Perhaps if the OP shared the specifics about where the incident took place, there may be a better idea for some here to get an idea about whether or not the seat-belt infraction was caught in a "dangerous" area where the LEO did what was noted by the OP.
Originally Posted by
celle
Did the cop who whipped out a gun and wrote me a parking ticket in San Francisco first have some verbal interaction with me? No. She wrote most of the ticket before she even approached the car. Did she ask for ID? No.
She was apologetic (and she put the gun away) when I did try to explain that we were tourists, but said that she had already written the car's registration number and other details on the ticket, which had a carbon copy, and so she could not revoke the ticket.
FWIW, when there is a "blitz" on a particular aspect of road safety enforcement, I'm not sure there is much leeway for discretion. A prime example of this is the public holiday weekends, when you can be ticketed for exceeding the speed limit by only 2 Km per hour, while the usual discretionary amount is 5 Km per hour. No exceptions, no excuses at that time.
Parking tickets are most often issued under a
car's information without including the names of a car's occupant(s) -- that's how it works in California too.
Seat-belt infraction citations are most often issued by including
person's information.
There are exceptions and excuses in New Zealand too when there is a "blitz" for compliance with some aspects of road safety that do involve discretion on the part of the persons conducting the road safety checks. You may not have benefited from exceptions or excuses but some others certainly have.