Buckle Up Georgia

December 1^st  brought about a new law here in Sarkartvelo.  MANDATORY SEAT BELTS!!!  The old law was a mess of a law where a seat belt was only required when traveling outside of a city going over 80 kilometers per hour.  This of course is not the easiest law to enforce much less have people take seriously.  The new law requires seat belts to be worn by the front row passengers in all cars going any speed.  I, of course, decided to test the desire by Georgians to wear these life-saving restraint devices.  School ended at the normal time on the 1st so I went to the nearest marshutka to Batumi to see if the driver would make me put on the seat belt.  I tried to take my normal seat on the marshutka but was stopped by the driver.  He told me to come sit on the front seat for what I know had to be..."We know he is American and they wear seat belts and won't go crazy about it."  I took my position and was surprised to notice that I would have to fake wearing a seat belt.  The device that catches the clip was missing.  The driver then instructed me that I would have to hold the seat belt across me so we would not get pulled over.  I looked over at his seat belt and realized he had secured a weight device to keep his seat belt from flying back across the marshutka thus proving he was not wearing the restraint device.  The past several days I have spent more time looking to see if people are actually wearing the seat belts and much to my amazement the people that should be enforcing the law (the police) are the one not wearing them the most.  I do not think they were allowed to opt out but I could be wrong.  I wonder if you can citizen’s citation here in Georgia and give the police office the 40 Lari fine.  I hope the facade of wearing a seat belt will help them to eventually fasten the thing and help decrease the vehicle fatality rate that plagues the country.  I was hoping I would get to see a Georgian version of this commercial but I don't think that will happen.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5h2NF2xMYI