The article in the url below presents a timely comparison between the introduction of seatbelts in the U.S. in the 1980s and the public discourse around face masks in the U.S. today:
"A legislator in New Hampshire called it constricting. A Michigan man said it messed up his look. A sailor in Massachusetts argued the government has no right to force him to wear it. Though they might sound familiar, those were not the refrains of people rebelling against face masks during the pandemic. Instead, they came from the seatbelt debates of the 1980s, another era when some Americans pushed back against rules meant to keep them safe."
As this quote suggests, the arguments over seatbelts in many ways mirror those over masks today:
"Capitals, legislative halls, petitions and radio shows were the stages for battle over state seatbelt laws, the first of which passed in 1984. Medical workers and police officers gave firsthand accounts of how people not wearing belts died in wrecks. Opponents wondered if it was safe to be strapped into a hurtling vehicle, or complained about discomfort and government overreach."
In particular, similar to many arguments in the U.S., the debates around seatbelts and face masks can be reduced to some concept of individual freedom:
"The fight over seatbelt laws in the United States was fraught with trying to strike a balance between individual and public interests. Those concerns have also been reflected in similar matters of health and safety, including vaccinations, helmet laws – and masks."
An argument that both seatbelts and masks have in common, therefore, is the state's right to compel specific behavior. A difference between the two focuses on the harm that is being committed, whether to the individual themselves or to others:
"Alberto Giubilini, a public health ethics scholar who has compared the arguments over seatbelt laws with those of vaccination opponents, noted that seatbelts and helmets are mostly meant to protect an individual, while vaccinations and face masks are also intended to prevent harm from spreading to others."
Although this distinction is somewhat debatable (since seatbelts prevent more serious injuries that increase healthcare costs for all), different areas of the country respond in different ways to these arguments about degrees of individual freedom. As a result, and due to the U.S. federal system where most legislative powers reside with the individual states, the introduction of seatbelt laws has moved at different speeds and to varying degrees across the country:
"Since 1984, when New York became the first state to have a seatbelt law, they have continued to be an uneven patchwork. Some have made it a primary violation, meaning officers can pull over a driver only for not wearing a seatbelt. Others made it secondary, meaning a driver stopped for another reason can also be given a seatbelt citation. Only 31 states extend the requirement to adults in the back seat."
The article goes into detail about the history of seatbelt legislation in three states – Massachusetts, Michigan, and New Hampshire, which remains "the only state that still does not have a mandatory seatbelt law," in spite of the obvious benefits of wearing one:
"In 2018, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, seatbelts saved about 14,955 lives of people ages 5 and older nationwide. If everyone involved in crashes had worn seatbelts, an additional 2,549 people could have been saved, it said."
Take care
David
David Chandler
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Face Mask Debate Recalls Seatbelt Wars of the 1980s
By Christine Hauser
October 17, 2020
The New York Times
Late Edition – Final
A4
