Article: NJ Starts Seat Belt War – But Is It The Best Way To Keep Us Safe?

I just got back from a round trip to Delaware in the pouring rain. I was reminded on the way that I read in the paper that NJ is going to crack down on drivers that do not wear their seat belts. That's for our safety. I remember when it was a constitutional right NOT to wear our seat belt. Now they want to ticket us when we don't wear our seat belt. Now they are going to sit and watch us and make sure we have our seat belts on. Then the police backed up traffic on a busy Friday rush hour morning, cracking down on speeders. At rush hour? In my humble opinion, a bad move.

Now it's not my place to tell the police what to do but is this really the best way to keep us safe on the highway? I would think that there are other ways to keep us safer on the roads. First, I still see too many people talking on their cell phones while driving. I still pull over to this day when I talk on my cell phone. I have talked on my phone while driving but no more. It is the law so I pull over. Second, I would rather the police get the slow drivers out of the left lane. People that have to make a left turn 20 to 30 miles down the road do not need to stay in the left lane all that way. You would then stop seeing those reckless drivers that make those sharp right and left turns around those slow poke drivers. Again, in my humble opinion is more of a cause of an accident than a speeder in the left lane that is not driving recklessly. Third, in the rain today, I saw many drivers that did not have their lights on. When the rain was at its heaviest, it was very hard to see a lot of those drivers that did not have their lights on. Another dangerous situation. In NJ, that is the law, Wipers On, Lights On!

Now when I was younger, I got a plethora of speeding tickets and recently have been ticketed for an illegal turn that I thought was a little weird and an illegal passing ticket that was downgraded when we talked to the officers about the case. I have been a fairly good driver but I do tend to drive a little faster than I should. That's no excuse. I still pull over when I use my cell phone and I always use my seat belt and make all my passengers wear their belts ever since I tossed my niece and almost broke her nose a long time ago. So I really think that the police, in my humble opinion should look to keep us safe in better ways than making sure we have our seat belts on. I always thought that the added ticket if we were pulled over for an offense was good but, please sir, get those slow pokes out of the left lane, pull the cell phone users over and get those dangerous cars over that don't turn their lights on in the rain. That is my three-point plan for saving our lives instead of seat beat use. But Buckle Up. It Saves Lives!