"Put on your seatbelts, let's go!"

"OK, Mom."

"Have you got on your seatbelts?"

"Yes, Mom."

"Could I open the window and look out, Mom?"

"Yes, of course. It's a really nice day!"

Going round the corner, at a right on red, a policeman waiting at the corner on a motorcycle spies me. He puts on his lights and siren, momentarily until I pull over. He has been waiting for someone like me, and is very glad to see me. It's so sad to me that I think of the police as something akin to hornets now because when I was younger I loved to see them around. They made me feel safe, and I admired their courage.

Then, I thought about my sister's call to the Sacramento police after someone had smashed her windshield and stolen her computer while she was exercising in California Fitness. She needed them to come and at least take down her story and see if she needed a ride or something. They told her that they were busy and couldn't come and that she should just fill out a complaint online. Well, if they were busy, they should have at least sent a California Highway Patrol policeman, as they are just all over that highway. I guess giving out tickets to law-abiding motorists is a priority.

Anyway, I'd come to find out in the following weeks that this particular policeman hangs out around the school, waiting for parents or teachers to make some sort of mistake. I witnessed him pull over a few parents for stopping momentarily (not parking) in the "school bus only" zone, so that they could either let off their children in the morning or run and get their kindergarten-age children in the afternoon. There's only a couple of buses in the morning and the parents know when they come, and are very courteous about the situation. In the afternoon, there's only one van that uses the area. Letter of the law? Yes. An act of justice? No. As a matter of fact, it is purely and simply, an act of money---KaChing!

Well, this particular policeman pulled me over, and I said, "What can I do for you, officer?" He laughed a little as if it was funny that I didn't really know. He said, "Well, there seems to be a seatbelt situation, here." I looked in back and realized that the children didn't have their seatbelts on. I suppose I should have checked and made sure that they'd put them on. I told him that I told them to put their seatbelts on and I guess I forgot to check to make sure.

He started writing up a ticket as he asked me how old they were. I said that they were 5 years old. I have twins (at the time, turning 6 in 2 months). Well, it turns out that they should have been in booster seats. The legal age for riding without a booster seat in California is 6 years old. He said flippantly,"Didn't you know that?" I said something llike, "You know, officer, it has been a state by state law for years with different rules, and It has not always been a law in every state." He said, "Well, I don't know anything about any other state. We're just really concerned about your safety here in California"

I glared at him and I said, "Uh-huh. How much, officer?" He evaded the question and wouldn't answer it. I asked it three times. Finally, I said, "Officer, I have eight children and I can't afford this. I need to know at least how much?" He said, "Well, I really don't know. It depends." Personally, I think if he's going to hand out tickets---he should know how much it will cost the person.

He had me sign the ticket, and gave me a date by which it had to be paid, which was the same date as the court date and time, if I wanted to talk to the judge about it. Well, I signed the ticket and went on my way.

I wondered whether or not I had been really legally required to sign it,.In the first place, I wondered because i didn't know the cost of the ticket. For all I know, the price of the ticket could be unlawful, and yet I will have signed my name to it, and so even though unlawful, I would be legally bound to pay it. My point is that there wasn't full disclosure.

Second, it seems to me that by signing it, I endorse it, and PLACE myself under the jurisdiction of the court. I wonder if I could have used the Bill Clinton reply: "I don't understand the question."

I'm a law-abiding citizen. The breaking of the seatbelt law is not a criminal act. It does not even seem like an act that should come under the heading of law, but something different like---rules. I wonder if we can ACTUALLY, LEGALLY be fined for simply breaking the RULES of the road. However, in point of fact, as I'm not an unreasonable woman, I wouldn't mind paying a just fine for breaking the rules of the road. For a traffic infraction, $50 seems fair to me. However, somehow I doubted that the fine would be fair.

Furthermore, it seems to me that death by car accident falls more under the heading of "hazards of life." People die everyday. Heart disease is the leading cause of death, followed by cancer. The truth is that death by car accident is relatively rare for the amount of people that are traveling around in cars across the United States every year. Every year, the fatalities per 100 million vehicle miles traveled was about 2 people. This does not seem to me to warrant the CONSTANT wearing of an uncomfortable restraint.

Maybe, someday the police will be able to bust up our family barbeque and say to Uncle Joe that he is incredibly overweight and therefore a heart attack risk. Didn't you know, Uncle Joe, that heart attacks are the leading cause of death in the United States? I see that there are way too many barbeque ribs on your plate, and the state of California is concerned about your safety. So here's a ticket for $463 for violating the overweight and eating too much law---strictly for your own safety.

Getting back to the cost of the ticket, my husband looked on the California traffic court website which CLEARLY stated that if it were a first time offense, which it was, it would cost no more than 100 dollars. I said, "I guess that's fine." I managed to scrape together the 100 dollars in order to pay it.. However, here's the kicker: Two weeks before the due date on the ticket, I received a letter from the state of California which stated that the ticket was for $463.00! I was certainly not going to pay it without speaking to the judge.

My husband and I went in together. We sat through many cases where the fines were $200 and up for traffic tickets. None of these people were criminals, but had merely broken the rules of the road. The judge was a stand-in. What does that mean? For all I know they could have grabbed the janitor from the hallway and put him up there with a script because even though many people bothered to appear before him to discuss their cases, he wouldn't discuss anything with any one of them. He merely referred everyone to the DA. It was an extra hour wait to see the DA. When it was my turn, they would not let my husband come in with me to talk to the DA. I asked him, "Why not?" and he just said, "No." I couln't think of any reasonable explanation as to why my husband wasn't allowed into the meeting.

Anyway, I went in by myself and told the DA that I'd researched the maximum fine for a first time seatbelt violation on the Sacramento County Traffic Court website and it said that it could be no more than $100.00. So, why do I have a ticket for $463?"

He said, "But that doesn't take into account fees and assessments." I said, "Well, shouldn't the website say that , then and list them?" He said, "Well, I would know if I saw the website that it wasn't just going to be $100." I said, "You're a lawyer. I'm just a regular person." He said, "Anyone would know it." Then I said, "What fees and assessments?" He said, "I don't know what they are." I said,, "You're a lawyer for the traffic court and you don't know what they are? I think you should know what they are." He said, "It's not my job to know what they are." I said, "It most certainly is your job to know." I knew I was being railroaded, but he was rushing me and I didn't have time to think. Then, he presented me with the "out" of going to baby seat belt school in which case the fine would be reduced to $65.00, and the class would cost me $40.00. Well, I wanted to be able to just pay the fine indicated on the website because a chunk of time out of my day as the mother of eight children was a very big hassle.

So, I was just sort of stuck and huffy and not thinking. So, I asked if I could talk to my husband about it for five minutes and come right back. He told me that I couldn't do that, and that I'd have to wait another hour or so for another appointment. Well, I knew for sure that my appointment so far had only taken 5 minutes or less, and that the appointment just prior to mine had taken a good 20 minutes. I couldn't understand why I wasn't allowed to talk to him. if the time would be less. So, all that came out of me was: "Why not?" He just said, "We don't do that."

I said to him, "This is ridiculous! You've got a great racket going here and you're here to take my money, aren't you?!!" I just stood there incensed and said, "OK, sign me up for the baby seatbelt school." He was very glad about this. He gave my papers to the judge. In about 10 minutes the judge called me up and was beaming that I had reduced my ticked from $463 to $65 dollars and baby seat belt school which would cost me $40.00. I wondered if there were other people who had not researched the $100.00 maximum fine and weren't told about the baby seat belt school who just payed the $463 dollars of mostly nameless other fines and assessments. The judge said, "It's a great class---really informative." Then, he gave me a big smile.

I stood looking at him silently for a bit, contemplating saying, "Judge, what other fees and assessments are tacked on to the maximum payment of $100.00 for a first time seat belt violation as per the information on the Sacramento County Traffic Court website? However, as I just wanted out of there and was tired of fighting, I said nothing and I've regretted that moment ever since.

As I was leaving, I thought it was ironic that they actually pulled $5.00 more from me than the maximum payment on their website, and wondered if it was a big inside joke to the people in charge of courting for dollars.