Regarding car seats, here’s an older Sanityville thread: Car Seats as Contraception.
I have not read the full paper that was shared there, but I don’t buy the title. As you grow your family you will have to grow your transportation (that is, if you want to travel). I don’t see how car seats in themselves are the condom. Buckling your kids in always takes time and can be frustrating especially when in a hurry. But so are stop signs, and red lights, and police giving speeding tickets.
The real need are safe vehicles that are conducive for larger families (like 9-seat minibuses that do not meet EPA regs, as referenced in the thread). Maybe Elon will make the mini-Musk? Cyber-bus? But first he ought to make sure his cars aren’t bombs on wheels.
So, I too see car seats as a Chesterton fence. I’m thankful for them, especially for infants and toddlers. Even if it is hypocritical, at least car seat regulations show the sanctity of life. Perhaps booster seat regulations need modified, age to end being lowered? But I don’t have stats on that.
As for regulations in general:
A few years ago I went out to a small Georgia town to visit a pastor-friend. We’re talking DEEP south. It was common for folks to not use their seat-belts. They would leave them clicked in and just sit on top of them, my pastor-friend and his wife included. The ‘war of northern aggression’ is still fought in many places. Seat-belts are seen as the guvun-mint not mindin’ its bisnis, instead of being a loving discipline of our nursing fathers.
Of course, there are ludicrous regulations. Philip Howard’s book the Death of Common Sense is a testament to some of these. But we must be careful. Again, Chesterton’s fence.
If any other deregulation ideas come to my mind I will share here.
Blessings,