Here’s 18,000 reasons why gov’t regulations work
“Government regulation” is a bad thing, or so I’m told. It handcuffs American business, drives jobs overseas, robs us of our basic freedoms and is somehow responsible for the career of Kim Kardashian, just to mention a few of its evil consequences.
I get all that. Nobody likes rules. This is America, sweet land of liberty, the land of the open range and the open highway.
Born to be wild. Rebels without a cause. Don’t tread on me. I’m all in.
But something puzzles me. According to numbers released just this week, our nation’s highways are safer today than they have ever been. Last year, 32,310 people were killed in traffic accidents. That’s a lot, but it’s the lowest number recorded since 1949, when we started counting such things.
The rate of highway fatalities has also dropped significantly, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. As recently as 1994, the fatality rate for each 100 million vehicle miles traveled was 1.73; by 2011, that rate had been sliced down to 1.09 per hundred million miles traveled.
The benefits of that 37 percent reduction have been enormous, as the chart below documents. The blue line shows the actual number of highway fatalities each year from 1994 to 2011; the red line shows the number of fatalities that would have occurred if we had allowed the fatality rate to remain at 1994 levels.
See the difference between the blue and red lines? That represents some 18,000 lives saved in 2011 alone.
Now how was that achieved? You could argue, I suppose, that we Americans have somehow become saner, more adept drivers. I would then volunteer to take you on a rush-hour tour of Atlanta’s interstates. You would probably survive the experience; your argument, however, would not.
So what explains such a dramatic improvement? As hard as it may be for some to admit, those 18,000 lives were saved almost entirely because of government regulation. (And if you started the chart even earlier, say around 1970 with passage of the National Highway Safety Act, the number of lives saved would easily double or triple.)
Over the years, government regulations have mandated the installation of seat belts, and then the use of those seatbelts. They have mandated air bags as standard equipment and then the engineering of crash-resistant passenger compartments. They now require the use of car seats for infants and young children.
Government has lowered the blood-alcohol level used to define drunken driving, and raised the penalties for violating those restrictions. It has established nationwide standards on highway design, safety barriers, etc. Requirements and training for teen-aged drivers have been tightened as well.
That government regulation has not come without cost. Air bags, for example, aren’t cheap. The automakers fought like hell for years against the requirement that they become standard equipment. And at times, the rules can feel like a personal imposition. I confess to driving around town sometimes without my seat belt buckled, just because it feels better not to be confined. Not too bright, maybe, and not legal, but …
But let’s be serious about what’s at stake: When Benjamin Franklin observed that “they who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety,” I’m pretty sure that he was referring to restrictions a little more profound than a seatbelt law.
I define liberty by my ability to think what I like and say what I like and read what I like and go where I like. Wearing a seatbelt is not an infringement on my basic liberty, not considering the lives that law has saved and will save in years to come. Likewise, I don’t believe that requiring automakers to install life-saving equipment, or forcing them to recall defective products, is an infringement on their economic freedom. It’s just common sense.
Government regulation, in other words, is a neutral term. Unnecessary regulations, outdated regulations, regulations that give an unfair economic advantage to one group over another — they have no legitimate place in the law. But in a metaphoric as well as literal sense, regulations also allow us to barrel 80 mph side by side down the highway of life without doing serious harm to each other.
And that’s a good thing.
– Jay Bookman
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348 comments Add your comment
josef
May 9th, 2012
4:28 pm
ZamVet
The verbosity…and it was a joke, Son…
Joe Hussein Mama
May 9th, 2012
4:28 pm
G. heathen — “I’m not an insurance actuary, but they can tell you.”
You’re the one expressing the opinion that $8-12M is too much. So I’d like to hear *your* opinions on the matter, please.
Don’t punk out now. You made the statement, so you might as well go all in.
Fred ™
May 9th, 2012
4:29 pm
JHM: “He knows I’m a disabled veteran and a firearm owner; I’ve told him so many times.”
Are you sure? First I ever heard of the disabled part was yesterday. Weren’t you Air Force?
josef
May 9th, 2012
4:30 pm
FRED
“What HAVE I missed?”
A few Russian novels….
Thulsa Doom
May 9th, 2012
4:30 pm
“Also, I am of the opinion that particular reform was not necessary.”
Adam, Are you saying that reform in Greece or in western Europe is not necessary? If so then that’s quite a jaw dropping statement.
“You say that the interference is the problem, but offer no real data to back that particular assertion up. While I agree the unemployment there is high, you haven’t shown a link between that and governmental interference.”
Adam,
The labor regs and laws in France for example are so stifling and its so difficult to fire someone that the end result is that less people, and particularly the youth, end up getting hired. I thought this was common knowledge when talking about European unemployment but if not here is a link.
This article offers the standard explanation
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=46192
“Could be next,” “possible recession….” sorry, not buying it.- Adam
What are you not buying Adam? The article there states that Germany is expected to release results next week showing a second qtr of contraction. That sir is recession. It is what it is.
“That depends on the time period. You guys often trot out that same line of logic here, but you seem to think we are talking about solving a multi-year problem with a one year increase in taxes. Also, taxing the rich is only one solution of a multi-pronged, multi-year approach to solve this problem without inflicting pain. Take the taxes they failed to collect due to bureaucratic issues. People may grumble, but how much pain REALLY do you have on a modest tax on your pool?”
Adam,
Perhaps tax evasion is part of the issue. Then why are people evading so much in taxes? Could it be because taxes are so high to begin with. Seems like your only solution is more taxes. You keep mentioning a multi-pronged approach but all I see is talk of more taxes to fund a welfare state that they simply cannot afford.
Sorry Adam but there is no magic, painless bullet here. You’re living in a dream world of denial if you think there is. Nothing like the idealism of youth. The harshness of reality is altogether different sir.
Joe Hussein Mama
May 9th, 2012
4:30 pm
Fred — “Are you sure? First I ever heard of the disabled part was yesterday.”
Then you haven’t been listening over the last year or so.
“Weren’t you Air Force?”
Army.
(ir)Rational
May 9th, 2012
4:30 pm
JHM – Yeah, I don’t understand the rationale behind “cheering” someone’s demise. I never have. I own more than a few guns, and hope to own more, but also hope that I never have cause to pull the trigger in defense of my life or someone else’s. I don’t understand the mindset that celebrates it, and would tend to agree that the person celebrating someone else’s death has something wrong with them.
Soothsayer
May 9th, 2012
4:31 pm
Fresh sheets
Adam
May 9th, 2012
4:31 pm
(ir)Rational: That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it…
But this part right here shows abolishing said government. Under that scenario, abolishing the U.S. government, whether or not the U.S. Constitution has a 2nd amendment is no longer relevant, fair enough?
Adam
May 9th, 2012
4:32 pm
I’ll get back to you Thulsa. Gotta make my daily drive
(ir)Rational
May 9th, 2012
4:33 pm
Adam – I’ll have to give that one to you, but that wouldn’t be possible WITHOUT the 2nd Amendment, so it is somewhat of a toss-up. Consider it a draw?
JHM – I’ll go ahead and admit to not paying attention then, cause I didn’t know the disabled part until yesterday, or at least didn’t remember it.
Aquagirl
May 9th, 2012
4:33 pm
Weren’t you Air Force?
He said “Veteran” not “former Boy Scout.”
Fred ™
May 9th, 2012
4:34 pm
JHM: I was “out” a good part of the year. But I sure missed the boat cause I thought you were a zoomy like Jamvet.
What MOS?
Thulsa Doom
May 9th, 2012
4:35 pm
josef, Fred,
I’m in a clique with Mary E.? SOmebody better tell her. She aint gonna like that.
godless heathen
May 9th, 2012
4:35 pm
Joe: “You’re the one expressing the opinion that $8-12M is too much. So I’d like to hear *your* opinions on the matter, please.
Don’t punk out now. You made the statement, so you might as well go all in.”
Check the tape. I made no such statement. We shall let the readers judge for themselves.
My personal opinion is that when you get down to passing regulations that affect us all but will have a negligible affect on saving lives, you have lost your vision as a regulatory agency.
(ir)Rational
May 9th, 2012
4:37 pm
Thulsa – I think josef is just referring to the
long postsbooks you post.Thulsa Doom
May 9th, 2012
4:37 pm
Weren’t you Air Force?
He said “Veteran” not “former Boy Scout.”
You gonna take that flyboy? Uh. I mean JamVet!
Thulsa Doom
May 9th, 2012
4:39 pm
irational,
I know. I’m just making light of it.
JamVet
May 9th, 2012
4:39 pm
Oh, I see said the blind man
Brevity has it place, but not when I’m on a roll!
Thulsa Doom
May 9th, 2012
4:40 pm
godless heathen,
You must be like them evil Republicans. You know- the ones that want everyone to drink dirty water and breathe filthy air.
Fred ™
May 9th, 2012
4:44 pm
godless heathen
May 9th, 2012
4:35 pm
Check the tape. I made no such statement. We shall let the readers judge for themselves.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
I drew the same conclusion as JHM did (I think). I was going to ask you how much each life WAS worth in your opinion. But then again I also agreed on what you said about the back up cams. One came on our latest car, Mazda CX-9, and I never even think to look at it. Never had one before so I’m not used to looking. But then maybe when they are more wide spread, folks WILL get in the habit of using them. Either way, it doesn’t cost that much to put in (well it didn’t BEFORE the Gov’t demanded they be put in). Think webcam. You can get on for 20 bucks retail. How much do you think that will be wholesale?
They BOTH suck
May 9th, 2012
4:44 pm
“Uh Oh: 3:43 pm
Answer:
A text out of context is no text.”
Glad to know your fundamentalist interpretation is always the “right” one and by mere coincidence meets your view point.
yeah right…….
Keep on thinking that. Anything that gets you by
(ir)Rational
May 9th, 2012
4:46 pm
Thulsa – You can be rather dense sometimes, I was just making sure you understood.
Fred ™
May 9th, 2012
4:46 pm
You on a dinner roll or a yeast roll Jam?
Thuls: I would have made the “boy scout” comment to you or Jam lol, but I found out yesterday that JHM likes to nut up on jokes and as such I will no longer be jocular with him.
Joe Hussein Mama
May 9th, 2012
4:47 pm
(ir)Rational — “JHM – I’ll go ahead and admit to not paying attention then, cause I didn’t know the disabled part until yesterday, or at least didn’t remember it.”
I am pretty sure that 0311, Doom, Debbie Do-Right and Aquagirl remember it, among others.
Fred “What MOS?”
I was trained as a 31M, Multichannel Signal Operator/Maintainer, but I only spent about four months of my enlistment actually doing that at a duty station. You see, I enlisted after completing my first undergrad degree, and with graduate assistantships and scholarships being hard to come by at the time, I decided to enlist, score some college money and student loan payoffs, as well as save up some cash for grad school.
So I started working in my MOS, 31M. Next thing I know, my CO snatched me up to be his company clerk, which I guess would be 71L, Admin Specialist.
A few months later, my battalion commander grabbed me up to work in his S-1 (Personnel) shop; I wound up leading a team of people who had actually *trained* for admin work.
About a year later, an opportunity came to move to Division HQ in the G5 shop. So I made the jump. That job was a combined 46R/46Q (Print/Broadcast Journalist), and that’s the job I had until I completed my enlistment.
Best freakin’ job in the Army. I got to travel around the entire Pacific Rim, hanging with the infantry, artillery, cavalry, medics, aviators, everyone. I got to see what everyone did and how it all fit together. Bragging officers showed me stuff that was *way* over my security clearance (none of it EVER got into my work) and I got to see some incredible things. And the beauty part was that even though the infantrymen would start out treating me like a REMF, they’d warm right up after I’d spent a night or two in the field with them. They’d answer all my questions, help make sure I got photos of the hot-spit equipment and assaults, and they were great friends even after the field exercises were over. I can’t count how many times someone I met in the field stopped to greet me at the PX, at the commissary or just walking across post. It was a great job and I really enjoyed it.
But when my enlistment was over, I stuck to the plan and headed back to school. My savings and the GI Bill paid for another couple of degrees after that.
godless heathen
May 9th, 2012
4:48 pm
“You can get on for 20 bucks retail. How much do you think that will be wholesale?”
Article I read said it cost $150 to $200 for each new vehicle. But if that sucker breaks it will probably cost you $800 to fix it!!
Where's My Party?
May 9th, 2012
4:50 pm
Good point on bringing up divorce Josef. Divorce is much more destructive to the sanctity of marriage than wheter or not those who get married are of the opposite sex.
I still don’t understand why people care. If Jim and Sam get married (or Jill and Lisa), how in the blue blazes does that “harm” a marriage between Steve and Rebecca?
Would be curious to the answer to that if anyone has one.
Thulsa Doom
May 9th, 2012
4:50 pm
Adam,
Keep it short and address 1 or 2 points and that’s it. nobody seems to be liking our book club.
Joe Hussein Mama
May 9th, 2012
4:50 pm
G. heathen — ” I made no such statement. We shall let the readers judge for themselves. My personal opinion is that when you get down to passing regulations that affect us all but will have a negligible affect on saving lives, you have lost your vision as a regulatory agency.”
Are you saying that such a cost per life saved is reasonable, then? I want to be sure that I’m understanding you.
Where's My Party?
May 9th, 2012
4:51 pm
Oh, and I also missed where any Rebublican or Conservative said that there should be absolutely zero government rules or regulations. If someone could link, I’d like to read it.
Joe Hussein Mama
May 9th, 2012
4:51 pm
Fred — ” I found out yesterday that JHM likes to nut up on jokes and as such I will no longer be jocular with him.”
You don’t know me well enough to joke about my disability, mister.
(ir)Rational
May 9th, 2012
4:52 pm
Thulsa – On occasion I write books also, but you’re so easy to pick on. It just makes it more fun for me.
Thulsa Doom
May 9th, 2012
4:55 pm
Joe Mama,
Yes. I knew of your disability. I just couldn’t remember if it was paranoia schizophrenia, PTSD, or split personality disorder.
Just messin with ya.
Thulsa Doom
May 9th, 2012
4:58 pm
irRational,
I can dig it. I gots a thick skin. And I can appreciate a good jab at me especially when its funny. I only get mad or write books when I see what I deem to be blatant stupidity.
(ir)Rational
May 9th, 2012
5:00 pm
JHM – I didn’t remember/didn’t know, but I wouldn’t joke about anyone’s disability. I was taught better than that. Plus, I’m relatively clumsy, so I figure that I’ll be in a chair before I die.
Joe Hussein Mama
May 9th, 2012
5:05 pm
Doom — “Yes. I knew of your disability. I just couldn’t remember if it was paranoia schizophrenia, PTSD, or split personality disorder. Just messin with ya.”
(makes gibbering, hooting noises)
(ir)Rational — “JHM – I didn’t remember/didn’t know, but I wouldn’t joke about anyone’s disability. I was taught better than that. Plus, I’m relatively clumsy, so I figure that I’ll be in a chair before I die.”
I’m actually carrying *two* distinct disabilities; only one is rated by the VA. The other one’s come up just in the last few years. The unrated one is the one that limits my mobility.
Joe Hussein Mama
May 9th, 2012
5:06 pm
I’m out, folks. Be well and drive safely.
JamVet
May 9th, 2012
5:07 pm
Oh, and I also missed where any Rebublican or Conservative said that there should be absolutely zero government rules or regulations.
Wow, so that is the bar now?
Absolutely zero?
How about drowning it in a bathtub sized government?
The modern day Republican party seems to have abandoned it’s wonderful historic patriotic roots – from Abraham Lincoln to Theodore Roosevelt to Dwight David Eisenhower.
And i don’t care how much people disagree on taxes and spenidng and ebt and deficits, etc.
But to say what that B Grade actor, Ronald Reagan did is, IMUO, WAY beond the pale and tantamount to being anti-American – government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem.
What a reprehensible thing to say about the very government that the hypocrite headed, huh?
So is it any wonder that the ongoing leadership of that party now fervently calls for the virtual destruction of our system of government – one created by amazingly courageous and intelligent, even heroic, men who pledged to each other their lives, their Fortunes, & their sacred Honor!!!
Like some perverted band of brothers they screamed for our current president to fail!
I contend that in some depraved way, they actually want this sacred and beautiful form of the United States of America to fail.
And it sickens me that these men wrap themselves in old Glory while doing it…
(ir)Rational
May 9th, 2012
5:07 pm
Thulsa – No wonder you write so many books.
JAW
May 9th, 2012
5:10 pm
JHM
Thanks for your service. Are your disabilities service related?
Best wishes for your recovery.
Mighty Righty
May 9th, 2012
5:34 pm
I am wondering if it would be possible to find 18,000 government workers that work?
godless heathen
May 9th, 2012
5:45 pm
JHM: “Are you saying that such a cost per life saved is reasonable, then? I want to be sure that I’m understanding you.”
I didn’t say either way. But we make life & death choices all the time based on the almighty dollar, I’m just pointing out the facts to the peeps.
You think you are setting a “death panel” trap for me but save your time. I’m all for them.
fair and balanced
May 9th, 2012
8:45 pm
Hey Kayaker 71- “Bozo” has kept this country a lot safer from terrorists than your frat boy president who thought he was doing his job by reading My Pet Goat while the towers fell. and had no idea what to do when advised repeatedly of the imminent attack before 9-11. I hope Bozo keeps protecting your sorry butt.
ld
May 10th, 2012
1:03 am
Many regulations are good; some seem to be just trying to save the jog of some paper pusher.
What we NEED is common sense applied, but sometimes that seems to be in short supply w/any and all things gov’t.
Adam
May 10th, 2012
8:22 am
Thulsa: Answered you in the newest thread. And I missed your suggestion I keep it short. Maybe I missed it, but I didn’t see complaints, and I don’t see why it matters as long as we’re not completely ignoring each other.
Joe Hussein Mama
May 10th, 2012
9:25 am
JAW — “JHM Thanks for your service. Are your disabilities service related?”
The VA-rated one is, and is correctable by surgery. The non-rated one is not service-connected.
“Best wishes for your recovery.”
Thank you very much! That’s very kind of you to say!
Joe Hussein Mama
May 10th, 2012
9:27 am
G. Heathen — “You think you are setting a “death panel” trap for me”
I think you don’t know what I think, but nice guess.
I rarely play ‘gotcha,’ and if you man up and *ask* me my position or what I’m trying to get at, I’ll almost always tell you. People who try to put words in my mouth, as you just did, are almost invariably wrong.
petro
May 13th, 2012
1:03 pm
It’s the insurance companies that mandate what is best for us all….and, of course, for them.