Sen. Tom Wyss has introduced seat-belt legislation, the primary result of which would be to remove the buckle-up exemption for pickup trucks. As Masson's Blog notes, "That distinction is awfully silly. Either it's a good idea to require seat belts for people in motor vehicles on the public roads or not." There's also another disparity, not mentioned by Masson, that makes Indiana's vehicle-operator-safety rules one of the two silliest provisions of state law (the other being the "I promise to use these dangerous products only out of state" pledge required of people who buy "forbidden" fireworks): Drivers are required to wear seat belts; motorcycle operators, however, are not required to wear helmets. To paraphrase Masson's Blog, either it's a good idea to protect people from their own stupid behavior or not. Whether you're of the "let people kill themselves" libertarian school or adhere to the "preventable deaths affect us all" philosophy, you have to admit that current state law on the matter is incoherent.
