"Fix it" ticket checkpoints

[The Dharma Bum]

I just noticed my tail light is out.

Thanks Mo! I would have got a ticket for sure if it wasn't for you.

[lil bit]

[OGPhilly]

[PoS]

Whatever you do, dont drive a truck in L.A. you will be shot at by the cops. How's that for checkpoints...

[lil bit]

[Gremlin]

[NAB]

[Professor]

So, there is a law that says you must have certain lights in working order on your car. There are laws that say you cannot have certain problems with your car. These laws are there to ensure public safety. At some point, it was decided that the public safety was more important than your "right" to NOT have to purchase such things as lightbulbs. So, our country has already determined that public safety outweighs your right to a certain level of freedom.

The police are not singling you out. They are checking a certain number of cars on a certain road in a certain day. It is no different than the tax assessor checking a certain number of houses in a certain year, even though a single house may have no reason to be checked. It is no different than the IRS checking a certain amount of tax returns every year, even if a single of those returns may not have any flags indicating something was wrong.

We allow the government some leeway in enforcing the laws that we determine are essential to public safety. Included in that leeway are random checkpoints where an officer may view the outside of your car, look through the windows, or detect odors seeping from your car into the outside air. NOT included in that leeway are invasive searches, unless a reasonable suspicion exists of a crime being committed.

I don't understand the outrage. If you have a brake light out, I want you to fix it. If I have one out, I want it fixed. I routinely check my car to ensure that I don't have such things. Literally, I check it almost every time I drive. Check brake lights by holding the brake and looking at the garage door behind me - if I see 2 bright spots, I know I'm good. When I turn my lights on, I should see 2 beams of light. If my indicator blinker is blinking fast, I know I've got a light out. Et cetera and so forth. If you are driving your car and neglecting to ensure that it is meeting the standards that we have determined to be "safe", and you get a ticket, I feel no remorse for you.

[Gremlin]

[dontworrybehappy]

As anti-govt as I am I am in favor of cops pulling you over to notify you of safety issues they see with your vehicle. I think the first time they pull you over, it should be recorded on your driving record, not as an infraction, just for the record. And say, you have 30 days to get it fixed. That way, if you get pulled over again a few days later for the same thing, the cop could run your record and see you're ok. But after 30 days, and you get pulled over again for the same thing, then you should get a ticket.

Pulling someone over and notifying them of a problem can easily be argued to be for the cause of safety. Pulling them over and issuing a ticket for something they might not have been aware of isn't for safety anymore, it's for revenue generation.