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Pulled over for no seatbelt

Crossbreed said:
Some sobriety tests are harder than others...
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Here there's no sobriety test like that. Breath test and saliva swab. They can and do pull over any one at any time and conduct random tests. Sometimes they block roads off and test every single driver. Refuse a test and you get arrested and taken to hospital for blood samples.
 
I can't walk heel-toe in a straight line even being stone-cold sober. Would be awkward to have to do much of any field sobriety test for this old coot. :rolleyes:
 
Judge said:
I can't walk heel-toe in a straight line even being stone-cold sober. Would be awkward to have to do much of any field sobriety test for this old coot. :rolleyes:
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This is why law enforcement need disability awareness training. (And why objective measures like saliva tests and blood alcohol testing are better than asking people prove coordination or do specific cognitive tasks that could be impaired generally without impairing driving ability -- like count backwards from 100)

It's also why people whose movement or behaviour and communication is always visibly unusual (especially males - like me) get the same talk visible racial minority kids get about how to interact with police if they are ever stopped and questioned for no apparent reason, or ever mistreated by police.

I was explicitly told, when I was about 13 years old (not all of this is 100% verbatim but the parts that are not verbatim are very, very close):

"You do every single thing they tell you to as fast as you can, even if the police officer is telling you to do something wrong or hurting you."

"You never ever question or refuse anything; Not even if the officer is abusing you. Not even if you know what they are asking or ordering you to do is illegal" [ie sexually abusing you -- most police officers are not bad people and do not exploit power to hurt anyone ever, but some do -- same can be said for any profession where people have a lot of power/authority]

"You ALWAYS without exception, do what they tell you to"

"You keep your hands visible, out of your pockets"

"You answer every question calling the police officer 'sir' or 'ma'am' or 'officer' to show respect. Always. You say "yes sir", "no sir" or "I don't know sir" - it's important."

"You never fight, you never argue, you never talk back, you never question them and you never, ever run. Even if they are hurting you or making you do something bad. Because if you fight or talk back or run, you give them a reason or an excuse to use force and you could die just from restraint. And if that happens it doesn't matter if they did something wrong: Because you can't get help for what was done to you or report a corrupt officer who hurts you if you're dead."
 
Outdated said:
We have detection cameras for all of that everywhere these days. Not wearing a seatbelt, using a mobile phone, animals or children on the driver's lap, etc. The cameras don't miss much and there's no nice cop that can let you off with a warning, you start getting fines in the mail and then you get the letter telling you you've lost your license.

The cameras also check vehicle registration and if the driver holds a valid license. Dash cams and side cams on cop cars also do the same thing, and once it's on camera they're not allowed to let you off.
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Sounds like you live in a police state.
 
Matthias said:
Sounds like you live in a police state.
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Some people from other countries see it that way, especially from one country in particular, yet here we have types of freedom and levels of public safety that make us a very desirable country to migrate to. More than 30% of our population are either first or second generation migrants.

If you look you'll find a few youtubers that tried migrating here and didn't like it and left again, but they're massively outnumbered by people saying that moving here was the best decision they ever made in their lives. Including Americans.

This one's from England:

 
I heard that Australia & Canada will not grant citizenship to autistics. If that is the case, their pros & cons would be moot to us.
 
Crossbreed said:
I heard that Australia & Canada will not grant citizenship to autistics. If that is the case, their pros & cons would be moot to us.
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Certainly not true of Australia. Our immigration policies are fairly strict but if you're under the age of 35, have no criminal record, and have skills or talents we deem desirable then you're in. The bloke in the video above is a truck driver and his wife is a primary school teacher, both of those are trades where we struggle to find enough workers.
 
The US is comprised of 50 states and some territories. The laws are different in every single state and territory. What is allowed in California may not be allowed in South Dakota. You might be able to make a right turn on a red light in one state but not in another state. Radar detectors are legal in some states but illegal in other states. It's best to be familiar with the basic traffic laws in whatever state you're driving in.

But all states require seat belt usage, a valid driver's license, and prohibit driving while impaired. The police, rescue workers and medical workers have enough to do without having to deal with people too stupid to follow the laws, and the rest of us citizens deserve to be protected from those people's poor choices.
 
Mary Terry said:
The US is comprised of 50 states and some territories. The laws are different in every single state and territory. What is allowed in California may not be allowed in South Dakota. You might be able to make a right turn on a red light in one state but not in another state. Radar detectors are legal in some states but illegal in other states. It's best to be familiar with the basic traffic laws in whatever state you're driving in.

But all states require seat belt usage, a valid driver's license, and prohibit driving while impaired. The police, rescue workers and medical workers have enough to do without having to deal with people too stupid to follow the laws, and the rest of us citizens deserve to be protected from those people's poor choices.
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Happens a little too often in my state. No seat belts are nearly always the most prominent indicator of a death in a traffic accident, regardless of the velocity of vehicles involved.

When the physics of large metal and plastic conveyances overcome most anything comprised of only flesh, bones and blood. Compounded when flying through the air across a hideous distance.
 
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Judge said:
Happens a little too often in my state. No seat belts are nearly always the most prominent indicator of a death in a traffic accident, regardless of the velocity of vehicles involved.

When the physics of large metal and plastic conveyances overcome most anything comprised of only flesh, bones and blood. Compounded when flying through the air across a hideous distance.
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I messed up trying to use the spoiler option so DON'T READ THIS IF YOU ARE SQUEAMISH ABOUT VEHICULAR WRECKS.






An old friend's step-granddaughter died in a hideous accident about 3 months ago. She was only 19 years old, was driving a crotch-rocket motorcycle, wearing a helmet, at 9:00 pm on her way home from her waitressing job, and going 40 mph which was the speed limit where she was driving. A car ran a stop sign and pulled out directly in front of her. The motorcycle t-boned the car on the rear passenger door, and the girl's body blew, headfirst, through both backseat windows (at 40 mph) and landed about 50 feet away. Needless to say, she died on impact. That's an extreme case and involved a motorcycle but illustrates how your body becomes a flying projectile if you're not wearing a seatbelt.
 
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Mary Terry said:
I messed up trying to use the spoiler option so DON'T READ THIS IF YOU ARE SQUEAMISH ABOUT VEHICULAR WRECKS.
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Back in the early 70s it's precisely why teens had to watch films like "Red Asphalt" in high school "safe driving" classes. Definitely left an impression seeing graphic unedited accounts of such accidents. Though they paled compared to a few years later with my seeing college level criminal justice textbooks on homicides and suicides.

Now the kids can see them on YouTube. How far we have come. Go figure. :rolleyes:
 
Mary Terry said:
That's an extreme case and involved a motorcycle but illustrates how your body becomes a flying projectile if you're not wearing a seatbelt.
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Aussies for the most part took to the seatbelt message fairly well, although we still have a few contenders for the Darwin Awards. We call them Temporary Australians.

We run a lot of community service adverts about road safety here, and the same as in the UK and New Zealand, they're extremely graphic and quite horrifying and yes, children get to see them too. I won't link any of them here and I don't think they'd pass censorship in the US (free speech?) but if you're curious do a search for "tac commercials". TAC stands for Traffic Accident Commission.
 
Outdated said:
We run a lot of community service adverts about road safety here, and the same as in the UK and New Zealand, they're extremely graphic and quite horrifying and yes, children get to see them too. I won't link any of them here and I don't think they'd pass censorship in the US (free speech?) but if you're curious do a search for "tac commercials". TAC stands for Traffic Accident Commission.
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Somebody is always offended by something in the US. Being perpetually offended is some people's favorite pastime here. And "free speech"?! Disappearing rapidly here, too. Unless you're the king, in which case you can ramble about any hallucinatory topic and make up facts as you wish, and your subjects are afraid to call you out for doing so.
 
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