I know a number of law enforcement types. I can attest, they take their job seriously and wish to make a positive impact on the communities they serve.
That said, isn’t their a better use of public funds (be they federal, state, county or local) than setting up two weeks worth of safety zones to catch only seven percent of the drivers in Michigan who do not regularly wear their safety belts? Shouldn’t we use whatever extra taxpayer money that is spent here on something more productive, like say giving me and you a tax break?
Or if it has to go towards safer travel, towards less bumpy roads?
After watching a few television commercials warning folks that the cops will pull you over and give you a ticket should you not buckle up, I hopped onto the official Michigan website (www.michigan.gov). I typed into the search engine, ‘Click it or ticket,? and found the following information.
Since 2000, the number of drivers in Michigan who use their seat belts has jumped from 70 percent to 93 percent. That’s great! It’s wonderful. It’s delightful. It’s delicious. It’s de-lovely. But, isn’t it time to end the song? That 93 percent of Michiganians agree to do anything (except for disliking Ohio) is cause for a celebration (but, not before getting behind the wheel.)
The state’s goal is to get another two percent out of drivers to use their safety belts. Two percent, the state reports, will save 20 lives and about 260 injuries. All well and good, I just think it’s time to move on; let the cop’ers do their thing and let those who don’t buckle up test Darwin’s theory on survival of the fittest. Not buckling up ain’t too bright (just like the semantics of this sentence); maybe it’s time to let nature take its course and let the weak-minded, yet still driving folks be taken out of the gene pool. (Gee, that didn’t seem like a nice statement.)
At any rate, until June 4, 572 different police agencies across the state will participate in the Click-it or Ticket squeeze on drivers. There will be about 800 safety belt enforcement zones. Each zone will have a number of law enforcement types. Some to spot and radio the description of offending drivers to marked patrol cars further down the road.
I don’t know how many tickets will be issued (or if they’ll get my number after reading this), but I can say at $65 a pop, a nice chunk of change will head towards the state’s overburdened coffers.
My advice: don’t let yourself be weeded out due to lack of brain-power — buckle up and not just for the next couple of weeks, but whenever you drive. (I only have a few regular readers, and to lose one to carelessness will really impact my numbers.)
If you want to know where the enforcement zones will be, you can go to the afore mentioned website and get the listing. You’ll need an Excel program to read or download.
* * *
Dear Wife Jen and I went on a date last week and saw, The DaVinci Code. Despite a bunch of negative reviews from movie experts, we liked it. And, regardless if it was good or not, it sure made a ton of cash. According to reports, from Friday through Sunday it grossed $224 million worldwide.
We found it especially thrilling to get back to our car and find anti-DaVinci Code information stuck on our window.
I’ll just say this: People, IT IS A MOVIE. It is fiction. If folks want to believe it to be true, then they probably believe the earth is flat and Galileo a heretic.
* * *
OOOOOOOOOps. My apologies to Samantha Kraska, who last week told me the true meaning of Mole in the world of science. I made a leap of faith that she was wed to Nick . . . well . . . here’s what she wrote me: Don, Thanks for the mention, but I’m afraid something else is amiss. I’m sorry I didn’t clarify this earlier, and I should have checked your reply earlier, but Nicholas Kraska is my brother. The reason that I knew what a mole was is that I’m a sophomore in chemistry right now. Sam.?
* * *
And this bit of wisdom was e-mailed to me by my cousin Doris . . . A lot of folks can’t understand why we have an oil shortage in our country. Well, there’s a simple answer. Nobody bothered to check the oil.
We just didn’t know we were getting low. The reason for that is purely geographical. Our oil is located in Alaska, California, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah and Wyoming. Our DIPSTICKS are located in WASHINGTON D.C.