Doctor Can Get You Out Of Seat Belt

THE SEAT-BELT CAMPAIGN DOESN’T QUITE CLICK: At least not for Jim, who called to say he thinks the Rio Rancho Department of Public Safety’s seat-belt enforcement “isn’t quite kosher.”

He says that on a recent Friday evening he had missed the postman and so he made a drive down to the main post office – without his seat belt, because it rubs where his defibrillator is implanted.

He was stopped and ticketed.

Afterward, on the way home, he noticed officers were parked off Southern and using binoculars to spot seat-belt scofflaws and radio ahead to motorcycle officers who were issuing tickets, including to Jim.

John Francis, public information officer for the police department, says he’s “not quite sure what the gentleman is referring to as far as ‘not being kosher.’ We are participating in ‘Click it or Ticket’ during the annual (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration) campaign. We also participate in ‘Operation Buckle Down’ throughout the year, as well as writing seat-belt and child-restraint citations on a daily basis – by Traffic/Motor officers, as well as regular patrol officers.”

FYI, “the state Department of Transportation has approved the daytime/nighttime seat-belt operations,” he says. “Officers working these special operations are not part of the regular patrol shift. They are working grant-funded overtime provided by the DOT.”

During a seat-belt operation “officers look for drivers as well as passengers that are either not wearing their seat belt or not wearing it properly,” Francis says. “Properly, meaning they are not wearing it over their shoulder as they are designed. Many drivers/passengers attempt to wear them under their shoulder/arm. Which is a clear violation of city ordinance as well as state statute.”

It is – unless they have a written excuse from their doctor explaining their condition and why the law shouldn’t be applied to them. In a column that ran Jan. 12, 2009, an Albuquerque Police Department lieutenant stated “under New Mexico state statute for safety-belt use requirements and exceptions (66-7-372B), there is a clause that states you do not have to wear a safety belt if you have in your possession a written statement from a licensed physician exempting one from wearing a safety belt for medical reasons.”

The last time I spoke with Jim, he was planning to contact his physician and get one.

As for using lookouts, Francis says Rio Rancho’s police department does in fact “station officers at busy intersections on foot. These officers will witness a driver/passenger not wearing their mandatory seat belt and radio ahead to another officer working the same operation. The driver will then be pulled over and cited for the violation.”

It’s similar to speeding operations that have officers on foot running radar from atop an overpass and radioing ahead to patrol officers idling on the shoulders of Paseo del Norte.

YOUR DRIVEWAY ENDS WHERE MY SIDEWALK BEGINS: Jim also has an issue with folks who park low in their driveways and block the sidewalk.

He’s on a walker, and he says it is difficult and dangerous to go down a driveway incline into the street, around the parked vehicle(s), then back up onto the sidewalk.

“Besides,” he says,” I pay my taxes and I’m entitled to walk straight down the sidewalk.”

That he is.

In a column that ran Nov. 9, 2009, an APD spokeswoman said “obstructing a sidewalk is also a crime, so if people are obstructing the sidewalk with a car or debris we can ask the homeowner to remove the debris.”

And she mentioned residents and walkers alike could be good neighbors and do it without police prompting.

Assistant editorial page editor D’Val Westphal tackles commuter issues for the Metro area on Mondays and West Siders and Rio Ranchoans on Thursdays. Reach her at 823-3858; road@abqjournal.com; P.O. Drawer J, Albuquerque, NM 87103; or go to ABQjournal.com/traffic to read previous columns and join in the conversation.