“Click it or Ticket” – money well spent?

I’d like to start this post by stating that I am not condoning not wearing seatbelts. I encourage people to wear seatbelts.

I am against the government telling me that I have to wear a seatbelt.

Yesterday the “Click it or Ticket” campaign was kicked off in Utah. Within four hours of the kickoff ceremony, 571 citations were issued to motorists not wearing seatbelts.

I truly understand the need for motorists to wear seatbelts, however, they are hurting no one but themselves by not wearing them. Why, then, are our tax dollars being spent enforcing something that doesn’t affect the safety of others by virtue of someone not wearing their seatbelt? In my opinion, this is an invasion of privacy and yet another attempt by authorities to dictate what people do to their own bodies.

I would like to know what me not wearing my seatbelt does to harm the driver in the lane next to me?

The article (click link above) quotes Traffic officers say that unfortunately, the threat of losing money causes people to react more than the threat of losing their lives.
“Maybe that will get people to catch on,” said Utah Highway Patrol Col. Scott Duncan.

Advocates of this law say that the state has to pay so much money in emergency medical care for those involved in injuries resulting from not wearing seatbelts.

So it’s not lives after all, it’s money. Bottom line.

I would like to see the statistics and compare the cost of emergency medical care resulting from people not wearing seatbelts to the cost of all the patrol officers issuing citations yesterday and also to the costs of those wearing seatbelts and still being injured. I would also like to see statistics that compare time periods where mass citations are issued and other crimes are committed (murder, rape, theft, etc.) during the same time period where law enforcement resources would have been better expended.

Again, I am not advocating not wearing seatbelts. Statistics show that people are more likely to die in accidents where people don’t wear seatbelts. I am against being told what I have to do to protect my own self. I want my tax dollars spent wisely, and, in my opinion, this is not the best use of my tax dollars.