Citation machine & seat belts

A warning: This is a "slice of life" post, lacking an overarching theme or message!

A nearby community that shall remain nameless has a remarkable speed trap which they employ at intervals, but with remorseless efficiency. It's on a section of four lane highway that runs across a shallow bowl of terrain with about a mile and a half from one edge of the bowl to the other. Slashing across at the low point of the highway is an overpass, from which the officer with the radar gun shoots his prey. Now obviously the officer on the overpass has no way to come down and intercept a speeder himself -- hence the queue of three cruisers concealed behind the slight curve on the far side of the overpass. It's all painfully obvious when approaching from the north, but almost undetectable from the south, toward which the radar is pointed.

The local police force in question had this trap going on Memorial Day, in concert with what must have been at least a statewide campaign to promote seat belt usage. Countless radio and television commercials have been warning about seat belt enforcement for most of May. Interestingly, while Wisconsin is one of those states that can ticket you for not wearing the belt, the offense is considered "secondary," meaning you (supposedly) cannot be pulled over and cited solely for a seat belt offense.

Someone carefully listening to the cautionary scenarios depicted in the radio commercials will note that in every case, even though the scenarios are fictional, the offending driver has been pulled over for something else and then the seat belt citation is added like a garnish. So while the ads are clearly aimed at badgering folk into buckling up, they are remaining faithful to the actual state of Wisconsin's laws.