Originally Posted by clincher
In other words (if you live in a democratic society)
1) government should use logic and statistics to educate the populace. Campaigns as mentioned by Triceratops.
2) allow the populace time to understand the wisdom of a law to a point where they also will promote it
3)then it's possible to enforce by clearly communicated law
4) lastly sanctions should be given for those breaking the law.
I am sure someone can provide the actual percentage of those in favor of seatbelt laws but this article and subsequent comments from locals indicates some of the populace have missed points #1 and #2 in the process and have been forced to go directly to #4
Since we are already heading OMNIwards... I wear seatbelts. I also live in a country with universal, free at the point of delivery, healthcare. Mandating of seat belts helps keep healthcare costs down. I really don't care what the rest of the country thinks, I don't want to pay for their healthcare after they have worse injuries as a result of accidents in which they chose not to wear a seat belt. They might, however, be caught not wearing a seatbelt, complain about it, and assume that those steps were not carried out. It would really take a resident of NZ to say whether it was or whether it wasn't. I don't think it's up to the police to give a pass for ignorance of a law though.
As a driver, I don't want to get into an accident with a car with an unsecured driver, and take on any guilt for what happened because they didn't wear a seatbelt.
In other words, the 'steps' you suggest are not the only considerations to be made in a 'democratic society'.
BTW, how do you know that NZ didn't go through those steps? When seatbelt laws were introduced in the UK it was within my lifetime and it was phased - first front seat then back seat. But that was considerable time ago - a visitor to the country now would have no idea of the 'clunk click every trip' campaign which went on in the 1970s and 1980s.