The annual "Click-it-or-Ticket" contest sponsored nationwide by the U.S. Department of Transportation is now over.

During May, the feds send out an edict to all municipalities large and small to suspend the use of common sense by law-enforcement officers and substitute in its place a "no- tolerance" policy.

In this "contest," police officers are encouraged to write as many tickets as possible, without regard to common sense. The double win for the municipality is that the feds will continue to fund transportation projects and the local folks get to use the court system as their biggest fundraiser of the year.

My wife and I got caught up in the "dragnet" in Oxnard last month. When the officer pulled us over, we both had our seat belts "clicked" as we always do. Her offense? She had pulled the seat belt down off of her neck to keep it from scratching her neck and ear. (Yes, she had lowered the adjustment on the car to its lowest setting.) My offense? Keeping my eye on busy morning rush-hour traffic and not on my wife to ensure she had not pulled the seat belt down from her neck.

According to the police chief's office, under normal circumstances, we likely would not have been stopped. However, if we were pulled over, it's likely we would only have been advised by the officer on the proper use of the seat belt and the fact it is illegal in California to pull the seat belt down from your neck.

Not so during the "contest," as we were both ticketed (I'm thinking our police officer must have won the "contest").

I was angry, but didn't take it out on the police officer. I did call the police chief's office and was told that normally officers have discretion in these cases, but during the "contest" they are given instructions to use a "zero-tolerance" policy.

I also called the mayor's office to register a complaint. I then inquired about the amount of the fine, which no one seemed to know. Turns out it is $20 per ticket, which, through the use of new math, escalated to $89 each by the time I received the citation in the mail from the city of Oxnard.

This sure smacks of the speed traps in small Georgia towns during the '60s, which were used to raise revenue for municipalities.

The police officers on the streets have a tough enough job without a higher authority taking away their use of common sense. Safety on the road is always and remains my most important concern. I think our law-enforcement efforts could be better directed and stop this annual "contest."

Bill Elwood lives in Gulf Breeze, Fla.