The year is 1992, and the world has just become aware of the tragic event that occurred on February 12th. On this date in 1972, a car crash was caused by an ice cream truck driver, Richard Petty, who was driving through Dallas with his pregnant wife and their three kids. His co-pilot Alan Reiner lost control of the vehicle and crashed into the side of the building that crushed them all to death. This accident led to many lawsuits against the companies that sold ice cream trucks as they were also responsible for causing these deaths from other cars hitting them. As such, it led to the creation of The Ice Cream Truck Safety Act of 1988. They created the Federal Government’s first National Fatality Analysis Center which was designed for tracking and investigating fatality events. The NTSC reported that there were 28 people killed when their vehicle hit a tree as a result of excessive speed while being driven by someone who was drunk or under the influence of drugs. It also found that drivers of large heavy ice cream trucks have been involved in more than half of the accidents caused by vehicles hitting trees. While most drivers will say that they care about their passengers and/or those around them, a vast number of fatalities are attributed to the actions of irresponsible ice cream truck drivers. I have researched the case extensively and wanted to show how much our society has changed over the past couple decades due to the increased legal protections provided through laws and regulations put in place by both governments and individuals.
The fact is that America has always had some type of law regarding the safety of one’s property. In 1764, Congress passed the U.S Constitution stating that “No Law shall be made… abridging freedom of Speech or of the Press; or the right of the People peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”1 This amendment protected certain rights by stating that the government should not take away the rights of others. However, today if you go anywhere in public, you will see at least at least two people wearing MAGA hats and chanting slogans during concerts or sporting events. These acts of violence against the First Amendment have led to many arrests being made but still not as widespread as before. You can only imagine what could happen if we removed any sort of restriction on speech and free expression. I believe in this country, everyone should have the same voice that the founding fathers granted us but sadly, we now hear from the perspective of groups such as the Religious Right. With these religious leaders creating organizations to spread messages like abortion bans, LGBTQ rights, etc., Americans began to doubt ourselves because there was no real way for us to stop such extremists. By doing that, then they would make decisions based off religion rather than facts. Not only did my research lead me to find an article that discussed the rise of the Southern Baptist Church (SBC), whose leader Jimmie Cofer told Fox News in 2011 that “there is absolutely nothing wrong with saying gay marriage should be illegal and abortion should be banned in most cases.” To add insult to injury, he went on to suggest using taxpayer dollars to fund abortions for babies already living. We should have the ability to question whether something should to stay illegal or illegal to keep up with societal norms. There is so much misinformation floating out there at one point or another that needs to be taken seriously and we need to understand that people just want to live their lives without fear. Society needs to know when they’re making statements about something that they should be able to back it up with evidence so people aren’t caught up in personal beliefs and opinions. A recent study published by researchers in Texas shows that people who are highly religious are less likely to wear a seat belt.2 Those who support the idea that people shouldn’t be allowed to freely express themselves are constantly telling me that it’s okay to do whatever one wants if it’s within reason. How ironic that this group of people thinks they are helping people by prohibiting people from expressing themselves but instead they’re doing the exact opposite. At times, I feel like I am in a parallel universe where there aren’t any good Christians and most people don’t even know how to read the Bible. No matter what happens in politics and elections I feel like we cannot trust anything anymore because these people are manipulating the system and controlling everything. That is why I think the best thing for American Citizens is to vote for candidates who are going to stand up against dangerous policies to help protect Americans. Once our freedoms are secured, and people have security of what is considered normal behavior we should never look back at our history. If we want things done correctly, then let’s continue working toward securing the rest of our borders and protecting Americans from harm to their own bodies. Our community deserves safe streets, families getting together without worrying about shooting or hurting someone else, and businesses being successful without burning down their buildings by criminals. It’s time we took action and learned that when we speak, we should back it up with evidence. If we don’t we deserve to burn in hell and spend eternity alone.
