Posted on 05/28/2012 9:17:17 AM PDT by lacrew
Law enforcement officers across Kansas will be working overtime this weekend to enforce seat belt laws as part of the Click It or Ticket campaign.
The campaign began Thursday and will run through June 6. It is sponsored by a grant from the Kansas Department of Transportation.
KDOT said earlier this week that Kansas Highway Patrol troopers, sheriff’s deputies and police officers statewide will work overtime through Memorial Day weekend specifically to make sure people are buckled up.
Kansas is one of 32 states whose laws allow for a vehicle to be stopped solely because occupants aren’t properly restrained. Kansas officers will be enforcing seatbelt laws at night too because the state exceeds national statistics for deaths of unrestrained riders at night.
Nationwide in 2010, the latest year for which data is available, 61 percent of the 10,647 passenger vehicle occupants who died in motor vehicle traffic crashes during primarily nighttime hours weren’t wearing seat belts, KDOT said. In primarily daylight hours, the rate is 42 percent.
In Kansas, 76 percent of the 154 passenger vehicle occupants who died in traffic crashes between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m. weren’t wearing their seatbelts, compared with 57 percent during daytime hours.
The law requires all persons in the front seat must be buckled in and everyone under the age of 18 must be buckled in regardless of their location in the vehicle. If a passenger under the age of 14 is unrestrained, the driver will be cited. Where a driver or passenger age 14 through 17 is seen without a seat belt, that person will be cited.
Children under age 4 must be secured in an approved child safety seat, and children ages 4 through 7 must be belted into an approved booster seat. Children ages 8 through 13 must wear seat belts. The law also prohibits people under the age of 14 from riding in any part of a vehicle not intended for carrying passengers, such as a pickup bed.
More than 140 Kansas law enforcement agencies will be participating in Click It or Ticket with the goal of reducing the number of preventable deaths and injuries that occur when unbelted drivers and passengers are involved in traffic crashes.
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Why? Why have a seatbelt law? To save lives of course...that's what the article says, at least. But under what authority does the heavy hand of government get to 'protect' me from myself?
One answer to the question may lie in the additional medical costs I may cost the government, if injured...and the exact same logic can be used to ban soda pop...its the logical outcome of socialism - conform or be penalized, for the public good.
Another answer may lie in some percieved safety hazard to crews trying to rescue me after a crash...of course the same logic could be used to allow the fire department to inspect your home for clutter.
Honestly, I see no real legitimate answer. And, this isn't meant to be an anti enforcement screed (I'll pay my fine). I'm just astonished at how easily these seatbelt laws have been enacted, in 32 states....'for the children'...or 'to save lives'. I think it definitely lets the camel's nose under the tent, and leaves very little 'off limits', as long as it 'saves lives'.
One other aspectof the story I love - the police in Kansas can only enforce this law, with a 'grant' to pay for OT. Same goes for DUI checkpoints. The law saves lives of course, but its only worth enforcing if we get OT?!? That has always puzzled me.
Welcome to the Nannystate
The entire camel is in the friggin tent!!
I'm so sick and tired of these police state intimidation campaigns every single holiday. It's doubtful any of this stuff actually saves anyone and even if it does the loss of liberty is NOT worth it. Wake up people. Out of control government power has killed more people than all the accidents since the beginning of time.
Every year about this time the Seat belt Nazi’s and the Radar gun Fascists hit the streets to make asses of themselves, and collect a few sheckles from the citizens.
It isn’t quite so bad as the speed camera’s in DC, but it is a pain in the butt.
Remember, it isn’t for your safety, it’s for the money.
When you look at it that way it is easier to understand.
Pssst - they are surfing for DUI and drugs. The police don’t care about you $10 ticket - they want to smell your breath and search your car.
True that. It is all about the income. But let’s not discount that union overtime pay, too!
Let me preface my next semi-rant with the statement that I have friends and family who are/were police officers, mainly in small towns. But....
I used to discuss this with my uncle (the night cop) often. If slowing people down saves lives, can you explicitly identify those person(s) whose lives were saved? If you can’t, then it is not true, but only a hypothesis that ticketing speeders saves lives. Same, of course, could be said for most of the nanny-state laws. We are guilted into feeling that we don’t respect the lives of others (the poor, the kids, etc.) as a way to force behaviors onto us.
You have got to be kidding. Apparently you haven't had to 'pay' your ticket yet.
Secondly, it is an invalid law on the federal level because the federal government's power is expressly limited by the Constitution. Nowhere does the Constitution allow the federal government this power.
Thirdly, although it is bad law, the only possible validity to a law like this would be on the state level. The states of course are driven by the people of the state who can change legislatures and vote directly for propositions and state constitutional amendments. If the people themselves vote to have their own liberties curtailed, I suppose it's OK except even though it is still bad law for the minority who want to keep their valid liberties.
Yea, its pretty much about the grant money, I’m sure. Though I am surprised about it only being a $10 fee. Texas can be up to $200, plus court costs, and you might have to take a safety course focusing on seat belts. Complete Bullshit.
There ... fixed it
I got a ticket here in Jupiter last year (1000 feet from my office) and the fine was $125. No moving violation, no expired tags. Pulled for not wearing a seat belt. I was told it was part of “click it or ticket”.
If it’s $10 today, it will be $125 in a few years I’m sure.
Many times the infraction is a small fine but the attendant court costs you must pay even if not contesting take the total to a significant amount.
Many times the infraction is a small fine but the attendant court costs you must pay even if not contesting take the total to a significant amount.
“Pssst - they are surfing for DUI and drugs”
Yep, I know...and the false pretense makes it even worse.
My daughter was in the car with me, and she asked what was taking so long.
I explained to her that he was using his computer to make sure I’m not late on paying any tickets, or have any other outstanding problems with the state...the entire stop is an excuse to give me a legal colonoscopy exam.
Every single time it happens, I do worry...is everything paid up and in order. My fear stems from a mistake several years ago, which incorrectly flagged me as having an unpaid ticket in another state. It made it a hassle to renew my license at the time...but if I had been stopped for any minor violation, the computer flag would have resulted in a good ‘cuffing and stuffing’.
So I get a sinking feeling in my stomach, every time I’m stopped. And I have been stopped often, with no ticket written (or even a written warning). An incomplete list:
1. Out of state tag
2. Out of state tag
3. Burnt out license plate light
4. Roadblock
5. Burnt out tag light...leaving a bar (sneaky)
6. ‘Looked like I was weaving’
7. Had brights on
8. Dirty tag
Every one of these ‘police contacts’ simultaneously pisses me off, and makes me worry like crazy...will the computer system make a mistake?
The out of state tags, in particular, rub me the wrong way. I was in the army, and perfectly legal using my home state tag. The local police didn’t like it though, so they kept pulling people like me over.
$10.... In Texas the adult fine runs from $150 for non commercial and $210 for commercial, Child, $125 and 2nd offense $225.
I just checked again...its only $10.
I think they are trying to break it to us slowly.
First, it was just a secondary offense for the driver...i.e., if you got pulled over for speeding, and they just happened to see you didn’t have a seatbelt on, they could write you up for that too.
Then it became a secondary offense for the passenger too.
Then it became a primary offense for the driver...meaning you could be pulled over explicitly for no seat belt...but don’t worry, its only ten bucks.
I’m sure it will go up soon enough. Right now, oddly, there are no ‘court costs’...I’m sure that won’t last forever.
They’re making it seem palatable, with a small fine....for now.
I’m sure it will go up in a few years.
Police is there for what? To think for people? To serve the benefit of the insurance companies? To enforce laws that feel our sound good to the majority? Police- there to chase every trendy fad that the masses focus in on for that day?
20% of all gay/homosexual men in urban area's are either HIV or AIDS positive. Sounds like that's risky/dangerous behavior as well! Are we now going to require gays to pay more for their health care like we do smokers?
There is no consistency in this nation anymore and reason loses out to emotions every time (global warming, ozone hole, no cell phones in school zones...) The outcome will be bad.
By all means, keep it up. After all, what ever happened to the Dachau guards, and the 30 low level bureaucrats that the Norks just offed? They were just following orders, too.
Cops are collecting a LOT of bad Karma...
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