[Vision2020] Question for the Vision

[Kai Eiselein, editor]

I believe that all persons under the age of 18 should be belted, and
officers should be able to pull over a vehicle if they see an unbelted
minor.
Adults, however, should make their own choices.
I say this in light of the fact that I ALWAYS wear a seatbelt and twice have
walked away relatively uninjured because of them, including an end over end
rollover.
I've also been injured by a seatbelt; compression fractures in my back. But
that was an oddball accident and if I hadn't been wearing a seatbelt, the
doctors said I would have probably broken my neck.
What is needed is better education as to WHY people need to use seatbelts
and use actual, close up, gory photos of those that didn't. I've crawled
into a car after a guy hit a telephone pole at 30 mph with no belt and it is
not a pretty sight. Maybe if people see the real, unsanitized results, their
seatbelt usage would change.
I think our police have better things to do than play parent to adult
drivers.
It also seems a bit goofy to me to toughen seatbelt laws on adults, while
having no helmet law for them.
Just my two cents worth.
  -----Original Message-----
  From: vision2020-bounces at moscow.com
[mailto:vision2020-bounces at moscow.com]On Behalf Of Jennifer McFarland
  Sent: Monday, November 20, 2006 12:16 PM
  To: 'Vision 2020'
  Subject: [Vision2020] Question for the Vision



  Dear Visionaries,

  I hope you are all doing well as we enter the holiday season.  I issued a
press release a little over a week ago alerting the public of our "Click It
Don't Risk It!" seat belt compliance campaign.  I'm happy to say that of the
15 cars I pulled over yesterday, only one person was not in compliance with
Idaho's seat belt laws.  However, I was just visited by a friend form the
Lewiston Police Department (our partner in this year's campaign), and he and
I talked about our laws relative to Washington's laws.  In Idaho, an officer
must pull a car over for a "greater" offense (speeding, having a
registration sticker in the wrong place, not having a front plate, etc.) in
order to enforce the seat belt laws.  In other words, I cannot pull over a
car just because I see a small child standing up in the back seat-I'd have
to have other probable cause to pull over said vehicle.  The Lewiston
officer I've been working with has spent a lot of time trying to change
Idaho's laws regarding seat belt use to: 1. make it a primary offense, and
2. raise the fines so they are commensurate with other states' fines for the
same.  I've heard arguments supporting both sides to this, but I am curious
as to what Latah County's citizens think about our seat belt laws-whether
they are adequate as they are, if they should change, how they should
change, etc.  My own views on seat belt usage have as much to do with how I
was raised as they do with a general aversion to the gruesome scenes I've
experienced responding to collisions wherein the passenger(s) were not
properly restrained (and having to notify next of kin).  But I also realize
that my experience is just that-mine.  What are your thoughts?

  Thank you for your time,

  ~Jennifer



  Det. Jennifer L. McFarland
  Latah County Sheriff's Office
  Public Information Officer
  PO Box 8068
  Moscow, Idaho 83843
  (208) 882-2216
  Fax (208) 883-2281
  http://www.latah.id.us/Dept/Sheriff_Main.htm

  Truth is the summit of being; justice is the application of it to affairs.
  ***Ralph Waldo Emerson




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