>>Just to be clear though, there is not reason parents cannot exercise whatever safety rules they like for their children, or that anyone cannot choose for themselves to take whatever precautions. Good judgement and good parent actually can and do exist without government intervention or supervision.
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>Well, except when they can't because they don't control the situation. For example, there's an ongoing discussion as to whether school buses ought to have seat belts. Individual parents don't get to choose for their own kids; the buses have them or they don't. Yeah, if you're really unhappy about whichever choice your local school board has made, you can drive your kid to school instead, but that's only if you have a car and are available at the appropriate time.
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>Lots of safety laws apply to things that aren't in the "parents can decide" class. Things like cars being required to have seat belts and air bags.
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>Tamar

Actually the cars being required to have them wouldn't be necessary if people would not buy cars that didn't have them. School buses being required to have them is again an issue of schoolboards refusing to buy or use buses that don't. ( Or companies refusing to ensure vehicles or buses that don't)

But that is not a decision about the government mandating individuals take certain safety measures in their own lives ( though I am actually in favor of seat belt laws etc ) Deciding school buses should have seat belts ( don't know accident statistics but I think they probably should ) is exactly what schoolboards or whoever is funding the buses and the insurance for the buses should be doing. Protecting kids when they are in the care of public entities is indeed the job of those entities and they should be liable for not doing that job right.

Just a question of who is responsible for what. Kids skateboarding in their driveway - that's up to parents. But if there is a publicly funded and insured skateboard park I don't have a problem with requiring helmets, pads whatever.

Good government doesn't replace good parents or good citizens - it is made up of them and works with them for a good public outcome. The very reason that all problems should be handled on the most local and directly representative level possible.

People ( like me ) who live in good small towns or suburbs with really good governments really like *that* government ( our mayor has been mayor since he was elected 30 years ago when he was police chief to replace his brother who died after serving a dozen years as mayor after being fire chief )