true blue in wake county's blog

but officer, its only a seatbelt

 abuse

We're all guilty of it at one time or another.  The annoying little strap that causes so much headache.  That inconvenience when I was just going down the street.  Oh, c'mon deputy, I mean really, dont you have anything better to do?

And my favorite traffic stop for a seatbelt excuse - "Officer, at what point did I lose my right to choose..." My answer:

"You did'nt lose your right to choose ma'am.  In fact you exercised your choice.  That being click it, or ticket.  Now you have another choice to make to which you are freely within your rights to make - pay the fine or go to court.  Have a NICE day..."  This actually happened to me once. 

Folks, that little strap will save your life.  I'm living proof.  This is one of the most common traffic stops that an LEO will make.  Its also quite expensive.  25.50 fine and 100.50 in court cost.  total fine on your citation = $126.00. 

No, we do not have a quota.  No, we do not see a single dime in revenue. No, your insurance rates do not go up ( its a non-moving violation).  Who benefits? By state law, all proceeds for ALL citations go to the county school system of the county that the citation was written in.  Think what you want but thats where it goes.

Put it to you this way - Yes, I have ALOT of better things that I could be doing however, I grow tired of knocking on a parents door at 2 am and telling them that their only child, a 17 year old girl, will not be coming home again - ever. That annoying little strap could've prevented that.  But not this time.  Put yourself in my position and you try to deal with the chaos in that household for several hours.  When its over, go take a loud noise complaint and try to shift your mental gears.  The scene will play over and over in your head for several weeks.  Sometimes, you NEVER really get over it - you just deal with it. 

Just recently we initiated a statewide campaign to promote seat belt use that took place from May 18 – 31, 2009, with multiple checkpoints set up in the different counties.  According to the final statewide total, 13,654 seat belt citations and 1,478 child passenger safety citations were issued.  That's in just two weeks folks.  over 13,000 lives possibly saved.  What may seem as a horse hockey exuse for us to write tickets on peaceful folks who "really" mean no harm when we should be out catching real criminals (that is what some of you tell us ya know), is really a subliminal attempt to tell you that your lives really do matter to us.  Think about it. 

Being normal human beings, we tend to believe that we are all 10 feet tall and bullet proof and nothing will ever happen to us.  Thats the "other" person, not me, is what we tend to think.  I'm here to tell you that it can come at anytime, anyplace. 

Now before some of you go off on your tangent about the constitutionality of check-points, or "well, how come you cops never wear yours, you're not above the law."  You're right....we're not.  Which is why I NEVER break two self-imposed cardinal rules (1) wear my vest (2) wear my seatbelt.  When I see my brothers and sisters out there not wearing it.  I try to let them know......We are public servants, held to a higher standard, and always in the public eye.  Believe it or not, there are people out there who actually get up every morning and try to see how many members of law enforcement can they push buttons on.  Trust me, I've met them. 

The bottom line is this, its corny, but its the truth - speed kills and seatbelts save lives.......

TRU