Posted on 06/02/2005 8:20:41 AM PDT by tgslTakoma
Edited on 06/02/2005 8:25:19 AM PDT by Admin Moderator. [history]
Rockville, Md. (AP) - Maryland State Police are using a military tool in the battle against seat belt violators.
They're using night vision goggles to find people who don't buckle up after dark. Police say 40 percent of drivers don't use their seat belts at night, making the roads much more dangerous after sunset. Police in Maryland are among 13,000 agencies nationwide that are now using the goggles.
With the goggles, Police say they can see inside cars at a distance, allowing them to nail violators who might otherwise go undetected.
The new strategy is paying off. At a seat belt enforcement operation Wednesday night on Rockville Pike, officers issued at least 44 tickets for seat belt violations.
If you love wealth more than liberty, and if you prefer the tranquility of servitude rather than the animated contest of freedom, then go home in peace. We seek neither your counsel nor your arms.
But bend down and lick the hands that feed you; and may your chains rest lightly upon you. And may posterity forget that you were our countryman. - Samuel Adams
Do they still do that? I always refused to look at them for insurance for that reason but hadn't heard anything about it in years.
This is a nationwide effort, so I wouldn't be surprised to find that federal funds bought the troopers their seatbelt-scofflaw-catching toys.
"It warms my heart to see our tax dollars being spent to catch these dangerous criminals."
They're dangerous to the bottom line of the insurance companies. If it's bad for business, it's bad for America.
I'm visiting Colorado Springs right now and am amazed at the number of cops watching intersections and lazering the Interstate. They don't make money solving murders or bugularies or car thefts, so the ticketing of other citizens is now their priority.
They surely have nice police stations here......really pretty....
Wouldn't surprise me either. That makes it even easier for the cops in question to get a good ROI.
Something to think about.
But bend down and lick the hands that feed you; and may your chains rest lightly upon you. And may posterity forget that you were our countryman. - Samuel Adams
Hey...you read my FReeper home page!
I wanted to use that for a tagline, but it was too long.
Leaders (10%), Overlords (40%), Inmates (50%)
Officer Friendly says "Obey citizen!". That boys head is kind of pointy.
Great idea!Start with the insurance underwriters,for they hold the lawmakers in their pockets.Seat belts,helmets,DUI,etc.My insurance company is the only one who to whom my health is even more important than it is to me!
"Where I live, there is a cop on the interstate that hides behind a bridge column and catches people speeding before they even have a chance to brake."
The Smyrna, Tn. police department actually used to ticket people on bicycles for speeding. Of course that was years ago, they probably Tazer them now.
Thinking on it now I am probably reaching. They fly over houses with IR looking for houses growing pot in the WOD. I am sure it probably been upheld in court. Still, I think it is wrong as a violation of privacy.
Even in an airport you need to consent to being x-rayed and such as condition to being able to board.
Actually, there have been studies showing seatbelt use increases aggressive and unsafe driving because the wearer feels safer.
Well how will you pay for THIS expedition?
See you next year!
It's all very similar.
Why did you get those expensive NVGs?
Why, to catch lawbreakers!
Well, how will you pay for them?
Why, by catching more lawbreakers, citizen!
Both are cyclical arguments, intended to get done what you want anyway.
These half-baked measures at creating an orderly society should be dispensed with. What we really need is just a War On Freedom. Sort of "one-stop-shopping" for the police state to which we are headed.
I appreciate the irony.
The same people who wrote the following headline about a girl who left the hospital after recovering from being shot. The shooting occurred as the result of a snowball fight:
"Girl, 10 shot after snowball fight leaves hospital"
Not only do we pay outrageous insurance costs - in order to fund the Attorney Frivilous Lawsuit Complex, but we are not apparently being double soaked AGAIN by funding the salaries and equipment of the INSURANCE POLICE while paying those same elevated premiums.
Is wearing a seat belt a good idea? Yes.
But should the State (that means US) be enforcing a rule that benefits an already overpaid and subsidized industry so that trial court attorneys can continue to get rich?
I don't think so.
Besides the legal consequnces of this are chilling. The "War on Drugs" has ALREADY spawned legal outrages like the recent idiotic law in New Jersey whereby the State can confiscate a person's car or home because they happened to violate one of the nebulous, Byzantine and illogical New Jersey State gun laws.
How much more of this will we be willing to take??
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