A couple of entries ago I griped about the seatbelt law and how I was caught and ticketed for not wearing one driving in Westchester county, NY. Little did I know that there is a move afoot in the same county to make bicycle helmets mandatory. Mind you, this is not for children (which I support), but for everyone, including adults.
I just don't understand how people can tolerate this erosion and intrusion into their personal rights. This is yet again another obvious attempt for municipalities to transform law-abiding citizens into law-breakers and collect money. It always comes down to money, doesn't it? A bunch of bureaucrats got together one day and brain-stormed about how they can raise more money and this emerged as a good candidate under the guise of protecting public safety.
The slippery slope is indeed upon us and you can be sure that it won't stop with mandatory adult bike laws. Soon, there will be mandatory blood tests to measure your bad cholesterol and fine you if it's over some arbitrary limit. Like to exercise? There will be laws forbidding you to raise your heart rate beyond a certain number of beats per minute. Like to shovel your own snow? There will be laws banning that. How about swimming? There will laws requiring flotation devices for everyone; laws that will ban lifting heavy objects, laws against strenuous hiking, laws against running with scissors, laws against wearing too few layers during the cold, laws against hammering a nail without a permit, and laws against other laws to make sure everything is covered.
You laugh now, but all these laws will be enacted to save you from yourself, and of course each offense will carry its own scheduled fine. Why not even a law to punish you if you haven't committed an offense for a certain length of time? The justification is that it's unfair for some people not to pay into the system while others are being bilked. And you had no idea you were a criminal a hundred times over already.
Give a few Sats