Buckling down on buckling up.
Teigen, Anne
Seat belts saved more than 304,670 lives from 1975 to 2012, and
increasingly strict state seat belt laws are at least part of the
reason, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
(NHTSA). Seat belts also spared the country $1.6 trillion in medical
care, lost productivity and other injury-related costs during roughly
the same years, the agency estimates.
Thirty-three states have primary seat belt laws, which allow police
to stop and ticket drivers if they or their passengers are not buckled
up. Another 16 states have secondary seat belt laws, meaning drivers and
occupants can be cited for failure to wear seat belts only if the
officer has pulled the car over for another infraction.
Primary law opponents often argue they infringe upon personal
freedoms and can result in racial profiling.
Still, the number of states that adopted primary seat belt laws
almost doubled from 2001 to 2012. At roughly the same time, national
seat belt use has increased from 73 percent to 86 percent. In states
with primary seat belt laws, use averaged 90 percent in 2012, compared
to 78 percent in states with secondary laws, the traffic safety
adminstration said.
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West Virginia, the most recent state to enact a primary law, has
seen the biggest increase in seatbelt use, from 53 percent in 2001 to 84
percent in 2012. On the other hand, seat belt use in Montana declined
slightly, from 76 percent to 74 percent in roughly the same time frame.
In New Hampshire, the only state with no seat belt law, use was 73
percent last year.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention include primary seat
belt laws in a list of a dozen traffic-accident prevention
interventions--such as ignition interlocks, red light cameras and
sobriety checkpoints--in a new online tool that allows states to weigh
the costs and safety benefits of the various policies. The CDC's
Motor Vehicle PICCS (Prioritizing Interventions and Cost Calculator for
States), unveiled in October, is designed to help states estimate the
cost of the intervention, how many lives will be saved and injuries
prevented, and how much revenue fines might generate to help offset its
cost.
SL ONLINE
For more information on seatbeat laws, go to www.ncsl.org/magazine
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