Changing Safety Belt Law Is Top Legislative Priority

MoDOT and its safety partners will make changing Missouri’s safety belt law to allow for primary enforcement its top legislative priority for the 2007 session.  Under the current law, law enforcement can only cite drivers for failing to wear their safety belts when they are stopped for some other traffic offense. 

“Of the more than 500 Missouri traffic offenses, this is the only one restricted to secondary enforcement,” said Director Pete Rahn.  “That’s just plain wrong, and we need to do something to fix it.”

A primary safety belt law could:

• Save approximately 90 lives a year and prevent more than 1,000 serious injuries;
• Save Missourians approximately $231 million a year in costs associated with traffic crashes;
• Reduce Medicaid costs in Missouri by approximately $103 million over a 10-year period;
• Qualify Missouri for an additional $16 million in federal funds for transportation; and
• Reduce the costs to employers who face lost productivity, higher insurance premiums and increased workers’ compensation and medical costs when employees are injured in traffic crashes. 

As part of the legislative push, the Missouri Coalition for Roadway Safety has created a task force to help inform Missourians about the importance of a primary safety belt law, as well as to work with legislators to garner support.

Called the Primary Safety Belt Partners, the task force’s steering committee is made up of the following groups:  AAA, DaimlerChrysler, Federal Highway Administration, Ford Motor Company, General Motors, State Farm Insurance, Mothers Against Drunk Driving, the Missouri Department of Transportation, the Missouri Hospital Association, the Missouri Insurance Coalition, the Missouri Safety Center, the Missouri Safety Council, the Missouri State Medical Association and the National Safety Council.

The Primary Safety Belt Partners hosted five regional rallies from September to November in Cape Girardeau, St. Louis, Springfield, Kansas City and Hannibal to help get grass-roots support for changing Missouri’s seat belt law.  The rallies were designed to generate community backing, with the ultimate goal of influencing Missourians to voice support for a primary safety belt law. 

The rallies also set the stage for a statewide safety belt summit to be held in Columbia on Nov. 14.  The summit will gather together community leaders from throughout the state to develop strategies for getting Missouri’s safety belt law changed.  Neil Smith, former defensive end for the Kansas City Chiefs, has been invited to be the featured speaker.  Smith was a close friend of Derrick Thomas, a linebacker for the Kansas City Chiefs.  Thomas died in February 2000 after a serious car crash in which he wasn’t wearing his safety belt. 

Changing Missouri’s safety belt law to allow for primary enforcement has long been a top priority for safety officials throughout the state.  Sixty-eight percent of the people who die in Missouri traffic crashes are not wearing a safety belt.  The legislative push also comes at a time when Missouri’s safety belt use is on the decline.  In 2006, safety belt use dropped from 77.4 percent to 75.2 percent statewide.

“Unfortunately we’re not gaining, we’re just sustaining,” said Leanna Depue, Highway Safety director.  “Statistics show that states with secondary enforcement of their safety belt laws often see a leveling off in safety belt use.  That’s because the law essentially ties the hands of law enforcement.”

She added:  “Increased safety belt use through primary enforcement could save 90 lives a year in Missouri.  That statistic alone underscores the importance of this legislation.”

For more information on the push to change Missouri’s safety belt law, visit www.savemolives.com.