Well, this morning I stumbled on another reason why opting completely out of television can be dangerous. I was on my way to work this morning and decided that I would return a movie that my sister had rented. I was 1/2 a mile from my house, pulling into a shopping center, and I end up with a motorcycle cop behind me, lights flashing. I’d seen him to my right as I’d driven through the intersection, and had been secure in my law-abidingness. But now I’m parked, waiting for him to enlighten me. He comes up and asks me if I know why I was pulled over. “No, officer. I haven’t the faintest idea.” He tells me that I didn’t have my seatbelt on. “Didn’t you see any of the television commercials, ‘Buckle up or Pay Up?” he asks. Dare I even say it? “I’m sorry sir, I don’t watch television.” I don’t think he believed me.

So now I have a court date to pay my fine. I didn’t think you could be pulled over for a seatbelt as a primary offense, but in researching it, I guess California’s had the primary offense law on the books for quite a while now. Not all states do. The fine shouldn’t be high, if what I read in the vehicle code is true:

…an infraction punishable by a fine, including all penalty assessments and court costs imposed on the convicted person, of not more than twenty dollars ($20) for a first offense…

but you know how what seems clear in the law won’t be in reality. $20 will probably find a way to turn into $73 without penalties or court costs being involved.

Now I should say that I do wear a seatbelt. I just don’t always put it on before starting the car. It usually goes on as soon as I slip into 4th gear, or go faster than 30mph. So local crawls have always been minutes of finger-biting risk, except that my conscience was unpricked, the fondue of my worry unstirred.

The reason states have such tough seatbelt laws is because the federal government is giving the states large grants if their percentage of seatbelted passengers is over a certain level. States also supposedly save lots of money on healthcare costs if there are fewer traffic injuries. So uh, why isn’t smoking illegal? Why isn’t the federal government offering massive grants to the social services machinery of the states if smoking rates are forced below a certain percentage as a result of fining? Well, because of a corrolation that another study made that showed that parents that didn’t wear seatbelts themselves were 24% more likely not to seatbelt their children or own proper restraint systems for them. Sounds like second-hand smoke to me. I’m all for education, and even fining as a secondary offense, but I really still have a problem with being pulled over just for the belt thing.