Click it or pay it

Gus Philpott
Woodstock Advocate
November 30, 2010

The Northwest Herald reports today that Crystal Lake Police wrote 49 tickets for failure to wear a seat belt, including child restraint device violations.

The PD said that the 49 citations were issued during 40 hours of additional patrol time between Nov. 12 and Nov. 28, under a grant received from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

That's a rate of 1.2 tickets per hour of enforcement. What wasn't disclosed was whether the grant paid for 40 man-hours of enforcement or whether 40 hours were spent by the officers assigned.

Considering that the duty probably involved over-time pay for each Crystal Lake officer at $60-70/hour, was it a good deal?

I myself am opposed to the "Primary" nature of the seatbelt law. If the police are really interested in improving safety, why not use an electronic sign on the side of the road? The educational aspect of their claimed enforcement interest would be accomplished. There would be no interference with traffic flow. And drivers wouldn't be out the $50-75/ticket.

Of course, the officers would not have written the 21 tickets for driving an uninsured vehicle, but there are other ways to enforce the insurance law (that the great State of Illinois will not utilize).