Why car seat belts should be a law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Why car seat belts should be a law - Essay Example Research suggests that making seat belt use a primary offense does not result in reduced death rates, enforcement of law to wear seat belts in the car can adversely influence behavior, and risk is an individual factor, hence enforcement of seat belts only affect the external behavior posing higher risk to others including cyclists, pedestrian and other drivers. Proponents of imposing penalties for not using seat belts claim that increasing penalties increases the usage of seat belts, studies suggest otherwise. Even though states treating seal belt usage a primary offense reported that seat belt was used 74% of the times and those as a secondary offense reported usage at 61% times, these data do not prove that usage of seat belts has led to decreased traffic injuries and fatalities. No jurisdiction that has passed a seat belt law has shown evidence of a reduction in road accident deaths (Kopel, 1999). It is important to note that some people wear seat belt with or without enforcement of law. In 1996 in New York, when non usage of seat belt was a primary offense, it was observed that despite 74% usage, 46% of its fatally injured car occupants were wearing seat belts. In Iowa, with 75% usage of seat belts 50% of its fatally injured car occupants were wearing seat belts. Wyoming had no primary law enforcing seat belt usage but 72% usage was re ported. Thus, these data amply suggest that imposing penalties and treating seat belt usage a primary offense has not known to reduce accidents. Secondly, people would use seat belt even if no law is enforced. Enforcement of law to use seat belt in the car can adversely affect human behavior. In a study, when subjects who normally did not wear seat belts, were asked to do SO, they were found to drive faster, followed closely and braked later (Kopel). People who are naturally cautious would wear seat belts voluntarily. When reckless people are forced to wear seat belts, they drive more recklessly. According to Robertson,

South Africa Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 2

South Africa - Essay Example Hugh Masekela was an icon of Black music. Besides â€Å"Grazin in the Grass† which was a massive hit in the 60’s, he gave us an equally popular song called â€Å"Stimela† which he recorded over and over again and hence had six different versions. Hugh drew his inspiration from South Africa which was his home town. In Hugh’s own words, â€Å"I owe an endless debt to the people of South Africa and all those other African communities all over the world that I have accessed, and lived with and learned their music. He has traveled the world over and carries with him the message of hope and deep belief in the healing power of music. He speaks passionately when he mentions time and again the very hard labor done by the poor so that we could â€Å"look, smell and feel the way we want to†.(Hugh Masekela, â€Å"Stimela†, 1993) Though Hugh Masekela’s â€Å"Stimela† is a wonderful piece of work in which he brings out glaringly the life and suffering of the African people working in the mines, yet I would rather choose the simple and descriptive narrative of Anthony Trollope’s â€Å"The Diamond Fields of South Africa, 1870. The reason for this, being that it is for a History class and children are able to relate to it better when facts are in the form of a narrative. Moreover, Anthony Trollope has laid down the facts in chronological order using simple language which makes it easy for children to remember these facts. On the other hand, though Hugh Masekela’s â€Å"Stimela† is worth listening to over and over again for its sheer listening pleasure, yet it would not be too suitable or appropriate to be used in a History class for the fact not everyone can learn facts from music because music is used more for pleasure than for learning hard facts. Another reason I would choose the narrative instead of the song would be that it has the facts in chronological order which is so important for a History class, where as