Click It or Ticket can stick it

Forcing motorists to wear seatbelts is one of the most innane laws ever concocted. It ranks up there with blue laws and profanity laws. It should not be the role of our government to tell us how to protect ourselves. If I'm not buckling in a child, that's one thing. I'd even go so far as to say if I fail to buckle myself up when I've got a kid in the car that's another thing. But if I as an adult make a conscious choice not to wear my seat belt, this should not infringe on any law. If I run a red light, I've created a traffic hazard. That merits a citation. Driving at night with no headlights is dangerous to others. That merits a citation. Who's rights have I stepped on by not wearing my seatbelt? No one's. What's next? The you're-eating-too-much-sodium law or how about the didn't-bundle-up-enough-for-the-cold law?

I'm ranting in response to the court invitation I got from the Duluth police department today. Coming back from the library and creeping along at a speed slower than a one-legged man can hobble, I was approached by a cop who was walking his motorcycle down the dividing line between lanes of people coming up on a red light. I presume his soul intention was to find people who don't buckle up in two-mile-per-hour traffic. Those daredevils! Alas, he found one as he pulled up next to my passenger side window and peered in. I returned his quisitive look with a smile and a wave. He gave the universal hand signal for roll down your window, Scofflaw. I did and he inquired as to why I wasn't wearing my seatbelt. I recognized this as the epitomy of all retorical questions. What possible answer could I have provided that would have persuaded him not to write me a ticket?

Having pulled over into the turn lane as instructed I waited shamefully as he pulled pad and pen out of his side compartment. "Man, why aren't you wearing your seatbelt? It's Click It or Ticket. Everybody knows that," he said.

"Well, I didn't know," I said smiling.

"You do now," he said smiling. He then proceded to write me a ticket for failing to wear my seatbelt.

I didn't see the benefit in sharing my disdain for this stupid law with him. His job isn't to make the laws; he just enforces them. And he was quite pleasant as far as cops go. What pissed me off was his comment as he had me sign the ticket.

"Yeh, you need to wear your seatbelt for the next two weeks," he said.

"What about after two weeks?" I asked, handing him back the signed ticket.

"Well, you're supposed to wear it all the time, but after two weeks Click It or Ticket will be over."

In other words, he openly admits that Click It or Ticket is merely a financial ruse of the Duluth Police Department designed to bring revenue into the city. I guess somebody's gotta pay for those Christmas lights and decorations around their downtown area. I don't know what a beat cop's salary is, much less how much it costs to maintain his motorcycle and the gas to power it, but surely it doesn't justify the fifty lousy dollars I'll have to pay for this harmless infraction. Take note, Duluth taxpayers. These are your tax dollars at waste.