Florida Seat Belt Violation

[gumbyjim]

My question involves a traffic ticket from the state of: Florida

I was at a convience store. I was backing out of my parking space and reached for my seat belt to put it on. I approaced the entrance to the street and made sure the belt was locked. As I pulled into the street I was immediately pulled over by a police officer who had been parked in the adjacent lot. After he told me it was a seat belt violation, I told him it was on and conveyed to him the above account. He admitted that the seat belt was on before I hit the street. He said since I was moving in the parking lot when I was putting it on it was still a violation. What chances do I have fighting this in traffic court? At the moment I am unemployed and $116 is alot of money.

[chuckycheese]

They've got ya. According to the Florida statute, you need to be belted "when the vehicle is in motion". The cop must not have been having a very productive day....

The DMV manual states that you need to be belted "on Florida roads" but it's the statute that really counts. You could try to contest it based on the manual but I doubt it would work. If you give it a try, let us know how you make out.

[jfledon]

I was recently ticketed for not wearing a seat belt while going through a toll exit. I am fighting it though because I had been wearing my seat belt while on the turnpike and simply removed it just before going through the toll exit in order to reach in my pocket for some change.
There was a State trooper hiding right behind the toll booth and I had NOT buckled up yet when he saw me and signaled a nearby officer to pull me over. They were obviously handing out tickets for that particular violation right and left that day.
can anyone weigh in on whether or not I have legal ground to stand on in order to beat this citation?
I am a "safe driver" and don't even have a "Parking Ticket" on my record. I'm hoping that on those grounds the judge will dismiss the case.
Today I went to the pre-trial hearing and asked to set a court date but, I wanted to get some advise from someone more legally astute than myself ;-)

Thanks

[jmjens2]

Do you think there are no accidents as people pull out of parking spots or go through toll booths???

It doesn't make for a boring day just because a police officer is DOING HIS JOB and ticketing you for violating a law...

FYI in Florida there is no set amount of tickets that a police officer is required to write, however they may be questioned if they are not doing their jobs by writing tickets.

Tampa PD does not get any more money for tickets after the first 1 to 2 writen during a shift.

Can you imagine how many tickets these police officers could be writing in a day? I see people doing all sorts of illegal crazy things every single day.

You are more likely to get a warning or have your citation lowered to something else if you are polite and courteous.

My husband got pulled over for going 68 in a 50mph zone. He thought the speed limit was 60. The police officer lowered it to 64 in a 50, which lowered the fine by over a $100.

And by the way my husband works for the police department and he still got the ticket.
:-)