msincognito
Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Florida
Florida requires drivers to wear a seat belt, but it's not a primary offense - you can't get stopped for a seat-belt violation alone, unless you're under 18 or have a child in the car. I'm bad about wearing mine, I freely admit this. But because I'm normally a very cautious driver, I have never gotten a ticket for not buckling up. (I'm not here to argue the merits of mandatory seat-belt laws, but you can if you want to.)
Tonight I encountered a first. The local police department was conducting what they referred to as a "DUI checkpoint."
They demanded my license, registration and insurance papers - all of which I had, of course - and then they told me they were writing me for a seat-belt violation. (With court costs, statutory additions and local surcharges, this ticket came to $91.)
Here's the thing, though: They made absolutely no effort to determine whether or not I was sober. I had in fact had brandy with dessert; I was perfectly sober but almost certainly had alcohol on my breath. He didn't smell my breath. He didn't ask me if I had been drinking. He definitely didn't perform any field-sobriety tests on me, nor on anyone else that I saw while I was waiting for him to produce the ticket.
Plus, I looked at the Florida statute governing seat-belt infractions.* I don't even see an exception to that law for "DUI checkpoints."
So 1) I don't think it was a valid "DUI checkpoint," and 2) even if it was, I don't see that they can make it a primary offense!
I could easily afford to pay the ticket, but the whole thing has me hacked off. This city was literally raking in thousands of dollars an hour popping people for minor infractions - I'm pretty sure every police car in town was parked there, and they were all using their ticket books. I'm very tempted to fight it.
What say you? Do you think I could I win? Thanks in advance for any advice; you guys don't always tell me what I want to hear but you have never steered me wrong.
* It's 316.614; every link I put to the statute makes my post unacceptably wide but you can view statutes by visiting flsenate.gov and using the "statutes and constitution" link.
If you don't want to plow through the statute, here's a summary of the current state of the law from an analysis of a bill that would have made seat belt violations primary offenses, had it passed, which it did not:
Florida requires drivers to wear a seat belt, but it's not a primary offense - you can't get stopped for a seat-belt violation alone, unless you're under 18 or have a child in the car. I'm bad about wearing mine, I freely admit this. But because I'm normally a very cautious driver, I have never gotten a ticket for not buckling up. (I'm not here to argue the merits of mandatory seat-belt laws, but you can if you want to.)
Tonight I encountered a first. The local police department was conducting what they referred to as a "DUI checkpoint."
They demanded my license, registration and insurance papers - all of which I had, of course - and then they told me they were writing me for a seat-belt violation. (With court costs, statutory additions and local surcharges, this ticket came to $91.)
Here's the thing, though: They made absolutely no effort to determine whether or not I was sober. I had in fact had brandy with dessert; I was perfectly sober but almost certainly had alcohol on my breath. He didn't smell my breath. He didn't ask me if I had been drinking. He definitely didn't perform any field-sobriety tests on me, nor on anyone else that I saw while I was waiting for him to produce the ticket.
Plus, I looked at the Florida statute governing seat-belt infractions.* I don't even see an exception to that law for "DUI checkpoints."
So 1) I don't think it was a valid "DUI checkpoint," and 2) even if it was, I don't see that they can make it a primary offense!
I could easily afford to pay the ticket, but the whole thing has me hacked off. This city was literally raking in thousands of dollars an hour popping people for minor infractions - I'm pretty sure every police car in town was parked there, and they were all using their ticket books. I'm very tempted to fight it.
What say you? Do you think I could I win? Thanks in advance for any advice; you guys don't always tell me what I want to hear but you have never steered me wrong.
* It's 316.614; every link I put to the statute makes my post unacceptably wide but you can view statutes by visiting flsenate.gov and using the "statutes and constitution" link.
If you don't want to plow through the statute, here's a summary of the current state of the law from an analysis of a bill that would have made seat belt violations primary offenses, had it passed, which it did not:
Current law requires a motor vehicle operator, front seat passengers, and all passengers and operators less than 18 years of age to wear safety belts. The “Florida Safety Belt Law” is enforced as a secondary offense for operators and passengers 18 and older; that is, law enforcement officers cannot stop motorists 18 and older solely for not using safety belts. Instead, an officer must first stop a motorist who is 18 or older for a suspected
violation of state traffic, motor vehicle, or driver license laws before issuing a uniform traffic citation for failure to wear a safety belt. It is a primary offense to operate a motor vehicle in this state unless each passenger and the operator of the vehicle under the age of 18 are restrained by a safety belt or by a child restraint device.
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