Iraqis see their seat belt law as sign of civilization

The hazards of driving in Baghdad are such that you would think the last thing a harried Iraqi motorist needs is a $12.50 fine for not wearing a seat belt. What with IEDs, suicide bombers, roving militias, carjacking, checkpoint shakedowns and getting run off the road by Blackwater convoys, the driver has enough on his mind.

Surprisingly, however, a campaign by the Iraqi traffic police to enforce the seat-belt law has proved enormously popular with the Iraqi people, perhaps because it seems a small step on the road to normalcy.

"It is part of the healing process of this country and of Baghdad to enforce the law, law by law," a top traffic commander told The New York Times. Added a taxi driver, "It is a symbol of civilization. Western people in Europe and America have it, so we are like them."

Even our former enemies and now friends are getting into buckling up. Said the Los Angeles Times, "In fact, seat-belt enforcement is so popular now that even the security volunteers known as the Sons of Iraq are getting in on it. These are the security workers who guard checkpoints in cities and towns across Iraq and are paid about $10 a day by the U.S. military."

Maybe this offbeat development is good news and will be a successful example of the "broken window" theory of law enforcement: If the police enforce the law against small crimes, there will be fewer big crimes.

How do you say "Click it or ticket" in Arabic?

Scripps Howard News Service