A privilege, not a right

I hate to prick a pin into the balloon of noted constitutional scholar and public safety expert Steve Hammer, but I feel I have no choice (Hammer, “Traffic Ticket Raises Questions,” May 10-17). For starters, driving an automobile is technically a privilege, not a right. Decades of court precedent says that the states have the right to determine operational rules for their drivers. I’m slightly alarmed that Steve repeated the oft-repeated canard that flying through the windshield is actually preferable to a seat belt. The notion that all sorts of people are trapped in burning cars by their seat belts is something that you see in a movie, or hear about in an urban legend. Although I suppose not wearing a seat belt helps you escape when the man with a hook for a hand pops out from the back seat.  

If you’re lucky enough to survive being thrown through a windshield and onto the concrete, at great force I might add, you face a lifetime of crippling medical conditions and expenses. Eventually these will put you on the public dime. So, while you prattle on about personal choice, eventually society as a whole has to pick up the pieces of said choice. Do us a favor, Steve, and stick to walking.