Click it or ticket... Went out to breakfast to a place less than a mile from my house on Saturday (had to leave town for my gig at 2PM). I leave the restaurant, pull out into traffic, and get in the left turn lane to begin my six block drive home. While waiting for the light, I hear someone pounding on my trunk. I look in the rearview and it's an HPD officer. "You're not wearing your seatbelt". He stops traffic in the three lanes to the right of me so I can turn right and pull all the way over into a gas station parking lot. I get in there and this cop and another one have eight cars lined up and they are giving them tickets for seatbelts, registration, etc. He writes me my ticket, and as I'm leaving, there are another eight cars lined up behind me. These officers had a cottage industry going...running out into traffic on foot to pull people over. $135 for not wearing my seatbelt two friggin' minutes from my house. The money comes in, and the money goes right back out again....
Sorry, man...but you earned it. I don't know the stats, but many accidents happen very close to our homes.
WOW, 2 people in my office got the same ticket less than a month apart.. Houston is really crackin down with the seatbelt thing... I dont see what the big deal is, it's the first thing I do when I get in the car and before I start it.. I dont even think about it anymore...
What do you expect cops to do, fight crime? All those hours of sitting in a parking lot setting up a speed trap has made most cops too fat to do any real police work... I heard a story on the radio of cops actually walking through the line of cars at the Galveston Ferry and giving seat belt tickets to people sitting in their cars and not moving...
If that's not enough for ya'. they (well Metro) have a new policy to target downtown jaywalkers. See http://www.bloghouston.net/item/1286#tb Hey, we're "world class".
Studies show that 52% of those involved in accidents were within 5 miles from their home. That's why you should move 10 miles away.
I always wear my seatbelt because my car dings if it's in drive and the seatbelt isn't clicked. I always wear it anyway, but... If you're ever heading south on the I-45 feeder and you want to make a U turn at West road (to head north), do NOT take the U turn lane. Stay in the regular left turn lane and just make two left turns. The cops set up underneath the freeway and pull over all the cars in the U turn lane that don't have registration/inspection/seatbelt/what ever they can find and fine.
Sorry about your ticket, but the law's the law. Personally, I think it's a stupid law (if a person wants to jeopardize his life, that's his own business) that should really only be applied to minors, and when they're not buckled up the parent gets a ticket. Nice job with the police's new ad campaigns by the way. I really think the adversarial image they're going for is doing a lot to bolster support for Houston's finest. Are you joking? You have to be buckled in if your car's off?
I'm not sure if it's true. I heard it on Walton and Johnson, and they're pretty reliable with their news stories
i feel your pain, Tex. heres something that may make you feel better: http://www.jessica-alba.ws/mtvma2005.html
I do know they were giving tickets for underage drinking and my personal favorite, cutting in line. I hope cops in the rest of the world take their cue from those fine gentlemen and women in Galveston and start ticketing ****s who cut in line every where else. Sorry about your ticket, RMTex.
