Not outdoors board material, but the Zoo is a joke and I respect your collective opinion. I got a seat belt ticket for buckling my belt as I turned from my private road onto a highway. I was just going to pay it and probably will end up doing so, but damn that sucks. I was pulled over by a State Trooper and no my CHL didn't help with this guy. In fact he made me step out of the truck and hang out by the tail gate. Anyway, to make a long story short I was expecting to just pay the fine $44 (min $25 max $50; got to love West Columbia, Texas pushing the max) but the court costs are $103. Now this is only my second ticket ever so I'm new at this, but $103 so you can fine me $44 and that's without going to court. That sounds like a load of BS to me. Part of me want to show up and plied my case because I might as well get my $103 worth.

And the fact that it’s in West Columbia has me puzzled. My house is 15 miles from West Columbia and like 4 from Angleton. I got pulled over about two miles from Angleton city limits and right in front of my house. I was headed in the direction of Angleton opposite West Columbia when I got pulled over. Hell, I have an Angleton address and I'm in Angleton school district but some how this ticket is jurisdiction of a court in West Columbia? Is there a way to see if this yahoo gave me a ticket in the wrong jurisdiction? Can that get it dropped? Anyway, more of a vent than anything, but $147 for a flipping seat belt is stupid. That same ticket would cost $10-20 in most states.

And, while I’m venting, I use my seat belt all the time. I may not put it on right when I get into the car, but 90% of the time I do and 100% once I realize I hadn’t buckled it yet. That being said, seat belt laws are flipping ridiculous. I can under stand for minors, but as an adult I should be able to put one on or not based on my own damn desire or lack there of. It’s none of the states business.

Your only consolation is really just venting here. In my experience, there is NOTHING you can do about it. I got one my ?junior? year at A&M for wearing my seatbelt. I have tinted windows (the legal 35%...been down that road too) and at night there is no way you can see inside my black car with black interior and see my black seatbelt on my (probably maroon) shirt.

I fought it at CS courthouse and all it took was the judge to say, "nope, your word vs. the cops. Next."

I had pictures blown up to poster size and everything of me with and without my seatbelt on in the driver's side where you couldn’t' tell a difference whatsoever.


Sorry, I answered your rant with a rant of my own.

You….you want a hug?



"And even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire." -Matthew 3:10

I don't think "private road" has anything to do with it, "I think it is operating a vehicle...."

There are numerous reasons that exempt you but yours doesn't sound like one from my memory.

Ya, I though I was speeding or something when he pulled me over. I was pissed that me CHL didn't get me out of a flipping seat belt ticket.

private road ≠ required seatbelt

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I use my seat belt all the time. I may not put it on right when I get into the car, but 90% of the time I do and 100% once I realize I hadn’t buckled it yet.

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I witnessed a bad accident last night, truck got T-boned on the passenger side by another 3/4 ton truck. Passenger wasn't wearing a seatbelt and was really banged up/fractured skull, etc. My point is that he was pulling out of a parking lot and hadn't traveled more than 10yards before getting hit. Buckle up before putting it in gear people, it's that simple.

I ride the bus from the Katy park and ride and know of a case where a passenger was given a no seatbelt ticket as soon as the vehicle pulled out of the parking lot. The officer said the man had plenty of time to buckle it before leaving the parking lot and showed him no mercy.

As was already said, the key is to buckle up before you go. Still stinks though.

do u have farm plates?

I don't have farm plates.

I paid it off because it's not worth the time.

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as I turned from my private road

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My house is 15 miles from West Columbia and like 4 from Angleton. I got pulled over about two miles from Angleton city limits and right in front of my house.

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I though I was speeding

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You must have turned really fast if you thought you were speeding...........and you have a really big house.

Shouldn't it be the OP's own personal decision as to his safety? My opinion is worthless to anyone but me I know, but really it should be our choice to buckle up or not.

A bunch of speed traps were gouging people on tickets. So the Texas legislature put a cap on speeding ticket fines.

To make up for the lost income, the cities started gouging people on court costs. That way they get nice payday, even if you take defensive driving.

To answer a few questions from the OP(even if you went ahead and paid it):

1) No seat belt is a zero tolerance policy with DPS - in other words you will not get a warning.

2) Each officer has their own way of handling an individual on the side of the road, if he chose to pull you out there is a good chance he does that to everyone.

3) If you were still on you private road, you would not have been required to have your seat belt on - The law reads "while operating a motor vehicle on a PUBLIC roadway"

4) The jusridiction a trooper writes in is not by city, it is by Justice of the Peace jurisdictions. There may be one for the whole county, or multiple in one city. The trooper can write the ticket in the jurisdiction where the violation occurred or in the jurisdiction of where your home address is, its their choice.

5) As far as it being your choice, that is one side of the argument, but the main reason it is not a choice is because traffic related deaths are drastically increased, even in minor collisions, when no seatbelt is worn. I for one don't want to come work a relatively minor rollover accident, and find that someone did not wear their seatbelt and ended up being partially ejected and killed.

Hope this helps.

I got popped during the end of December (quota, anyone?) in our area speed trap, Castle Hills. Pulled over, both kids in the back seat, and issued a speeding ticket (yes, I was speeding in a 35 mph zone) and also for "following too close."

My intention was to take DD for the speeding ticket ($107 court cost) and then fight the totally subjective following to close citation. After considering that the judge would more than likely support the officer and show no mercy, not to mention the hassle of missing work for court, I relented to deferred probation for following to close.

Funny, but following too closely isn't even listed as a traffic violation on their printed citation. It's covered under the "all other violations not listed."

If you happen to be a resident of Castle Hills, of which I'm not, the best part is that face value is $179 for each of these citations. Enjoy.

[This message has been edited by SanAntoneAg (edited 2/3/2009 5:51p).]

I have 2 very close cousins that are state troopers. One thing they both told me is there is ZERO tolerance on no seat belts and drinking. Those 2 things kill more people and the gruesome graphic descriptions of traffic accidents that they have worked and told me about leaves no room for excuses in my opinion.

What do farm truck plates have to do with this discussion?

Motorcycle riders without helments don't cause grisly accidents?

Tell that to the poor people who hit those other poor kids at Luther Street.

I don't see how these choices aren't regulated under the same mandate.

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Shouldn't it be the OP's own personal decision as to his safety? My opinion is worthless to anyone but me I know, but really it should be our choice to buckle up or not.

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Motorcycle riders without helments don't cause grisly accidents?

Tell that to the poor people who hit those other poor kids at Luther Street.

I don't see how these choices aren't regulated under the same mandate.

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You are right that they should be regulated the same ... both like the helmet law. Your choice. None of the gov's business.

Personally, I wore my seat belt before the law. Now I grit my libetarian teeth every time I buckly up.

But I am also in favor of pulling the public funded plug if you don't have insurance. Live by the sword ...

In response to motorcycle riders not having to wear a helmet...my guess is the motorcyclists have a very strong lobby fighting for their "rights."

I do agree it should be a personal choice if you wear a seatbelt.

Big Brother is watching you.

While I choose to wear my seatbelt, it is my personal choice and not a habit of fear and intimidation by State Troopers. Motorcycle riders choose to wear or not wear helmets.

The sad part of this is that the OP was putting on his seatbelt with the good intention of wearing it, but got fined because he was more noticable putting on the belt than not wearing it.

I am not saying the government should have a say in it, only that they do and that is a primary reason for the legislation and why they do. And yes it is a logical argument about the motorcycle riders.

As far as farm plates goes, it provides a defense to prosecution for No seat belt tickets if you are operating a vehicle with farm tags, for farm uses. Although it is just a defense, most officers are not gonna write you up if you have farm tags period.(and before it is mentioned, yes farmers could just as easily be killed in a crash, once again like the motorcycle riders)

Additonally, if you choose to wear your seatbelt, regardless of the reason, you are complying voluntarily with the law, which as far as most agencies are concerned, is the longterm goal, not to see how many tickets can be written. Sure money is made from tickets, but individual officers don't see that money so that is not the incentive for most, at least me in writing tickets/warnings.

[This message has been edited by cplatt (edited 2/3/2009 10:34p).]

First off I agree with the OP. I wear my safety belt because of the safety benefits. But occasionally I forget to buckle up right away. Getting a 150 dollar ticket is not going to magically make me remember everytime.

They should do like in colorado. I pulled over there recently on a trip to visit some friends and family, and I got a card to review the officers service. He didnt write a ticket either, just reminded me to slow down because "his job is to ensure Ill get to my destination safely". It was refreshing to have a cop be on yoru side for once, while enforcing the law.

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As far as farm plates goes, it provides a defense to prosecution for No seat belt tickets if you are operating a vehicle with farm tags, for farm uses. Although it is just a defense, most officers are not gonna write you up if you have farm tags period.

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This is weird, and pretty much BS, as far as I'm concerned. I don't wear a seat belt on the farm because I'm in and out a lot. But once I hit the county road, I'm either headed home or to another farm 5 miles away on a county road or highway, and I buckle up.

Farm Truck tags are bogus about 90% of the time, anyway. Most folks who buy them now do so to save $70 a year on their Escalade or Lincoln Navigator Pickup. Full time farmers like me use "truck" tags because we use our pickups for things besides work/school/church/doctor/groceries.... the only legal things to do with FT tags.

Disclaimer: I do use FT tags on hired hand pickups, grain trucks, etc.

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4) The jusridiction a trooper writes in is not by city, it is by Justice of the Peace jurisdictions. There may be one for the whole county, or multiple in one city. The trooper can write the ticket in the jurisdiction where the violation occurred or in the jurisdiction of where your home address is, its their choice.

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True. I got a ticket on the south side of Waco one time while on my way to College Station. I had to drive all the way to West for my day in court.

Honestly, I have little sympathy for people who get tickets (including me...though that hasn't happened in a long time). If you obey the law then 9.5 times out of 10 you're not going to have to worry about getting a ticket. Granted, there are occasions where a mistake is made and someone gets a ticket for something they didn't do, but those are a small minority and will likely be dismissed in court (all you have to do is create reasonable doubt for the jury). It's real simple though...obey the law and there's a very high probability that you won't get a ticket. Breaking the law is most often a conscious decision, so don't complain if you get caught and have to deal with the consequences.

Just my two cents.



[This message has been edited by Hoss (edited 2/4/2009 8:15a).]

If you were willing to spend more than it was worth you could probably get off.

I was on the jury for a seat belt trial, Seriously, I missed a day of work for this. Guy must have been a cab / commercial driver but his liar got him off on a techniality.

what was the technicality?

To the farm tag reference, I went to a pesticide CEU course last week where a State Trooper went over some of the DOT laws regulated to the farming industry. The only permissible time by law for someone to legally not get cited wearing a seat belt is if they have farm tags, and are taking animals to a sale...but, why wouldn't you put the belt on for your safety.

Looked it up:

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Sec. 545.413. Safety Belts; Offense.
(e) It is a defense to prosecution under this section that:
(6) The person is operating a commercial vehicle registered as a farm vehicle under the provisions of Section 502.163 that does not have a gross weight, registered weight, or gross weight rating of 48,000 pounds or more.

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502.163 is the provision that allows "Farm Use" tags. I'm not a lawyer, nor do I play one on the Internet, but the above quoted exception seems to apply to all "Farm Truck" vehicles, all the time.

And if you think you might use FT tags to save a few bucks, review 502.163 and see if you can honestly use them.

http://www.statutes.legis.state.tx.us/SOTWDocs/TN/htm/TN.502.htm#502.163

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The only permissible time by law for someone to legally not get cited wearing a seat belt is if they have farm tags, and are taking animals to a sale...but, why wouldn't you put the belt on for your safety.

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I'll bet if you ask when it is permissible to not get cited from 2 other officers, you would have a total of 3 different answers to that question.

Normally I tend to fall on the side of the argument where something like wearing a seatbelt should be a personal choice, not mandated by law.

However in this case.... I tend to support the law being in place.... for the same (and only) reason I oppose things like the legalization of pot: the unseen financial impact on society.

If Joe Blow decides not to wear a seatbelt and gets killed in a car wreck as a result, I couldn't care less. His fault.... except that now, as a taxpayer and one who has vehicle and medical insurance, I have to take a hit. As a result of his choice, either a few more pennies in the form of tax dollars will be taken from me in order to foot the bill for his care in the emergency room as a result of being uninsured.... or a few more dollars will be added to my insurance premium to cover his medical costs, if he does have insurance.

When it's possible this insurance/tax burden for all of us could've been mitigated had the doofus taken the two whole seconds out of his life to put on his seatbelt.

Those pennies and dollars add up when you look at the numbers of people injured or killed in accidents where they weren't wearing seatbelts. It doesn't just affect them or their family... we all have to live with that decision.

If someone could guarantee not ONE red cent of mine would ever go towards dealing with people who elected not to wear seatbelts.... then I'd be 100% for removing that law from the books completely.

But that ain't gonna happen....

Got some bad news for you. You will get to pay it for the next three years. The bill will come in the mail as a surcharge. So what ever the amount of the ticket was get ready to pay it three more times.

I speak from experiemce.

wow...honestly, i didnt even think they enforced farm plate rules. Had them on my truck since i was 16 and just about half way through college until i got my new truck. Wierd.

I agree with sunchaser - your story has way too many holes in it for you to fight this ticket.

Wear your seat belt and stay alive.

sunchaser:

As I turned onto the highway, I was pulling the strap over my shoulder. I snapped the buckle closed as I started to head east on the highway. After I snapped my buckle I saw a Trooper heading the other direction. He then turned around and ran me down a couple miles down the road. That's why I was surprised it was a seat belt ticket.

If I hadn't buckled up he wouldn't have seen me becasue this was a four lane highway with a median. Next time I forget to buckle up, I'll make sure a cop isn't around to pull me over.

My experience in Colorado with officers was much the same as the poster above me. Also, Texas DPS was often a discussion with people I met while in the Army once they found out I'm from Texas.

Technicality in the case I was part of the jury was the prosecutor didn't identify the defendant properly or something like that. Basically it was a procedure issue. We would have found the guy guilty but they didn't even let us make the decision. I heard this second hand because we were in the jury room.