americans, McDonalds is what makes them fat; they won’t even think about considering the possibility that maybe the fact that they eat like pigs and don’t watch their calorie, fat, or sodium intakes is the real culprit there.

It would be nice to think that if you just put he information out there that people would make teh right decisions, but realistically, that won’t happen. How many people do you know that honestly read the nutritional information on what they eat? It’s right there on the wrapper/box/bottle, but it’s easier to blame someone else and then demand government intervention than to accept personal responsibility.

Kind of ironic but I knew someone who likely would have died if her seat belt was on.

Just last year, the US Dept. of Transportation offered grants that Congress made available to states that enacted mandatory primary seat belt laws. One spinoff of this law is that it allows law enforcement officials can pull someone over for not wearing a seatbelt instead of citing someone after being stopped for another offense.
It is what happens when the federal government reaches into local and state governments and people believe the propaganda that we need the government to take care of us and be our protector on matters that should be local, state or at best personal. Just MHO.

@bkcunningham I don’t see that going over well in NH.

Live free or die.

… and the corollary, “Let those who ride decide!”.

@daytonamisticrip Nearly everyone has an anecdotal story like that, except Highway Patrol Officers – they will be glad to tell you how many people have been saved by seat belts. Over the years the number of children has increased by a huge number, but the number of children killed in automobiles has decreased, due to seat belts.