Coming To A Road Near You

[TinEar]

I saw this item on the Reuters newswire this afternoon. Sounds like just one more federally sponsored gimmick to me. Night time checkpoints for seat belt usage. Uh-huh.

Maryland Law Enforcement Joins Nationwide `Click It or Ticket' Initiative to Save Lives

Law Enforcement Launches Statewide Effort with Brand New Partner

What: Kickoff of the statewide "Click It or Ticket" campaign by
Maryland law enforcement officials, Maryland State Highway
Administration's Highway Safety Office, MD Committee For Safety
Belt Use, and Maryland Motor Truck Association - Nighttime seat
belt enforcement to be conducted in each of Maryland's 23
Counties and Baltimore City.

Who: State Highway Administrator Neil J. Pedersen
Mt. Rainier Police Chief Colonel H. Frederick Keeney,
President, MD Chiefs of Police Association
Lieutenant Colonel Michael S. Fischer, Maryland State Police
Dr. Elizabeth A. Baker, Regional Administrator, National
Highway Traffic Safety Administration
Anne S. Ferro, President, Maryland Motor Truck Association
Law Enforcement officials representing Maryland's 125
participating agencies

When: Monday, May 23, 2005 at 11:00 a.m.

Where: The ESPN Zone at 601 East Pratt Street - Baltimore, Maryland

Photo
Ops: Law enforcement officers and special guests riding the Seat
Belt Convincer (simulates crash impact); reporters also are
welcome to ride the Convincer. Presentation of "Click It or
Ticket" reflective signs to Maryland Motor Truck Association.
Vince and Larry, crash dummies.

One hundred and fifty-three Maryland law enforcement agencies will join more than 12,000 allied agencies in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico in a nationwide enforcement initiative to increase seat belt use starting this week. During "Click It or Ticket," officers in Maryland will conduct more than 100 checkpoints and seat belt enforcement zones to stop and ticket drivers who violate seat belt and child passenger safety laws. In Maryland, in 2003, 70% of vehicle occupants killed in nighttime crashes were not wearing safety belts at the time of the crash; therefore, a special emphasis will be placed on enforcing Maryland's laws at night. In addition to the nighttime enforcement zones conducted just prior to the heavily-traveled Memorial Day weekend, education will be conducted with an emphasis on pickup trucks, whose drivers and occupants buckle up less than those in other vehicles. Members of the Maryland Motor Truck Association are joining the partnership by placing reflective "Click It or Ticket" stickers on their vehicles.
"Click It or Ticket" is part of a national Mobilization campaign, this year involving hundreds of thousands of officers throughout the United States and Puerto Rico. In Maryland, the campaign coordinators are MD Chiefs of Police Association, MD Committee For Safety Belt Use, and MD State Highway Administration's Highway Safety Office.
EDITOR'S NOTE: For more information about the Maryland "Click It or Ticket" initiative, the Maryland Chiefs' Challenge campaign, or other information about safety belts, child safety seats, and booster seats, please call Barbara Beckett, Maryland Committee For Safety Belt Use, at 410-787-5893 or toll free at 1-888-963-0307, ext. 5893. A contact list of local law enforcement coordinators in each of Maryland's 23 Counties and Baltimore City also can be obtained from the Committee office.
CONTACT: Barbara Beckett, MD Committee For Safety Belt Use, 410-787-5893
Meg Miller, MD Highway Safety Office, 410-787-4077

SOURCE Maryland Committee For Safety Belt Use 19May05 18:35 GMT [/i]

 

[Spleen]

Welcome to the Marylande Demokratische Republik. And this in a state where one of the two nicknames is "The Free State".

Maryland has been setting up these moronic checkpoints long before the Federales decided to spend USD 500 million (no, that's not a typo, that's half a billion dollars) assisting the states with their Click or Ticket Programs, a la the DUI/DWI checkpoints that were all the rage in the 90's. And I don't have the numbers handy, but I'm not sure the Feds laid out that kind of green back then for what is, IMHO, an almost worthy cause, if you take into account that drunk drivers usually kill/hurt someone other than themselves...

My current favorite is MD Route 30 going through Carroll County...if you tune your handheld to the Carroll trunk while heading northbound from 140/795, you'll know whether or not on this particular weekend morning you'll be able to witness the heroic stoppage of some poor unbelted schmucks who just happened to not think that they were in that much danger on the road, considering that the checkpoint is on the south side of Hampstead, and that traffic conditions and simple physics dictate that you will most likely be traveling under 40mph once you pass the Black & Decker complex, and slower as you enter town. I wonder how many poor bastards popped into the BB&T drive-thru to grab some cash, unbelted themselves to get their wallet out of their pocket, then didn't get it on quite quick enough after pulling out of the bank to avoid getting popped...

Don't think for a minute that I'm against police departments using grant money, Federal or State, to pay officers some overtime; most cops I know will take all they can get, and deserve more; I just think we can do something a little more useful with their time and the money. Getting cops into schools to talk little kids out of becoming crackheads, buying radio systems that actually work, maybe some gas money in the cookie jar for the MSP choppers that do useful work such as chasing bad guys and flying crash victims (belted or unbelted) to the ER.

And DO NOT fall for the "This citation will not affect your insurance costs, blahblahblah"....seat belt citations (not warnings) are in fact reported to your auto insurance company. What they do with the information ranges from absolutely nothing to flat-out cancellation of service. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that somewhere along the line, you WILL be putting money in someone's pocket, be it the General Fund, your new car insurance provider (at a higher rate then the one that cancelled you), or an attorney, or all three.

 

[Metro174]

And DO NOT fall for the "This citation will not affect your insurance costs, blahblahblah"....seat belt citations (not warnings) are in fact reported to your auto insurance company. What they do with the information ranges from absolutely nothing to flat-out cancellation of service. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that somewhere along the line, you WILL be putting money in someone's pocket, be it the General Fund, your new car insurance provider (at a higher rate then the one that cancelled you), or an attorney, or all three.

They affect your rates only if you receive a conviction. That is if you go to court and are found guilty or if (because it has no points) you decide to pay it. Maryland law prohibits insurance companies from having access to probation before judgement records since you have not been convicted.

A lot of people tend to pay seatbelt ticlets and other "non moving violations" since they carry no points. Points are just an MVA way to track "poor" drivers. Get too many and you go to driver improvement, a few more leads to temporary suspension. Make it to 12 and you're revoked.

 

[lgentle]

I don't understand why states find it necessary to protect someone from their own stupid problems; like buckling their seatbelt. If someone doesn't want to buckle their seatbelt, I don't feel it should be up to anyone to protect this idiot.

Just my 2 cents worth which is only worth about 1/2 cent! :wink:

Police Officers have more important things to do than protect the stupid!

 

[mdulrich]

I don't understand why states find it necessary to protect someone from their own stupid problems; like buckling their seatbelt. If someone doesn't want to buckle their seatbelt, I don't feel it should be up to anyone to protect this idiot.

The problem with people who don't buckle their seatbelts is that when they are involved in accidents, they typically are more seriously injured. They go to hospitals where they receive lots of expensive care. It has been shown that many times these people don't have insurance (or independent means of paying), so the cost of their care is shifted to those of us who do have insurance or a means of paying for our care.

Also, the more severe the injuries, the longer and more expensive their rehab is. If they are unable to work because of their injuries, they then become a long term drain on the public system.

If they do have insurance, guess who get the bill for their care, rehab, etc.? That's right, you and me through higher insurance rates.

So in reality it is society trying to protect itself from higher costs.

Mike

 

[maus92]

FYI... If you are driving at 40mph, you and your vehicle are moving are moving at 58.6 feet per second. Say for instance you hit an oncoming car, or the guardrail, or a telephone pole. Your vehicle is no longer going 40mph, but you and your unbelted butt still are. You hit your dashboard/steering wheel in 1/30 of a second - too fast to even blink, and the heavier you are, the more it will hurt. Even if you have airbags you are still likely to be seriously injured because unbelted adults are likely to submarine under the bags, smashing knees, snapping tibiae, crushing feet, fracturing pelvises, rupturing bladders, etc. Unbelted people have been killed in cars travelling at less than 25mph. Conclusion: wear the damn belt - Shock-Trama has enough irresponsible bozos to deal with as it is.

CA
Annapolis

 

[Spleen]

Even though I've walked away from 40+ mph wrecks in various stages of protection, and got stuck in a belt once, I've gotten into the habit of wearing mine, if for no other reason than to keep the law enforcement community at bay...when they pull my burned and maimed ass out of a smoking pile of metal, I'll be sure and thank the gubment for allowing me to make that choice myself...

That being said, I had no problem with seat belt enforcement when it was a secondary offense...but now we have alcohol checkpoints, seat belt checkpoints, etc...next we'll be having cough syrup checkpoints, headlight cleanliness checkpoints, windshield wiper checkpoints, tire pressure checkpoints, dead-bug-stain-on-your-windshield checkpoints, have-you-said-a-bad-word-to-another-driver checkpoints......

 

[lgentle]

I agree Spleen!! It's going to go TO far just to make a buck. Although, I do wear my seatbelt most of the time (99%). There are times when I'm running out to the local pizzeria or convience store that I won't buckle up, but it's only 3 mintues away (I KNOW, I KNOW; it doesn't matter HOW far your going :roll: ) Bad drivers are everywhere.

WEAR YOUR SEATBELT

 

[TinEar]

When I posted the article above, I was curious whether comments would be in favor or against the "nanny" state that we are becoming. Seems there are comments from both sides.

Personally, I resent the government constantly making rules and regulations that we must obey because "it's for the common good." Of course seat belts make you safer in a crash (overall) but so would roll bars in the form of a cage around the occupants - sort of like NASCAR requires. Is that next? Actually, it would be safest of all if we just walked and didn't drive a car at all. It has been estimated (and I don't know just how true this is) that approximately $7,000 of the cost of a new car is due to government mandated equipment for either safety or pollution reasons.

It seems that everything in life is being regulated to death. We can't build a house or a building or even a road without tons of paperwork, regulations, inspections - and taxes. We built the Empire State building in a year. Now, it would take longer than that to dig the foundation with many layers of environmental and safety inspectors - each with their tax form in hand. Look at the beltway bypass road that has been talked about for 20 years. We can't even get past the governmental environment studies in all that time. 30 or 40 years ago we would have had the road built within a year or two after planning.

But we'll take it and take it and take it some more. So, yeah. "Click it or Ticket." It's for your own good, after all.

 

[scannerman700]

A Buddy of mine who works as a Police Officer was Assaulted about 1 year
ago, Reason why the officer was assaulted because the officer stopped this
person over a seatbelt violation and he was assigned to work on the click it or ticket roadblock and he was assaulted again and spitted on...
I dont know where in gods name where these people who assault the police come from... The Click It or Ticket program is a good thing to have b/c It helps saves lives....

 

[scannerman700]

Also, they make these laws to protect us and keep us from getting killed,
so cherish it!!!!!!

 

[lgentle]

TinEar & Spleen I feel are right. The government has put all these regulations into effect so bad that nothing gets done. I was fixing a printer today at Inspections & Permits in a neighboring county and a guy came in that wanted to add a garage and a living space above the garage and he just wanted to make sure that he had everything in line to go ahead with his project. The guy behind the counter (the side I was also on) looked at it and said that everything looked OK. But...he needed to have 5 copies of some blueprint he had and then he had to list his building supplies on another print. Then, he had to fill out some form for something else. I was standing right there and couldn't believe what I was hearing.

MY GOD!, if it takes that to build yourself a garage, no wonder the government can't get anything done. They need the cash from pulling people over because they are stupid enough to NOT wear their seatbelts to pay for all the paperwork.

I'm glad the seatbelt law is there, but, why make it a law where they can pull you over for it? Make it a law where if your pulled over for something else and you don't have it on, give 'em a ticket for it them (the way it used to be).

If any law should be a pull over law is the no headlights while it's raining. THAT can cause an accident. Not having your seatbelt on won't.

 

[Spleen]

lgentle,

Close. I'm told (but not by a lawyer or other qualified person) that the law here in the MDR that states that the headlights must be on if it's raining hard enough to require windshield wipers...I'd check COMAR http://www.dsd.state.md.us/comar/ myself, but the whole grown-man-crying thing, well, you know....

 

[aristotle73]

What I would be more interested in are the total number of tickets that will be written out because of someone not wearing their seatbelt. If the number is less than a few hundred, I think the initiative would be a waste of tax payers money. They will need at least to have written 1000 tickets per county before I am convinced that it isn't a superfluous cause.

 

[lgentle]

I'll have to keep looking, but I did find this:

§ 22-214.
(a) Every vehicle shall be equipped with one or more lamps that, when lighted, display a white or amber light visible from a distance of 1,000 feet to the front of the vehicle, and a red light visible from a distance of 1,000 feet to the rear of the vehicle. The location of the lamp or lamps shall always be such that at least one lamp or combination of lamps meeting the requirements of this section is installed as near as practicable to the side of the vehicle that is closest to passing traffic. This subsection does not apply to motorcycles.


(b) Whenever a vehicle is parked or stopped on a roadway, whether attended or unattended, when there is insufficient light to reveal any person or object within a distance of 1,000 feet on the highway, the vehicle so parked or stopped shall be equipped with and shall display lamps meeting the requirements of subsection (a) of this section, but it is not necessary to display the lamps on a vehicle that is lawfully parked on a part of a roadway that is ordinarily or customarily used for parking vehicles.


(c) All lighted headlamps on a parked vehicle shall be depressed or dimmed.


It doesn't specifically say you have to have your lights on when it's raining, but, it does say that you must be able to at least see a car 1000 feet behind you. This also does not say anything about weather conditions in general (daytime, nighttime, etc.). My guess would be ANYTIME. I'll have to keep looking through the articles.

Thanks for the link.

 

[Metro174]

I don't have my MVL book handy ( will post the section later) but what the law states in regards to inclement weather is that anytime your windshield wipers are on, you must have headlights or parking lights on.

It's a secondary (the only secondary violation left) and can only be written if you are stopped for another violation. As a police officer, I'd prefer to see it as a primary law rather than seatbelts. I have written very very few seatbelt violations.