One Step Closer to a Police State

[RugerNiner]

Stopping people to see if they are wearing seatbelts.



West Hempfield Township police conduct a seat-belt check along Marietta Pike on Friday. 1 of 1Despite a prolonged advertising campaign warning that seat-belt use is mandatory in Pennsylvania, some people still ignore the law.

But not many.

West Hempfield Township police officers stopped 613 vehicles at a safety checkpoint Friday afternoon and found that only a dozen failed to be in compliance with the state's seat-belt law.

Chief Mark G. Pugliese said the checkpoint, operated just outside the West Hempfield police station, 3401 Marietta Pike, was part of the Buckle Up Pennsylvania initiative.

Pugliese said he was impressed by the results of the traffic stop, in which police found no breach of child safety-seat laws.

"We were pleased with the seat belt usage that we encountered and the kids being in the proper car seats," he said.

Pugliese said an inordinate amount of dangerous driving occurs on the stretch of Marietta Pike near the West Hempfield station.

"Statistics from the state that give us a breakdown of our worst roads show that Marietta Pike from 2001 to 2005 was a target roadway that has had aggressive driving and alcohol-related accidents," Pugliese said.

That stretch of Marietta Pike is one of 200 identified by the state Department of Transportation for low seat-belt use or high rates of unbelted crashes.

A 23-year-old woman from Mount Joy was killed in January after being thrown from her vehicle when it veered off the highway and struck a fence and rocks in the 3700 block of Marietta Pike between Silver Spring Road and Hempfield Hill Road. She was not wearing a seat belt.

"That accident is typical of an accident with an unbuckled driver," Pugliese said. "You'll never know if wearing a seat belt would have prevented the death or not, but the fact that they were thrown from their vehicle is why we do these checkpoints."

Buckle Up Pennsylvania and the "Click It or Ticket" ad campaign were launched in 2000 by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and PennDOT to aid state and local police in seat-belt enforcement and education.

West Hempfield has been running selective enforcement details since March 17 and will continue to do so until the end of the month. It is one of two police departments in the region selected to be part of the Seat Belt Check Point pilot program, Pugliese said.

Police issued no citations for seat-belt violations because it is considered a secondary offense for which offenders can be ticketed only if they were stopped for another infraction.

Pugliese said only one person was cited Friday, the result of a vehicle inspection violation. Another driver, who had several children in his vehicle, was forced to find alternative transportation after police determined one of the car's tires was worn to an unsafe level.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reports that seat-belt use has increased from 69 percent to 86.7 percent since 2000.

E-mail: pburns@lnpnews.com

[LowFlyer]

You know, since moving into this area 3 years ago, I've seen more people dying in this area from NOT wearing seatbelts then my entire life living in the Pittsburgh area.

[RugerNiner]

This Thread is not about Seatbelts, it's about the 4th Amendment.

[KeithPA]

DUI checkpoints are need to meet certain criteria, I'm not sure how this can fly.

[mauser]

I'm still alive because I was in violation of the Colorado "seat belt law" on March 20, 1984 at 3:00 PM. I was hit broadside on the drivers side by a woman going about 50 mph. There's no way I could have survived If I'd been strapped into the drivers seat, the seat was about 8" wide after the impact. I bounced off of the passenger side door and was able to redirect my vehicle onto an access road rather than let it dive down an embankment. There wasn't a straight panel on the car, the impact snapped the drive shaft.
Yes, I was one of the lucky ones. Extremely lucky.
If I'd been compliant, I'd undoubtedly be dead, and that's not just my opinion, that's what the investigating officers told me. They wanted to know where thew driver was, I said "I'm right here." One of them said "No, I mean the driver of this vehicle". I said, "Yeah, that's me." One of them said "Jesus Christ.. You're still walking!" Another said "It's amazing you aren't dead".
I'd rather make my own choices and take my own chances. I use my seatbelt on the highway, but I refuse to use it where the threat of side impact is greater than a high speed collision.
Call me a fool if you want, but freedom should be just that. If I want to be free from a death trap it should be my decision to make.

[sjl127]

Here's a riddle - Why don't motorcycles have seat belts?

[Steve in PA]

I get notices from the state put on my desk all the time about seat belt check points. Sorry, I have better things to do than run a check point to see if your wearing your seat belt.

While they do save lives, I don't see how a check point makes a difference.

[larrymeyer]

Originally Posted by Steve in PA

I get notices from the state put on my desk all the time about seat belt check points. Sorry, I have better things to do than run a check point to see if your wearing your seat belt.

While they do save lives, I don't see how a check point makes a difference.

My questions is do they save more lives then they cost. My friends wife would have been killed if she was wearing one. She was on the passengers side when they got T'ed she was thrown across the center console to the driver side which saved her life other wise she'd have died in the crash

[chugger95]

I just want to know how stupid you have to be to not put your seat belt on when coming upon one of these things. And will comment that I never used to where my seatbelt until the company I worked at said if they caught you driving a comp. vehicle and are caught without a seatbelt they would take the driving privelage away. Now it is second nature to put it on.

[snuffy19608]

Well I'm a paramedic and believe that, like helmets, seat belts are a good idea. I've started referring to people who don't belt up or don't wear a helmet as job security. Sorry if that offends you but if I get to scrape 'em up and listen to 'em scream I get to name 'em.

Now, for the flip side. I believe that seat belt and helmet laws are both unconstitutional and plain wrong. I'm sorry (again) but the government has no business telling me I have to wear a belt or a helmet. Personally I think you're not too smart to drive without them, but I don't think .gov can tell me I have to have it.

Same thing with smoke detectors. I was the only firefighter in my company to disagree with a smoke detector ordinance in our borough. Wanna talk about some strange looks? Again, I think you're a fool to not have smoke detectors in your home, but I don't think the .gov has the right to force you to get them. (I gots 4)

And as for personal experience, I rolled my truck years ago on Rt. 283,felt like the laundry in a dryer as I stayed pretty much stationary while the truck rolled around me. The next day, I went to the yard to get my stuff out. From the passenger side everything looked almost normal. Walking around to the drivers side, the roof was about 1" off the window. Had I been belted (don't say it, I already heard it from Hershey Med when they wheeled me in) I would have been lucky to have been killed. There's worse than dead, ya know?