Merry Christmas from the state

Well, yours truly was just finishing up her Christmas shopping this afternoon and had one more store to stop at to pick up a gift certificate when out of nowhere, a state patrolman stopped me for not wearing my seat belt.

In the meantime, while I was being cited for this, cars were rolling by easily doing 60 and 70 MPH in a 45 MPH zone … in other words, the people who could have killed me with their cars, whether I was wearing my seat belt or not, sailed merrily on while I waited in humilation to receive my citation in the middle of Christmas shopping traffic on HWY 29.

Sigh.

I don’t think I’ve argued it here before but I have at message boards in the past: I cannot stand the seat belt law. I don’t think the state should tell me what to do in my own car if I’m not endangering other people – it’s one think to drink and drive: you’re putting other people’s lives in danger. It’s one thing to speed: again, you’re putting lives in danger by speeding excessively. Same same with weaving and not obeying traffic signals. But mandating that I have to wear a seat belt? Ridiculous. Do I know seat belts save lives? Sure. Do I know that seatbelts sometimes prevent serious injuries that otherwise would jack up car as well as medical insurance premiums? Yep. But I can name off any number of things that can and do jack up medical insurance premiums, like overeating and smoking, yet the state can’t force me to eat better nor can they force a smoker not to smoke. Why should they force me to wear a seat belt?

Grrr.

The patrolman who stopped me was just as nice as he could be. My problem is with that law.

As a result of this, I had to swing by the bank and get a certified check for $100 (my return gift to the state) to mail to the county courthouse so it wouldn’t go against my insurance or put points on my driver’s license.

Ah well … live and learn!

Now will someone pass the egg nog please?