# So many people still don't believe in wearing seatbelts!

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-many-people-still-dont-believe-in-wearing-seatbelts/306379>\
**Category:** Great Debates\
**Created:** [June 1, 2005, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-many-people-still-dont-believe-in-wearing-seatbelts/306379 "2005-06-01T15:28:19Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 12

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**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\
**Post date:** [June 10, 2005, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-many-people-still-dont-believe-in-wearing-seatbelts/306379/221 "2005-06-10T17:26:27Z")

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I think that imprisoning a person, turning him into a felon, is a revokation of rights… Isn’t it?

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**Author:** ![Ms2001](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ms2001/32/18463_2.png) [@Ms2001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ms2001)\
**Post date:** [June 10, 2005, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-many-people-still-dont-believe-in-wearing-seatbelts/306379/222 "2005-06-10T17:40:42Z")

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> [@E-Sabbath](#):
>
> I think that imprisoning a person, turning him into a felon, is a revokation of rights… Isn’t it?

Exactly. Once we acknowledge that rights can be denied in certain circumstances, we can see that the rationale “driving can’t be a right, because your driver’s license can be revoked” doesn’t hold together.

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**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\
**Post date:** [June 10, 2005, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-many-people-still-dont-believe-in-wearing-seatbelts/306379/223 "2005-06-10T19:10:36Z")

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Aha. I think driving on public _roads_ is the privledge. We can drive at any age, in these United States. Just not on public roads.

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**Author:** ![Ms2001](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ms2001/32/18463_2.png) [@Ms2001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ms2001)\
**Post date:** [June 10, 2005, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-many-people-still-dont-believe-in-wearing-seatbelts/306379/224 "2005-06-10T23:55:27Z")

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> [@E-Sabbath](#):
>
> Aha. I think driving on public _roads_ is the privledge. We can drive at any age, in these United States. Just not on public roads.

Well, we can vote at any age too. Just not for public officials. So far I haven’t seen any argument that explains why voting is a right but driving [on public roads] isn’t.

Any argument about whether a driver’s license is a right also applies to driving on public roads. There are certain requirements to be able to drive on public roads, and you can be prevented from driving on public roads through due process of law, but anyone who meets the requirements and obeys traffic laws _will_ be allowed to drive on public roads. No one gets to revoke your driving ability just for the hell of it, which IMO is what the word “privilege” implies.

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