Riding in the Back of Pickups

I remember the freedom of sitting in the bouncing bed of a pickup truck on the way to the swimming hole.  The thought of getting hurt or killed back there never occurred to us.  We would just snug up to the back of the cab, suck on a lollipop and wait with eager anticipation to get to our destination.  I have a lot of fond memories that began with that pickup bed ride.

These days, you are a bad parent if you let your child sit in the back of a pickup.  In many areas, it is outright illegal now to let anyone ride without a seatbelt.  In our area, you still can if all of the available seats are already taken, but it is highly frowned upon.I am not diminishing the tragedy of deaths or injuries that happen when people have ridden in the back of a pickup, but I wonder just how many people actually suffered by riding that way.  Do these new laws really have a big impact on our safety?  My brother died in a car accident.  His seatbelt would have done nothing to save him, so how come cars aren’t outlawed?  Sometimes, I think our government overreacts in their eagerness to impose more restrictions on us.

While even one death is a terrible tragedy, and I know this from experience, changing the rules for the entire population seems a bit overdramatic.  Yes, we want closure.  Yes, we want to know that no one will suffer that terrible loss, but we cannot protect everyone from everything.  Life – and death – will play out regardless of how much we try to control the outcome.