The criminal mind is a part of our DNA, each and every one of us, even me. You can chuckle but it is the human condition. When the bent of our criminal minds takes control of our actions, then our minds may produce criminals who break the law. There are moments when the vicissitudes of life fog up the distinction between having a criminal bent and being a criminal. I am guilty. Please allow me to confess.
In my sixty five years, forty seven behind the wheel of a motor vehicle and thirty eight years of driving commercially, I have never worn a seat belt voluntarily in the drivers seat. I just can’t bring myself to put it on. This criminality is indeed a part of my DNA. Will I insist that all passengers riding with me are attached properly? Do I wear a seat belt when riding with another driver? Always, but this stubborn California driver will remain a seat belt criminal. For short moments I ponder why but only for a few moments.
Such moments have occurred in the last six months. I have been stopped twice by the man for not wearing a seat belt. And as I said I’m guilty. My first seat belt violation was about ten years ago as an add on to a speeding ticket. Fair enough but it was only $82.00. Three months ago an Apple Valley sheriff pulled me over lights flashing within a few miles of the house for no other reason than my seat belt. Despite bubbling anger at such irrational enforcement of the seat belt law, I did pay the fine of $152.00. Three calls to the traffic commander, elicited no response, he is still hiding.
This criminal driver is protesting. No rational argument can be made that this ticket was about the safety of the other guy. Was it about my own safety? This is still America, if I choose to be confident enough to trust myself behind the wheel while being unattached, it is nobody else’s business! The law be damned, or more accurately the immoral enforcement of the seat belt law. The red light camera’s are another case in point. Municipalities, including Victorville, are taking them down because the truth is that their use was and is more about raising money for the system than they are about driver safety. Again, another case of unjust enforcement.
This context brings me to my second seat belt ticket in November 2010 and the third in a life time. Shame, Shame! While driving alone in my own vehicle within a few blocks of the house, obeying all other traffic laws, the California Highway Patrol pulled me over lights flashing. Officer J. Martin, badge # 19874, was watching for we criminal’s at the corner of Spring Valley Lake Parkway and Kalin Ranch Road. This is a favorite hangout for tax collection, for it seems that only the man considers it unsafe. The officer in question, who was barely old enough to shave, politely informed this driver that my seat belt was not attached. The ticket cost this driver $166.00. Guilty.
Can we put this conversation in the context of Miss Valles’s desire to restore nine more deputies to Victorville? Please shake up City Hall, Miss Valles, but we the legally driving public do not need more bullies in uniform to financially support your governmental employees. Their unions are about unfairly robbing the tax paying public, they think of themselves first, and we don’t need nine more. Contrary to the word’s of Miss Valles, the number one job of the government is not safety. Staying out of the pocketbook of responsible citizens is number one. Just because one governmental employee says we need more governmental employees is no surprise.
G.Goslaw
Victorville, Ca
