HOUSE REJECTS BILL TO BOLSTER SEAT-BELT LAW; SAME MEASURE WOULD HAVE REPEALED CYCLE HELMETS LAW

The Missouri House rejected a seat-belt bill Tuesday in a move that Cape Girardeau traffic-safety expert Sharee Galnore viewed as both good and bad.

State representatives turned down legislation that would have strengthened Missouri's seat-belt law. But the bill also included an amendment that would have repealed the helmet law for motorcyclists age 21 and older.

Some lawmakers didn't want to allow motorcyclists to ride the roads without helmets.

The House bill died on a vote of 73 for to 79 against. There were 10 abstentions.

Eighty-two votes are needed to approve the third and final reading of a House bill and send it to the state Senate.

Galnore said she was pleased that the helmet law wasn't repealed.

Motorcycle riders face the prospect of serious head injuries in traffic accidents, she said.

"We did not want to lose that life-saving factor that we had built in already," she said.

Galnore coordinates the Cape Girardeau Safe Communities Program. Funded through the Missouri Division of Highway Safety, the injury-prevention program encourages people to buckle up. It also addresses other safety issues, such as drunk driving.

State Rep. Larry Thomason, D-Kennett, said the helmet-repeal provision wasn't a factor in his decision to vote against the bill.

Thomason said he saw little point in strengthening the seat-belt law when police officers have little power to enforce it.

"The law is kind of silly. I think wearing seat belts is something any prudent person would do," he said.

Rep. David Schwab, R-Jackson, also voted against the bill. He said he opposed restrictions on people riding in the back of pickup trucks.

"There are still a lot of families where the pickup truck is all they got," he said.

"It really bothers me," he said, "when we start passing legislation that would restrict a family from using a pickup as a family vehicle."

Rep. Mary Kasten, R-Cape Girardeau, voted for the bill. "I was convinced it would save some lives," said Kasten. She was one of only two Southeast Missouri lawmakers to support the measure.

She said the bill included an agriculture-exemption on the use of seat belts, which she favored.

She said she had mixed emotions about amending the helmet law.

Galnore said she wanted lawmakers to strengthen the seat-belt law that Missouri has had since 1985.

The underlying legislation would have prohibited children from riding in the open beds of pickup trucks unless the youngsters were strapped in.

It also would have required drivers and passengers in pickups to wear seat belts. The current law doesn't apply to pickups.

The bill would have required children ages 4 to 16 to wear seat belts in the front and back seats of all vehicles.

Galnore said it is senseless that Missouri exempts pickup trucks from the seat-belt law.

"We have a law on the books that said if you transport anything in the cargo area of a truck, it has to be secured so it doesn't fly out."

But people can sit in the back of pickup trucks without any safety precautions, she said.

She said it is dangerous for anyone at any age to ride in the back of pickup trucks.

"Everybody needs to buckle up, no matter what they are riding in," said Galnore.

Galnore and other traffic-safety proponents wanted lawmakers to upgrade the existing seat-belt law from a secondary to a primary law.

Currently, police officers can't stop a motorist solely for not wearing a seat belt.

Galnore said that sends a clear message to people that the seat-belt law isn't as important as other traffic safety laws.

"We need to give it the importance and make it the issue that it is," she said.

More people would buckle up if Missouri's seat-belt law were a primary law.

When California upgraded the status of its law, seat-belt use rose by 12 percentage points to 83 percent. The number of seat-belt citations decreased by nearly 20 percent, Galnore said.

Galnore said seat-belt use is a health issue. "One of the most dangerous things you do every day is get in your car," she said.

Statistics, she said, show seat belts save lives.

Missouri's seat-belt usage rate was 61 percent last year.

Statewide, 1,109 people died in traffic accidents in 1995. Seventy-seven percent weren't wearing seat belts.

Galnore said she would like to see the legislature consider passing a seat-belt bill that is straight forward and doesn't include cumbersome and often conflicting amendments.

HOW THEY VOTED

Here is how Southeast Missouri lawmakers voted on the seat-belt bill that was rejected Monday by the House.

Voting no: -- state Reps. Gene Copeland, D-New Madrid; Bill Foster, R-Poplar Bluff, Joe Heckemeyer, D-Sikeston; Patrick Naeger, R-Perryville; David Schwab, R-Jackson; Larry Thomason, D-Kennett; and Marilyn Williams, D-Dudley.

Voting yes: state Reps. Mary Kasten, R-Cape Girardeau; and Mark Richardson, R-Poplar Bluff.