"You brought up people not wearing seatbelts despite laws, apparently implying that building codes would not be followed as well." I pointed out that seatbelts

"You brought up people not wearing seatbelts despite laws, apparently implying that building codes would not be followed as well." I pointed out that seatbelts were a bad example for your argument. All you've done is emphasize that seatbelts are a bad example that don't fit what you're trying to say about building codes. As as per the Turkey example, one would hope you're willing to acknowledge that even with the ability to inspect every structure, such factors as corruption, poor inspectors, bad inspection practices, plain human error, etc. mean that the we cannot assume universal compliance. As important as building codes are, there are factors entirely separate from the codes themselves that determine how well they're actually followed. "while seat-belt laws have not achieved 100% compliance, they have raised rates of seat-belt use" I'm afraid you can't firmly demonstrate that relationship; 1981-1997 was also a period of extremely heavy propagandizing to get people to wear seatbelts.