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If people chose not to wear them then maybe they aren't so great?

Interesting article in the Australian today about a businessman in Western Australia who operates a money lending business which services Indigenous Australians. The article paints him as a loan-shark however customers call him their friend and he holds that he is offering a service which no...

If helmets are so great then surely cyclists would voluntarily wear them and there is no need for fines?

If you go down the utilitarian road (and accept public healthcare) then you must also weigh other considerations. For example you are saying that: Cost of healthcare for injuries > cost to society of complying with laws However while the healthcare cost is quantifiable the compliance cost...

Worth noting the prevalence of debtors prisons in the 18th Century... in some cases it may be more profitable to imprison someone than release them....

By far the greatest impact of injury or death is on the individual which it befalls though. They are the ones who are dead or injured. They are the ones who lose income. In comparison the impact of society could be said to be quite low. How many people know the technical specifications for...

Does the individual owe society anything? This question goes to the heart of the relationship between society and the individual, is this relationship strictly transactional or is it something more? Is society merely a collection of individuals buying and selling their labour and possessions...

I would prefer a society involving (comparatively) very few laws and regulations. Your post is not particularly clear so I will answer both possible interpretations: 1. Do I think that manufacturers should be required to produce products which have safety features (seatbelts)? Or similarly are...

How is it beneficial to society? Why shouldn't the individual have the right to chose whether or not to undertake a risky activity? Should legislation prohibit all risky activities? Should legislation require that safety procedures be followed? Should the govt ban unprotected sex? I must...

Yes I accept duty of care arguments, I'm cautious about the need to legislate though, could it be covered by contract/tort law?

Straw-man, That goes to a parents duty of care for their children. Unrelated to seatbelts.

Why does the law have a right to stop us harming ourselves? I would have enormous reservations about removing the seat-belts from my car or about driving a car without seatbelts. However I have no reservations about removing any legal requirement (ADRs) which require seat-belts. I think...

Read an article in the smh today on a police crackdown on cyclists wearing helmets, and while in a way it is crossing old ground in the victimless crime/positive liberties space I thought that by divorcing those concepts from polarising themes like drugs and guns it might make for an interesting...

A step in the right direction is still a step in the right direction.

It was a bad example but the point is that the idea of what is healthy (and by extension unhealthy) food is still a contested one. High fat, carbs, protein and calories generally have all been linked to poor health outcomes by various schools of thought. Then there is the issue of the type of...

Since when was your minestrone healthy anyway? I guess that it has high carbs and low protein.... exactly the kind of mix which the atkins/zone/paleo/etc schools of thought would label your minestrone as unhealthy and fattening.

Let's compare apples to apples (forgive the pun). Calories not grams and how does a macdonalds meal compare to a competing healthy meal (subway) and how do they both compare to a home cooked meal*? *noting that the labour required to produce a home cooked meal needs to be counted as part of...

And it says on the packet that they are 20-30% meat, people can chose whether they consume it or not. Neither the vendor or the manufacturer are forcing anyone to eat the product and if they chose to they can purchase a healthier alternative. And indeed there has been a gradual shift to...

Actually I disagree that healthy food is cheaper. I recall a US study on cost per calorie which found that fast food was cheaper, can't find it but have a look at some examples: - Caramel Sundae from McDonalds has 329 calories (a small meal worth) and costs only $1.75 - Bacon cheeseburger...

All citizens must regularly report to a government weighing station?