In the news today is a story about a statewide seat belt saturation patrol. And on top of it, it is a night saturation patrol. I am not making this up, but on May 21 and several date thereafter, there will actually be "sting" operations set up where an officer will be on the lookout for individuals that are not wearing their seat belts, who will then radio ahead to another officer who will pull over and ticket the individuals (at $112 a pop). The patrols will be occurring in King County, Auburn, Black Diamond, Kent, Kirkland, Maple Valley, Redmond, and Shoreline.
Like I said, I am all for wearing seat belts, but this crackdown on seat belt use sounds like one of two things: (1) a backdoor way for cities and counties to fill their coffers with traffic fines; and (2) a backdoor way to find and cite individuals with Seattle DUI. If either is the case, I wish they'd just come out and say it instead of cloaking it as some safety initiative. And that they are doing it at night because more accidents happen at night is ridiculous. How are these officers going to be able to see is someone in wearing their seat belt? Are they going to shine a spotlight on each passing car as it approaches?
As a Seattle DUI attorney I see instances all the time where people are stopped for minor traffic violations so they can in actuality be investigated for DUI. It is sneaky and it is underhanded, and pretextual stops are technically not allowed. But if I get to use all of the rules to my advantage, so do they.
I guess, then, on that note, the message is clear. Make sure you wear your seat belt. Don't give the spotters a reason to pull you over. And besides, wearing your seat belt is good for you.
Related Posts:
Seattle DUI Attorney | More Patrols This Weekend
Seattle DUI Attorney | There is No Jinx
