Tripwire laws

Have you ever wondered what purpose the clutter of silly and barely enforced laws on the books could possibly serve? I mean, who can keep track of all of the silly, petty and downright foolish statutes that lay scattered around the legal landscape. So, what good are they?

Well, I have a suspicion ...

The sheriff's department in Mohave County, Arizona, reportedly plans an aggressive "Click It or Ticket" campaign for seat belt scofflaws from May 21 - June 3. Oh great. Police encounters are nerve-wracking enough without the frequency stepped up "for our own good."

What gets me though, is that the same article reporting the crackdown mentions that Arizona is a secondary enforcement state--that is, you can't be pulled over just for not wearing a seat belt. How do you have a "special crackdown" to punish people for ignoring a law that can't be enforced on its own?

I suspect the answer is that police will manufacture "primary" offenses so they can pull over people who aren't wearing their seat belts. Expect exuberant enforcement of rules against illegal lane changes and improper use of directionals, all so the cops can reach their true goal: nabbing folks who don't buckle up.

Yep, those obscure laws do serve a purpose; they keep us all within reach of any law-enforcement officer who really wants us. After all, chances are that we've done something illegal.