Seat Belt Po Po
The town where I live has a new seat belt program they are enforcing where the local police are on the lookout for people not wearing seat belts and the front page of the newspaper has the headline:
YOU WILL GET A TICKET!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Yes, it had that many exclamation points.
This morning, I was taking my son to school and noticed a police car on every side street between my house and the school (I live less than a mile from the school). I counted 10 cops on the lookout for seat belt criminals to arrest and ticket. As I left the school, I saw flashing lights so I knew someone had been busted. Since I am from a small town, I had to take a detour that way to check it out. I was disappointed that my camera was not charged because it was the funniest scene ever. The officer had a seat belt that he was holding up to show the driver and lecture them on seat belt safety (Yes, I had my window down and eavesdropped — I’m from a small town, remember?).
I think it’s important to wear your seat belt and I know that not wearing your seat belt can be the difference between life and death in a crash, but I cannot help but be impressed (read: laugh) at the passion of my local police force in caring about our safety.
The unfortunate part of this program is that since it began, I have witnessed 2 people passing a school bus while it was picking up children, several people speeding in the school zones and an accident where traffic was blocked for over an hour while the drivers were waiting on a police officer. But luckily, everyone here is wearing their seat belt!
May 23rd, 2008 at 12:22 pm
There does seem like some irony here. I also believe in seat belts and do always wear them. I started when it first became a law since if my kids had to wear one, so should I. But I feel to just look for that is such a waste of time. Aren’t there any other better things to do? I know I’m not often accused of being a genius but if I “KNEW” there was a trap of some kind, if I didn’t normally buckle up, I would then!!!