Nothing like 'revenue enhancement'!

I got off work tonight and hit the road home. I set the cruise just above 55 like I always do.

Of course, I got pulled over.

StormTrooper: I clocked you at a solid 58 mph!

Me: You're kidding right?

StormTrooper: No. I need to see your license, registration & proof of insurance.

Me: I hand him what he requested, minus current proof of insurance (just got the car running again.....called & reinstated it yesterday and the new card hasn't gotten to me yet), along with my P2C.

StormTrooper: Are you armed now?

Me: Yes.

StormTrooper: Where's it at?

Me: In the holster on my right hip.

StormTrooper: Keep it there. ~goes back to his car for a bit & comes back~ Anyways, I'm not going to cite you for speeding, but I am gonna cite you for not wearing a seatbelt.

Me: Oh fer cryin' out loud. You're kidding, right?

StormTrooper: Well, you have a choice. Speeding ticket for 58 in a 55, seatbelt or BOTH.
**********************

I took the seatbelt ticket from the MN State StormTrooper.

Anyways, I got to reading the back of it and lo-and-behold, the Communist State of MN automatically applies a $75 'surcharge' to any citation other than a parking ticket. I suppose the County in which the ticket was issued can also impose a 'surcharge' too?

Last seatbelt ticket I got was probably about 7 years or so ago and it was a total of $149.

I don't even want to think about what this one will cost knowing how the Communist State of MN jacks the sh*t outta the fines they impose.

What a crock of BS! I'm required to wear a frickin' seatbelt in a car, but yet motorcyclists aren't required to wear helmets or protective clothing........WTF!!!

What would the speeding ticket have cost?

Don't know, but he said that the seatbelt ticket was cheaper and wouldn't go on my MVR.

Having a clean MVR is important to me due to my job & my personal vehicle insurance costs.

Why not wear your seatbelt? It costs nothing, and saves both money and risk.

Hunter07,
Where did you get pulled over? It would be a good location to avoid. I can't believe they gave you a 58 in a 55.
That's just crap!

I would bet he was wearing his seatbelt and was given the "out" via seatbelt infraction vs. a speeding ticket (aka insurance hiker).

Here is my stupid question for the day. I always hear of cops asking for license and registration. What is the registration?

I haven't gotten pulled over for about 20 years so haven't had the opportunity to ask

"Registration" is the little piece of paper that you get with your license tabs. It shows all the necessary info to demonstrate ownership of a car. Personally, I don't ask for it as a rule. I ask for license and proof of insurance.

If you cant show me proof, you likely will get cited for "no proof of insurance." That citation is dismissable if you later show the court clerks proof that the vehicle was insured at the time of the stop. If you can't show that the vehicle was insured, well, then, pay up.

Hwy 68 mm 131, between New Ulm & Mankato (just west of where BE Cty Rd 20 from Lake Crystal meets 68). Problem is, that is the most direct and fastest way to and from work.

I wear my seatbelt 99.9% of the time. Last night was, unfortunately, one of the very few times I wasn't.

Anyone know what a seatbelt ticket actually costs these days?

No idea.

Must've been a VERY slow night for the officer. By chance were you coming off a hill?

It's this kind of thing, (58 in a 55 is a pretext), that keeps "us" skepitical and passively resistant to "them". Then the $25 fine set by the legislature becomes $130 because the judges collect a "law library fee" and there are local "costs" because the state does not want to "raise taxes". Screwed by the cop, the court, the legislature, and the executive, all in a few minutes.

This happened to someone who was trying to obey the law, and set the speed control to do it, and in any event was no hazzard to public safety. It's happened to all of us, and not just a few times. It's why I exercise caution (or maybe "attitude") toward police, and why I encourage others to excercise the same.

And of course the "next" police officer is simply ecouraged in his skepticism and cynicism when he encounters me. I don't treat him as well as I would if I met him on the street out of uniform, and it's probably real obvious and annoying. And I don't care at all.

Whatever it's called, society pays a terrible price for training out police to do this shit.

Amen to that.

That is NOT the right perspective Hunter07. The solution is not to point to the next guy who hasn't yet been enslaved, and take away more of his freedom so that he is equally screwed. That just results in less freedom for everyone. The problem is that there is a nanny state seatbelt law which should never exist in the first place. THAT is what needs to go!

The crab bucket mentallity is a personal hatred of mine. It is one of the driving principles of socialism.

I agree most wholeheartedly.

I am, however, surprised at your "crab mentality" remark. My Asian wife uses that idiomatic expression quite often, and I have seen it literally "in action", watching crabs in a large container.

The creeping socialism in this country is fueled by that attitude, and with that concept I agree with you. Dragging everyone down to the lowest common denominator is not a postive action.

Add my voice -- and sadness -- to the chorus.