By TinyBouvier - 27/10/2014 08:04 - Belgium - Gent

Today, my friend drove up a parking lot and I unbuckled my seatbelt as soon as we were parked. He then suddenly saw a better spot right in front and moved his car. When I got out, a police officer approached me, saying I wasn't wearing my seatbelt. I was fined for that. FML
I agree, your life sucks 36 938
You deserved it 5 021

LittleDoggo tells us more.

My friend parked between two other cars and as I was about to get out of the car, he said, "hold on, I'm gonna move to that spot", since he noticed the parking spot in front of him had more room. So he slowly drove forward for a few meters and then we were parked again. It was such a small distance and at such low speed that I didn't bother to buckle up again. Unfortunately for me, the police officer who saw me in those five seconds where I wasn't wearing the seatbelt, didn't believe me when I tried to explain that I had just unbuckled my seatbelt moments before we moved to that parking spot. He was firmly convinced that I wasn't wearing my seatbelt the whole time and gave me a fine of 110€... That's roughly 139$. I fear I won't be able to fight this ticket. After a quick search on Google, I found out that in Belgium the parking lot of a store is also considered a "public road". Ridiculous.

Top comments

Psycho_Babydoll 26

Wouldn't your friend have backed you up?

That police officer was just being a dick you should fight it in court

Comments

I'm not an FML expert or anything, but I'm positive there's a button for that.

True #20, however there is no auto-correct button for #1's avatar :(

Better watch out for that right angle #50, it's a doozie.

I don't know, I think some angles can be so acute I just want to squeeze their lines.

CanyonRose 16

Comment moderated for rule-breaking.

Show it anyway

Police do not have quotas That was many many years ago

In Belgium, they don't have a quota. I think it was just a real pain in the ass-cop.

Goblin182 26

I asked a cop once if he had quotas. He said no, he could write as many tickets as he wanted to write.

Cops don't need quotas. You don't need to look far to see some idiots breaking the law in some way.

When will people learn that cops have no quotas. Maybe stop breaking the law so much and you won't get as many tickets.

CanyonRose 16

In the county and state I live in there's still quotas. I've been told that and more people will get pulled over at the end of the month because of it. That's my experience I didn't know it was different elsewhere. And #52 I've been driving for 10 years and haven't gotten a single ticket.

@68 Im not sure who told you that but I have several family members who are officers so I know for a fact in my state there are no quotas, at least not for State officers. And congratulations on never having a ticket, just means you know how to drive.

Quotas don't exist. They're illegal by law. The term quota was made up by people who hate the police. Also, this FML is interesting because in some states the police don't have jurisdiction on private property (like some parking lots) and can't ticket you for some things such as expired registration, not wearing a seatbelt, not stopping at a stop sign, etc. It's different by every state.

Evidently if someone told you that it must be true...

uncle who was federal police, they don't have official quotas but they do have statics for the area. so if they find you havent ticketed someone to equal out the percentage of that crime in the area you'll get reprimanded. it's also because they'd get less funding if they were found to have less crime than predicted

They may not be called quotas but when the supervisors have a required personal goal for each officer, it's a quota.

My boyfriend is a LEO and he hasn't written a ticket in months. He's too busy going to 911 calls all day and so his supervisors never say anything about his lack of tickets. It's different by city/department, state, federally, and country (obviously).

UserError94 18

Well I'm a LIBRA. I was told by a friend once if you're parked and out of your car an officer of the law cannot give you a traffic violation for something he hasn't pulled you over for. I'm unaware of how true that is tho. Definitely fight that in court

That police officer was just being a dick you should fight it in court

a lot of times, if you challenge a ticket in traffic court the officer may not even show up and the ticket will be thrown out. maybe the same may be true of Belgium...

I'm the U.S. They can't ticket you for not wearing a seatbelt if your on private property, which parking lots normally are.

Police officers will ticket anyone anywhere these days

Didn't your mama ever tell you to keep your seatbelt on until the car was off? Lol I'd get my hand popped whenever I tried that

"I unbuckled my seatbelt as soon as we were parked"

shamrock1423 8

"Keep your seatbelt on until the car is off" better safe than sorry.

orbit 22

"keep your seatbelt on until the car was off" off and parked are two different things.

Raath00 7

I don't know why this is down thumbed. This is truth. And sadly for OP, he learned the hard way. When you come to a stop, unbuckle. It's that simple

They had come to a stop when OP unbuckled, the car just wasn't switched off.

I'd look into your country's definition of when a seat-belt is needed. If at all possible, contest this.

I personally wouldn't contest it. Say the fine is $50 or less, that's not worth the time to take off work. If you contest, lots of places will actually charge you more, so you better not lose. It's a complete scam.

I've always thought that police officers couldn't do anything on private property. I've gotten in wrecks in parking lots and the cops wouldn't even come to the scene because it was private property.

#47, well damn, how many accidents have you gotten into?

Every area is different. This summer I watched as a cop walked around a private parking lot and gave out tickets for expired license plates.

Sophosaurusrex 9

Cmon cop, don't you have anything better to do? there are people doing drugs over there , go do something to them

Click it or ticket. But seriously, that does suck.

GripItRight 10

That's like what happens to me, when on my way home, I stop to get my mail and don't re-buckle before I drive 6 doors to my house. But you never know when you could be in an accident.

NiceGuysDoWin 21

"click it or ticket" is bullshit. Traffic laws are important because my driving fast or running stoplights can harm others, but seat belt laws only impact the safety of the person deciding not to wear their seat belt. In a free society, it's not the government's job to protect me from myself. Wearing a seatbelt is a good idea, and I'm not saying that people shouldn't wear them...but legislating it is asinine. If I choose to take that risk for myself, it's none of the government's business.

Wrong #58, you not wearing a seat belt also psychologically impacts the poor person who then has to pick your pieces up off the road and clean up the mess you've left behind. Trust me, you they can get counselling, but you never truly get over things like that.

It's the person who chooses to clean you up's fault, their psychological problems are their own fault

What about the cost to society including the ambulance and road cleaners? Also the coroner and investigation that now has to become way more serious. The government's job IS to protect people who are too stupid from themselves.

Depends on where in the car you're sitting, #58. There was once a case in my state where the guy in the back seat wasn't wearing a seat belt. Because of the way they crashed, he flew forward and rammed right into the front passenger's head and killed them both.

Hiimhaileypotter 52

I watched a video once (for drivers ed) where a person in the back seat who didn't have a seatbelt on flew around in the car during a car accident and managed to kill the other people in the car too. You not wearing your seatbelt not only poses a risk to yourself, it's a risk to everyone else in the car with you.

that's some bullshit. I.hope you explained the situation. if that didn't help, go to court. that's not fair at all.

Cops will point out extraneous stuff just to get some cash from you.