Safety Belt Paternalism

May 22, 2008

The annual safety belt enforcement blitz is under way, in Michigan. A Public Announcement commercial advises that “Right now, it’s the one thing [cops] are looking for.”

Having eradicated all other crime, of course.

Still, some drivers Tuesday were unaware they were driving through an enforcement zone.

…ummm, shouldn’t all areas be “enforcement zones”? Just asking.

The good news is that people in the “comments” section are calling it “fascist”.


Comments

2 Comments so far

  1. Mike May 22, 2008 10:38 pm

    Right! Time to turn the car in to the bank! Oh wait, did that already…

  2. John Petrie May 22, 2008 11:17 pm

    I have heard this one radio commercial several times on WRIF that unwittingly makes the click-it-or-ticket efforts seem absurd, which they are.

    The commercial consists of a guy saying something to the effect of, “I can’t believe what I got a ticket for. It wasn’t speeding, or running a stop sign, [or other reasonable causes for tickets]. Nope, I got pulled over for not wearing my seat belt! And I was slapped with a $65 fine!” The thing is, his tone of voice seems to be saying, “Is that not the stupidest, lamest, most unnecessarily paternalistic government intrusion into your life that you’ve ever heard of?” As a fellow Michigan resident, maybe you’ve heard it.

    I agree with (my interpretation of) what the guy’s saying: Seat-belt-enforcement efforts are lame, stupid, and a waste of officers’ time and victims’ money.

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