In the not-too-distant past, Indiana lawmakers said that the new seat belt laws would never, on their own merits, justify a traffic stop. The officer could write the seat belt cite as a secondary enforcement activity AFTER a valid stop (speed, equipment, expired plates, etc.)
In the less than two decades since then, lo and behold, it has been determined that the state has an "compelling" interest in seeing that drivers buckle up.
Seat belt enforcement is now a PRIMARY enforcement activity based on that "compelling state interest."
Of course, it's really only enforced when the Feds kick in the $$$ for overtime grant patrols. Yep. The Feds pay for the time-and-a-half pay to encourage an officer to make stops for something he/she ordinarily does NOT stop for.
Hmmmm...the Federal Government is funding "Click it or Ticket," "OWI Checkpoints" and possibly the "Let's Make Sure Everyone's License is Good" programs.
Regular day--agency can't tell their officers to write cites-quotas have been found to be illegal/immoral/distasteful.
Federal Grant day--officer must turn in a signed "Activity Sheet" showing how "productive" he/she was during that "Special Patrol."
Could the Feds want us to become more used to being stopped and checked for compliance by local LEO's??
What's next, a Vehicle Safety Checkpoint where a govt. regulator does you the favor of making sure your tire tread depth and brake pad linings are thick enough to be safe? As long as they've got you stopped, might as well see if you've got a valid DL, warrants, back child support, etc. Wow, that would make us safer.
While we're at it, wouldn't it be a lot faster if we got National ID cards with a digitized thumbprint on the back?!
Whether IN or MO, seat belt or "License Validity Check", it all adds up to chintzy police/citizen interactions that may be more restrictive and less random than advertised.