Simi Valley is cracking down on seat belt compliance. Research from the California Office of Traffic Safety (OTS) shows 95.7 percent of California drivers use seat belts.

Seat belts are a lifesaving device. I use mine all the time. But were I to forget one day or simply feel defiant, should I be fined $100 dollars?

I assume seat belts were lobbied in by the insurance companies. I doubt that their motive was a moral one. It doesn't matter. Seat belts save lives.

Why is Simi ticketing instead of issuing warning tickets? These are the good citizens of the city. Is Simi after the money? How much revenue can you get from 4.3 percent of Simi's population?

I drive the freeways every day. The speed limit is 65 mph. I find it dangerous to travel at that speed because of traffic traveling 10 to 20 miles an hour over the speed limit.

Tailgating, weaving in and out of traffic and traveling at excessive speeds kill people, seat belts notwithstanding. There's good money in speeding and dangerous-driving tickets.

If California wants to get serious about saving lives then get out there on the freeway and stop the 4.3 percent of lunatics that have no regard for the safety of their fellow travelers rather than setting up a sting operation to make the populous paranoid about driving around town and leaving the crazies on the freeway to their own devices.

I consider the police heroes as much as I do our troops in the Middle East. I couldn't do their job, so I am happy that there are those who have the fortitude and convictions to keep us safe.

This policy of going after the 4.3 percent of non-seat-belt-users while people who use seat belts die or are severely injured on the freeways is a misplaced policy.

Please don't use our good men and women in the police department for such a menial task. Respect the 95.7 percent of lawabiding citizens who may err from time to time. Ron Carrubba Simi Valley