Richmond seat-belt campaign leads to 1,900 summonses

Yes unfortunately there have to be laws that need to point out common sense because a majority doesn’t have it. Thank God we are a nation built on liberties however with those liberties come RESPONSIBILTIES. I agree there are laws that don’t need to or should be enacted but again if people continue to do harm to others then that’s where the law comes in. Smoking doesn’t kill you instantly but a vehicle can. Second hand smoke can kill you eventually and no one has been “convicted” of second hand smoke killing. But they can be convicted for reckless driving, vehicular homicide, etc. I hope they never pass a law that says pizza is illegal because it can kill you ( which technically it can if you eat enough of it and it cloggs your arteries) and sex hey I’d prefer to die from sex than in a car wreck. You’re comparing apples to oranges and once your liberties infringe upon mine then we have a LAW.

Revenue? That’s what these posts come down to? If you drive by following the laws then you have nothing to worry about. Police won’t stop you and “speed traps” won’t affect you and therefore your MONEY won’t generate revenue. Its the same as not spending your money somewhere you don’t want to, no one makes you speed or anything else , you CHOOSE to speed and the law enforcement’s job is to pull you over and if you are not wearing a seatbelt well then that’s just icing on the cake for revenue. Do you know how people CHOOSE to drive with no insurance, no drivers license and drunk! I pray everytime I get in my vehicle that I don’t run into one of those people but obviously NOT generating revenue is more important than saving lives.

“dee65” I believe you may have misunderstood me. Maybe I wasn’t clear. I support the “click it or ticket” campaign. I do not talk on my cell while driving for the reason I already gave. I simply meant that philosophically speaking, I do not like more laws. Unfortunately, sometimes there are enough idiots out there that the law is the lesse of two evils. For example. The new ordinance governing smoking in restaurants. Did you know that a Times dispatch pole showed that over 60% of all major restaurants were already smoke free? Did you know that the main justification to do away with smoking in restaurants was second hand smoke. Did you know that less than 200 people die each year due to second hand smoke and that those individuals were exposed at home? If we pass an ordinance for every situation that will statistically cause a death where do we draw the line. One death? Per year or decade? Imagine the laws that would be enacted. Prohibit driving. Prohibit swimming. Golf. Pizza. Sex. All of these have killed. Some more than cigarettes. We can do without our cellphones and save lives (the accident figures compete with drunk drivers). But we are a nation based on individual liberties. Abortion. Search and seizure. I support the local police at every opportunity and wish more would do the same.

If people don’t speak out about waste, then we all will have to pay more taxes and even the folks “sitting at home” will suffer because the government won’t be able to take care of them as well.  I personally am not all on the obama cheeseburger disaster bandwagon.  I expect Bush ate out a few times too.  While I expect our leaders to set an example.. that is not my problem with Obama per se.  And yes.. I believe as a citizen of the US.. I should contribute some level of funding for our government to provide certain services.. I just happen to have my own opinion on what that type of service should be and at what level they should be interfering in my life.

I agree that part of law enforcement’s job is to write tickets for these violations while they are on the books.. but actually, these violations were found because of the other violations.. not the other way around.  The police cannot stop you merely because they do not see you wearing a seatbelt.  The campaign is so that the police will aggesively add these violations when they make other traffic stops.  I have definitely seen an uptick in police pulling over folks.. I see a lot more local police on the highways (didn’t used to be that common on 95) setting up for speed traps.  Generally just the state police would patrol those corridors.. so it is pretty obvious this is a way to generate revenue.

To comincents, I know what law enforcement has to go through to catch bad drivers, they are part of the bad guys because if you drive while talking on a cell phone ( which you said you’re attention is less) and you hit me and KILL me as a result which I have seen happen and in my family then that driver is a bad guy to me. Law enforcement is spread thin and if people obeyed the laws then yes money could be allocated properly and they would only need to catch robbers, burglers, rapist etc. Its not about government telling you can’t talk on your cell phone its about the safety of ALL citizens and saving you from yourself. Seatbelts were put in place for a reason just like turn signals but not everyone uses them yet when the driver that doesn’t use them there can be fatal consequences and that no one can pay for with tax money.