Posted on 05/26/2006 9:23:51 AM PDT by WKB
Southaven - Not wearing a seatbelt will soon be enough to get you pulled over by police or state troopers in Mississippi. Saturday the state's new primary offense seat belt law goes into effect.
Right now the Mississippi has a secondary offense seat belt law. That means officers need another reason, like speeding, to pull you over. It's only after you pulled over that officers are allowed to ticket you for not buckling up.
Law enforcement officers can also pull a driver over if they notice that his front seat passenger or anyone in the vehicle is not wearing a seat belt.
Law enforcement officers throughout the mid south plan to beef up their patrols over the long holiday weekend. Troopers in Mississippi plan to set up road blocks in several parts of the state to check for seat belt use.
Mississippi is the 23rd state where officers can pull over a driver for not wear a seat belt. Tennessee passed a primary seat belt law back in 2004.
The new law in Mississippi carries a maximum fine of 25 dollars per vehicle.
25 years ago the signs read "Buckle Up: We Love You". (yeah, right)
Years later, the signs read, "Buckle Up: It's the law". (secondary offense)
Now the signs read: "Click It or Ticket." Primary offense, which they assured us would never happen.
In 15 years, the signs will read: "Buckle Up Or We Will Kill You."
In many states the fees associated with any citation can run $100 or more before the actual fine is added on top.
Good for revenue and fishing expeditions, bad for freedom.
"Not wearing a seatbelt will soon be enough to get you pulled over by police or state troopers in Mississippi."
I am absolutely opposed to this nonsense. It's not just my reliance on the 4th Amend, though. When I moved to CT they were pulling over people for no seat-belt. I scoffed and said that was appalling (this was before such laws were prevalent), and even MD didn't go THAT far - only citing you if they stopped you for (REAL more public) violations. Alas, right after I moved back to MD, it DID go that far.
....
"The right of the people to be secure in their persons,....against UNREASONABLE searches and seizures, SHALL NOT BE VIOLATED...."
http://jewishworldreview.com/cols/williams052406.asp
The Bill of Rights is sooooo September Tenth.
"Massachusetts legislature (much to the surprise of many) killed a "primary" seat belt law"
You have GOT to be kidding me! This is shocking in so many ways....commie MA DELETING a law?
Naaahhh.....what was it REPLACED with?
Quote "Good for revenue and fishing expeditions, bad for freedom."
Yeah but my premium goes up when you decide to exercise your right not to wear your seatbelt. Statistics show that seatbelts save lives.
Yeh, right, it's just the nanny state.
I got into the habit of wearing my seatbelt when I learned to drive 37 years ago. From the time our kids were little, they knew that the car did not start until everyone had their belts buckled. It's not an imposition, and it is something that WILL protect you as a driver both wearing your own, and with all the other passengers wearing theirs so they don't become dangerous flying objects in the car if you are in an accident.
This is how the ruling class works. First they write laws that make us responsible for someone else's stupid actions then they write another law which they claim is needed because "if a person gets hurt because they did or did not do xyz then society is responsible."
This is life in American thanks to lawyers and lawyers who become law makers. They squeeze us between two laws on most every issue.
How about we make these nanny laws simple. If you don't do xyz then your insurance company and the American taxpayer are off the hook.
As a former race car driver I never start the car before the belt is on but is annoys me to no end that I am forced by the nanny state to buckle up.
On the other hand I do see the need for officers to be authorized to pull over cars when they see someone with a small child riding on their lap. However, that is to protect children from the stupidity of adults not to protect adults from their own stupidity.
Here in Ohio it's a secondary offense. Police cannot pull you over for simply not wearing your seat belt.
However, you wouldn't know that from the purposefully misleading radio and television advertisements we are get almost hourly on just about every station. Advertisements that are being paid for by the federal Department of Transportation with our tax dollars.
Trying to keep people safe is reasonably noble cause. However, the federal government is purposefully misleading to people about their state laws, and intentionally misleading them about how they are protected from government intrusion.
Click it or Ticket should be immediately discontinued, and the people responsible fired.
After that, the merits of an honest advertising campaign can be considered by those that replace them, if they are replaced.
"If they could just hurt or kill themselves without putting extra demands on society, I wouldn't care. But that's not the case. They create all kinds of difficulties for people beyond themselves."
I'm not exactly sure what you're talking about, but I have an inkling.
In any case, this is circular reasoning. Then 1 could start making violations for every single every-day thing you do that isn't "perfectly" safety-concious (never mind other aspects).
"Because it ....somehow....indirectly.....4th party....affects others...."
BS. I worry about DIRECT effects. Screw the indirect consequences. EVERYTHING has indirect trickle-down consequences, and some of THOSE are "bad" from doing "good"!
Where does it end?
Big Brother. We just had the same happen in Alaska. Government trying to protect me from myself. I'm in my civil disobedience mode right now.
THEN GET RID OF THE MANDATE ON INSURANCE. Which is also a violation of natural law.
I wear my seatbelt every time I get in the car, so don't blame your premiums on me.
I got my license 36 years ago. The only thing the examiner dinged me on was failure to wear a seat belt. We didn't have them in my home town and the thought of using one never even occured to me. Even today I rarely use one.
Ultimately we need 2 reforms in the US that would make so much of this weeping and gnashing moot:
a) No income tax
b) Loser-pays court system
Seat belts don't prevent collisions.
Crash clean-up cost and a pine box in Potter's Field is a lot cheaper than weeks in intensive care.
Seat belts may save lives but they don't prevent injuries.
How do you know the seat belt saved your life?
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