It's time for primary seat belt law

By Dale Findlay

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Chances are this year, someone you know will be involved in a car crash. And if he or she is not wearing a seat belt, that person is 50 percent more likely to be injured or killed.

It's a fact that seat belts save lives, yet 33 percent of Missourians decide to travel unbelted in vehicles.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the Missouri Division of Highway Safety and public and private organizations across the state have spent time and money educating the driving public about the importance of buckling up. Still there are those who choose not to do so. Their choice is a costly one to their families, to their friends and to all of us.

We all pay for those who don't wear belts in the form of higher health-care and insurance costs resulting from unbelted drivers and passengers who are involved in crashes.

Educational efforts have made a tremendous impact on behavior, but it's time to turn our attention to different ways of getting the message across. It's time for a primary seat belt law in Missouri.

Primary seat belt laws allow a police officer to stop a vehicle and issue a citation when the officer observes an unbelted driver or passenger. Secondary enforcement, which is what Missouri has now, means a citation can only be written after the officer stops the vehicle for another traffic violation.

Seat belt use laws are the only laws in the United States that make a distinction between primary and secondary enforcement. In states with secondary laws, a police officer can stop a motorist for a malfunctioning taillight or an expired license tag but cannot stop a motorist for violating the state's seat belt law.

Primary enforcement works. The average seat belt use rate in states with primary enforcement laws is 11 percentage points higher than in states without primary enforcement laws. When states upgrade their laws from secondary to primary, dramatic increases in seat belt use occur.

For example, in 2000 Michigan, Alabama and New Jersey upgraded their secondary seat belt laws to primary laws and experienced increases in seat belt use of 11 to 14 percent.

In 2000, 1,005 drivers and passengers lost their lives on Missouri highways. At least 616 of them were unbelted.

If Missouri can raise its seat belt use rate by 14 percent by passing a primary belt use law, we could save 122 lives in just one year.

Congress feels so strongly about the use of seat belts that in 1998 it passed the Transportation Equity Act, which provided incentives to states that increase their seat belt use rates. Because statistics show that if seat belt use increases, federal funds for medical care decrease, Congress decided the states that show an increase in seat belt use should derive some of those benefits.

Missourians, let's join the other 17 states in America that have passed this important legislation, which has proven effective in reducing death and injury on our nation's roadways.

A primary seat belt law in Missouri could very well save the life of someone you love.

Dale Findlay is the executive director of the Missouri Safety Council.