MoDOT chief favors tougher seat-belt law

A proposed law to crack down on seat-belt violations would help save lives in Missouri where deadly traffic accidents are all too common, Missouri's transportation director said Friday.

Pete Rahn, who heads the Missouri Department of Transportation, said he's concerned not just with building roads but saving lives.

Rahn, who became MoDOT's director seven months ago, continues to lobby for a law that would allow police to pull over motorists for not wearing seat belts.

Motorists currently can be ticketed, but only if they are first stopped for another traffic violation.

About 1,200 people are killed and 69,000 injured annually on Missouri roads.

"It is just horrendous carnage on our highways," Rahn said in a telephone interview from his Jefferson City office.

Sixty-eight percent of the people killed in traffic accidents in Missouri didn't wear seat belts, he said.

Fewer people would die or be injured if Missouri made seat-belt usage a primary law, he said.

Such a move would save 90 lives and result in 1,000 fewer serious injuries, according to the National Highway Safety Administration.

Rahn believes that's a statistic that shouldn't be ignored.

"There are those people, particularly young people, who will respond to the threat of being stopped," he said.

Cape Girardeau police chief Steve Strong favors making seat-belt violations a primary offense.

"You have a strange situation when you tell people it is a violation of law but you can't stop them for doing it," he said.

The Missouri Senate has passed the seat-belt legislation under which violators would face $10 fines.

"It is not a fund raiser for the state," Rahn said.

The Missouri House has yet to act, and the outcome there is uncertain.

"We have been counting heads. Right now, it could go either way," Rahn said.

Some lawmakers, he said, have questioned why he is spending political capital on the seat-belt issue.

While passage ultimately might allow Missouri to get an estimated $16 million in additional one-time federal money for road improvements, Rahn said he's not advocating the seat-belt legislation for funding reasons.

Rahn said it's simply the right thing to do to save lives.

"The reason MoDOT is involved is that traffic safety is one of our responsibilities," he said. "But even if it wasn't, you would hear me championing this issue."

There are 21 states that have a primary seat-belt law. "Those are states that see high seat-belt usage," Rahn said.

In Missouri, 77 percent of motorists on average wear seat belts, slightly below the national average.

"If you are not wearing a seat belt you have a 1-in-39 chance of being killed in a traffic accident," Rahn said.

"Some people just need a little help doing the smart thing," he said.

mbliss@semissourian.com

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