Click It or Ticket - Waste of Public Funds

Edit: I originally posted this last May but the damn commercials are back!

The "Click It or Ticket" TV ads really bug me. I know that seatbelts are now required by law but I don't have a seat belt on my couch. Sure I know the people putting on the ads want to get the idea across for when we do go into our cars but isn't that what the reminder signs on the highway are for? What makes the seatbelt law so special that it gets to spend reams of taxpayer money on advertising?

Oh the people who put on the ads will say the law saves lives and therefore the money on ads is well spent. Well the law that requires fences with locks around pools also saves lives - how come those folks don't get to waste public money on ads?

Do we really want to differentiate the laws by giving certain laws their own commercials? What about other laws like Gay Marriage ("Gay Marriage in Massachusetts - it's the Law!") or what about older laws like removing tags off mattresses (don't they deserve reminder commercials)? How about when the law was changed and liquor stores were allowed to open on the Sabbath? How come we didn't get any "Booze on Sunday - it's the law!" commercials?

How come the seat belt Nazi's get to spend public money on commercials? This really bugs me.

I'm really not even against the seatbelt law. It does make sense but I think the commercials are a bit much. It seems like hubris. Rubbing the law in peoples faces. It's as if they are saying "We know this law was defeated when it was on referrendum but we enacted it anyway because we know better than you plus the insurance folks gave us big contributions to pass the law - so there! And oh yeah - Click It or Ticket!"