Seat Belt Became Tangled and Unusable, And I Got A Ticket

[Geneus]

My question involves a traffic ticket from the state of: Washington
I was at a local store when I was done with my business I came to my car and when I went to put my seat belt on it became tangled the more I struggled with it the worse it got it became unusable, My tools were 2 miles away and on the way to get the tools and have a place to fix it I was pulled over and given a ticket for not wearing my seat belt. I made the officer aware of the situation but was just told I would have to check one of the 3 boxes on the back of the ticket : Pay it, Mitigate it, Did not commit the offence. I checked did not commit the offense. My court date has not yet been set. Is this at all defensible. What am I to expect?

[jk]

well, how about you try your story on us first. Oh, wait, you did. If you cannot untangle a seat belt, you probably should not be driving. It's a ~2 wide belt and getting tangled to the point of not being usable or not able to be untangled without tools is just unbelievable.

but you can always try. Maybe the judge has had the exact same problem, but I seriously doubt it.

[cyjeff]

It is also your responsibility to keep any car on the road in accordance with current law.

[blewis]

Ah, I've seen that movie! We had a '95 Windstar where the shoulder harness retracted into the door frame. Every once in a while it would twist or something, causing it to get "stuck" in the door frame and it simply would not come out. You actually had to remove the covering, and untwist the belt below the pulley in order to free it. It happened about a dozen times in the five or six years we owned the vehicle, but, fortunately, we were lucky and never got a ticket, and, of course, if it happened at home, I could fix it before we went anywhere. I believe it was a manufacturing defect -- it certainly had nothing to do with what we ever did.

I can sympathize with you, but I don't know how successful you'll be convincing ANYONE who hasn't had something similar happen (as JK and CYJEFF have demonstrated). You might want to request a deferral.

Barry

[cyjeff]

Ah, I've seen that movie! We had a '95 Windstar where the shoulder harness retracted into the door frame. Every once in a while it would twist or something, causing it to get "stuck" in the door frame and it simply would not come out. You actually had to remove the covering, and untwist the belt below the pulley in order to free it. It happened about a dozen times in the five or six years we owned the vehicle, but, fortunately, we were lucky and never got a ticket, and, of course, if it happened at home, I could fix it before we went anywhere. I believe it was a manufacturing defect -- it certainly had nothing to do with what we ever did.

I can sympathize with you, but I don't know how successful you'll be convincing ANYONE who hasn't had something similar happen (as JK and CYJEFF have demonstrated). You might want to request a deferral.

Barry

Wow.

Like I needed another reason to NOT buy a Windstar.

[blewis]

Wow.

Like I needed another reason to NOT buy a Windstar.

LOL! Actually, we loved it! One of the best cars we ever owned, especially when we had to taxi around all FIVE kids! Good gas mileage, comfortable, and, although we had the head gasket problem many of those models had (covered under warranty), we had no other major problems. The seatbelt thing only happened a couple times a year -- usually if you took it off and let it "snap" back, rather than running it in gradually. We were sad when it got "crunched".

Anyway, enough of this commercial.

Barry

[That Guy]

I believe it was a manufacturing defect

Are you referring to the seatbelt or the windstar?

Kidding...

I checked did not commit the offense.

Oh come on... you drove without your seatbelt on.... Got cited for not having your seatbelt on... How is that "did not commit the offense"?