Junto Boys

Traffic tickets have long been a source of taxation disguised as public safety. You could do any number of positive things to promote good driving safety if that was your goal. You could offer cheaper license plates and driver’s licenses to people with clean records. You could offer a refund on traffic violations if the motorist can go three years without further incident. The only incentive they offer is a negative one attached to more revenue for them.

Now, police in Kissimmee, FL are posing as homeless in order to catch people running red lights. Homeless advocates are more upset than drivers.

Undercover deputies stood along streets and gave the indication they were vagrants by pushing shopping carts and wearing fake teeth and tattered clothing. They also carried small cardboard signs, which read, "Sheriff's traffic sting in progress. Buckle up."

"It's kind of appalling," said Marilyn Gordon, executive director of the Homeless Services Network of Central Florida.

Thrown in at the end of the article is talk of a nationwide campaign to increase seatbelt use. Cops in Orlando have been pulling people over recently for not wearing their seatbelts. While argument can be made that running a red light puts other people in danger, how does not wearing a seatbelt hurt anyone other than the motorist?

State Rep. Irv Slosberg, D-Boca Raton, an advocate of stronger seat-belt and other traffic-safety laws, applauded the sting operation. His daughter, Dori, 14, was killed in a 1996 traffic accident in which she did not wear a seat belt.

Why does Irv think the government can force his daughter to do what he couldn't force her to do?