i grew up never wearing a seat belt...sitting facing backwards in the station wagon in the "tail gunner position" or riding in the back of an open truck bed.

heck, i even rode my bicycle w/o a helmet. livin' on the edge

even today, most of the time, i don't wear a helmet when riding my street motorcycles...just a personal preference. but think about it...i can legally ride a motorcycle w/o a helmet, but they're going to ticket me for riding in a car w/o a seat belt? the hypocrisy of that is just laughable.

ps...just finished reading "suprefreakonomics" last night...they do a whole piece on how car seats aren't any safer for a kid over 2 than a regular seat belt.

Are Your Kids Really Safer in Car Seats?

Child car seats save lives, right? Maybe not, according to the authors of a new book, "SuperFreakonomics," who argue that seat belts work just as well as car seats on children more than 2 years old.

Car crashes are the leading cause of death for children between the ages of 3 and 6 years old, and 8 to 14, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration .

"Freakonomics" authors suggest seat belts might be good enough.

Levitt and Dubner commissioned their own crash test and found that for children 3 and 6 years old, seat belts work just as well as car seats.

"We're not telling people not to wear them," Levitt told "Good Morning America." Only that car seats are no safer than seat belts, Levitt said.

For 2-year-olds and younger, Levitt said definitely "do not throw out the car seats."
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Parenting/child-safety-car-seats/story?id=8867880