I understand what you’re saying, however, most people don’t really care unless it genuinely affects them on a personal level. In this case educating means hitting them in the pocketbook. Verbal warnings do not work on most people. To be honest, in my experience the worst part about getting a ticket was the fine. I never gave a second thought to the fact that I was breaking the law or doing something unsafe. Is that a good thing? No. People should be able to see the big picture, but most can not. Spend $150 on a speeding ticket and you will probably adjust your behavior. Get a verbal warning and you’ll probably blow the officer off and continue your potentially dangerous behavior because it didn’t really affect you except cause you the minor inconvenience of being pulled over for a few minutes.

In response to Dan:

Can you really blame the officer? At least he was honest and up front with you why he chose you over the other car. There’s one of him and two violators. Why not pick the driver not wearing his seatbelt if they both are committing the same offense? He just as easily could have given you the ticket for the moving violation too, but he didn’t.

A $10 seatbelt ticket isn’t much compared to many other states. Something else to consider: half of the $10 goes to the Idaho catastrophic healthcare cost fund. Think of it as helping someone out who can’t afford required medical care. Some of those people may very well be accident victims who weren’t wearing their seatbelts. How ironic would that be?

How it works: police stop a motorist for a minor infraction, real or imagined, and tell the driver they’re getting off the hook on that infraction, but will be getting a “no seat belt” ticket instead. Problem is, if a motorist fights the ticket, the prosecutor will amend the charge and add on the original real-or-imagined infraction.

I got stung on this one last year in Boise. I followed another motorist in making a right hand turn from one multi-lane street to another, where we both didn’t turn into the rightmost lane. I was stopped but the motorist ahead of me was not because, the officer explained, she was wearing her seat belt where I was not.

Although I must admit it was a righteous stop – I had committed an infraction by not turning into the rightmost lane – being selectively stopped for a secondary offense, which cannot be the basis for a traffic stop, stuck in my craw. I chose to just pay the $10 ticket because it wasn’t worth the time to fight it and I didn’t want the improper right turn charge added on top, but the whole thing still doesn’t pass the smell test, IMO.

EDITOR NOTE–Their avowed mission is NOT going after DUIs. They claim to be after seatbelt violations. The message in the post is: no one is offended at chasing DUI suspects, but looking for excuses to stop and cite seat belts doesn’t sell well.