[Vision2020] Question for the Vision

Mon Nov 20 13:25:45 PST 2006

Interesting points, Kai.  Speaking of education, I wonder what people think
about the programs that encourage kids to be "junior seat belt officers."
Firemen go to schools and tell kids they need smoke detectors and to
pressure their parents into getting them; what about the programs that ask
kids to "police" their parents about using seat belts?  

On a related topic: Parents often call the Sheriff's Office or Police
Department and ask us (the officers) to "scare" their children about the
evils of swearing/stealing/hitting/refusing to wear a seat belt/talking
back, or any number of other things.  Their theory seems to be that we're
scarier or more authoritative than they are.  Where should we draw the line
and tell parents to do their own parenting, or should we? 

Det. Jennifer L. McFarland
Latah County Sheriff's Office
Public Information Officer
PO Box 8068
Moscow, Idaho 83843
(208) 882-2216
Fax (208) 883-2281
 <http://www.latah.id.us/Dept/Sheriff_Main.htm>
http://www.latah.id.us/Dept/Sheriff_Main.htm

Truth is the summit of being; justice is the application of it to affairs.
***Ralph Waldo Emerson

  _____  

From: Kai Eiselein, editor [mailto:editor at lataheagle.com] 
Sent: Monday, November 20, 2006 13:17
To: Jennifer McFarland; 'Vision 2020'
Subject: RE: [Vision2020] Question for the Vision

I believe that all persons under the age of 18 should be belted, and
officers should be able to pull over a vehicle if they see an unbelted
minor.

Adults, however, should make their own choices.

I say this in light of the fact that I ALWAYS wear a seatbelt and twice have
walked away relatively uninjured because of them, including an end over end
rollover.

I've also been injured by a seatbelt; compression fractures in my back. But
that was an oddball accident and if I hadn't been wearing a seatbelt, the
doctors said I would have probably broken my neck.

What is needed is better education as to WHY people need to use seatbelts
and use actual, close up, gory photos of those that didn't. I've crawled
into a car after a guy hit a telephone pole at 30 mph with no belt and it is
not a pretty sight. Maybe if people see the real, unsanitized results, their
seatbelt usage would change.

I think our police have better things to do than play parent to adult
drivers. 

It also seems a bit goofy to me to toughen seatbelt laws on adults, while
having no helmet law for them.

Just my two cents worth.

-----Original Message-----
From: vision2020-bounces at moscow.com [mailto:vision2020-bounces at moscow.com]On
Behalf Of Jennifer McFarland
Sent: Monday, November 20, 2006 12:16 PM
To: 'Vision 2020'
Subject: [Vision2020] Question for the Vision

Dear Visionaries,

I hope you are all doing well as we enter the holiday season.  I issued a
press release a little over a week ago alerting the public of our "Click It
Don't Risk It!" seat belt compliance campaign.  I'm happy to say that of the
15 cars I pulled over yesterday, only one person was not in compliance with
Idaho's seat belt laws.  However, I was just visited by a friend form the
Lewiston Police Department (our partner in this year's campaign), and he and
I talked about our laws relative to Washington's laws.  In Idaho, an officer
must pull a car over for a "greater" offense (speeding, having a
registration sticker in the wrong place, not having a front plate, etc.) in
order to enforce the seat belt laws.  In other words, I cannot pull over a
car just because I see a small child standing up in the back seat-I'd have
to have other probable cause to pull over said vehicle.  The Lewiston
officer I've been working with has spent a lot of time trying to change
Idaho's laws regarding seat belt use to: 1. make it a primary offense, and
2. raise the fines so they are commensurate with other states' fines for the
same.  I've heard arguments supporting both sides to this, but I am curious
as to what Latah County's citizens think about our seat belt laws-whether
they are adequate as they are, if they should change, how they should
change, etc.  My own views on seat belt usage have as much to do with how I
was raised as they do with a general aversion to the gruesome scenes I've
experienced responding to collisions wherein the passenger(s) were not
properly restrained (and having to notify next of kin).  But I also realize
that my experience is just that-mine.  What are your thoughts?

Thank you for your time,

~Jennifer  

Det. Jennifer L. McFarland
Latah County Sheriff's Office
Public Information Officer
PO Box 8068
Moscow, Idaho 83843
(208) 882-2216
Fax (208) 883-2281
 <http://www.latah.id.us/Dept/Sheriff_Main.htm>
http://www.latah.id.us/Dept/Sheriff_Main.htm

Truth is the summit of being; justice is the application of it to affairs.
***Ralph Waldo Emerson

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