By Bob Katzen

This bill would allow police officers to issue tickets for seat belt violations even if the driver is not first stopped for another violation as required under current law.

“Seatbelts offer the best defense from injury or death in car crashes,” said Rep. Jeff Roy (D-Franklin), sponsor of H 2395. Seat belts promote safety, save lives and save money. We could save 45 lives, prevent 500 injuries, and save $525 million over 5 years with a primary seat belt law in effect. According to a recent study in the New England Journal of Medicine, the single greatest opportunity to improve health and reduce premature deaths lies in personal behavior and seat belt use is yet another form of impaired driving that must be addressed.”

“There are so many highway deaths in the news where people have been ejected from their cars,” said Rep. Jim Hawkins (D-Attleboro), sponsor of H 2340). “It’s not so corny to say seatbelts save lives. This bill makes not wearing seatbelts a primary offense meaning that you can be pulled over for that. There would have been issues with the possibility of racial profiling but those issues were taken care of recently when we passed the hands free driving law.”

Supporters of the bill have been trying to get it passed for years and have been unsuccessful. The original secondary enforcement law was approved in 1985, repealed on a ballot question in 1986 and then reimposed in 1994.

Opponents of the primary enforcement bill say that they have warned for years that creeping incrementalism would inevitably lead to these attempts to impose primary enforcement.

They say this bill is another example of unnecessary government intrusion and argue people should have the personal freedom to make their own decisions. They express concern that primary enforcement will result in racial profiling and more minorities being pulled over for suspected violations of the law.