Despite Lax Laws, Buckle Up for Safety
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The News & Advance
Published: May 28, 2008
The “Click It or Ticket” campaign now under way in Virginia would be far more effective if the state had a seatbelt law that made not wearing the important safety device a primary traffic offense.
Under current law, those who don’t wear seat belts can only be cited by police if they are stopped for some other traffic offense. That makes ignoring the use of seat belts a mere secondary offense. In the eyes of the law it also detracts from the overall importance of wearing seat belts.
You — and the Virginia State Police who are trying to persuade as many motorists as possible to wear seat belts — can thank the Virginia House of Delegates for the lax approach to highway safety.
The Virginia Senate this year finally agreed that not wearing a seat belt should be a primary offense, meaning that police could stop a driver and ticket him or her and front-seat passengers for not wearing a seat belt. That would have given police the authority to stop a motorist for the single offense of not using the seat belt.
But the House of Delegates would have none of that. Their mantra seems to be that the state should not get too serious about the use of seat belts. The bill was left in committee to die. That has been its fate for a number of years. The thinking must be that drivers should be as free as possible to contribute to their own deaths if they don’t want to wear the seat belts that are standard equipment on their vehicles. That’s too bad.
Make no mistake about the effectiveness of seat belts for those involved in highway crashes. The Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles reports that of the 749 people killed in traffic accidents in Virginia last year, 60 percent were not wearing seat belts.
The effectiveness of seat belts and the foolishness of not using them is part of the “Click It or Ticket” campaign being run through the end of the month by National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
Lynchburg Police Officer Bryant Nowlin has called attention to a public service announcement that starkly brings home the message of the importance of seat belt use. Melissa Hudson talks about the crash that she walked away from and her brother did not. She was wearing her seat belt in that crash on July 8. Her brother was not.
Nowlin, a member of the department’s Traffic Safety Unit, referred to the accident and said, “In this wreck, we had one that lived and one that died. It all came down to who was wearing a seat belt and who wasn’t.”
In Lynchburg last year, Nowlin said, more than half of the nine people who were killed in crashes would likely have survived had they been wearing a seat belt.
Buckle your seat belt always. Failure to do so may not be the primary offense it deserves to be under state law, but it can still save your life.
* * *
While we’re on the subject of highway safety, the Virginia State Police are reminding motorists about the importance of moving over from police or emergency vehicles stopped on the shoulder of the highway.
The Move Over campaign is backed by a $2,500 fine and 12 months in jail for failure to properly heed state police and other emergency vehicles on the shoulder.
The campaign follows the death of a state trooper killed by a passing car in 2006. Three close calls were recorded around the state earlier this month.
Working on the side of the road, said state police Superintendent Steven Flaherty, is “frightening. It really is. It’s the most dangerous thing we do — stop vehicles and have to work on the side of busy primary highways.”
So the next time you see a police cruiser or other emergency vehicle on the shoulder of the highway, get over in the passing lane and give it plenty of room. It makes sense — and it’s the law.
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Posted by ( NAReader2 ) on June 03, 2008 at 8:24 am
A car is a 2 ton machine and anyone with common sense would realize that. So you honestly believe that police don’t care about the hundreds (thousands) of people who die in Virginia each year? Most of whom are not wearing seat belts. They only care about the money. Sounds like you have your own police issues to work out.
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Posted by ( chikagobnd ) on June 02, 2008 at 2:56 pm
Well, you directly referenced me when you talked about driving being a right. (“chikagobnd, once again, I didn’t know driving was a right.“) If you would have read what YOU wrote, you would’ve known that. My argument is not that choosing not to wear a seat belt is a right, it’s that if the argument to regulate seat belt use is an issue of safety, than millions of other things that cause harm to us would be regulated too. Seat belt use is the flavor of the month, especially now that we have a never ending transportation budget shortfall. Can I blow my nose while I drive, or look to the left as I drive down the road? How about laughing behind the wheel, or lighting a cigarette? You can say any behavior is dangerous and deserves to be regulated…and those things, which are actual distractions and could actually cause you to harm someone else while driving aren’t ever mentioned. It’s bologna! You’re right, the state can regulate seat belt use as driving is a state given privilege. Once everyone is using seat belts, are helmets next, and fire retardant body suits? And we should also ticket anyone who drives after the sun goes down. Driving gets more dangerous then…I mean, it’s just a privilege for you to drive at night…so if you choose to do it, just pay the fine, right?
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Posted by ( NAReader2 ) on June 01, 2008 at 7:43 am
chikagobnd, that was a reference to an earlier post. If you would have read any of the other comments, you would have known that. You said basically the same thing. Your argument is you have a right to not wear a seat belt. Well the state has a right not to let you drive (since it is up to them) if you don’t follow the law. It’s very simple logic.
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Posted by ( chikagobnd ) on May 31, 2008 at 11:13 am
And please tell me where I said driving was a right? Yeah, I don’t think that was in there. I’m not even sure what you’re referring to. Maybe my “right to choose” analogy? If that’s the case, please show me where that “right” is in the Constitution. Then you might be on to something.
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Posted by ( NAReader2 ) on May 30, 2008 at 3:00 pm
chikagobnd, once again, I didn’t know driving was a right. We do have a right to choose many things, but the state gives us the privilege to drive. That isn’t in the Constituion. You want this state given privilege, follow the state given laws. It’s that simple.
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Posted by ( chikagobnd ) on May 29, 2008 at 5:47 pm
Well I can’t wait for all the supporters of this legislation to completely back a ban on cigarettes, alcohol, guns, coffee, fast food, chocolate, any bridge more than 5 feet high, and all the other things that could possibly contribute to death. You would support that right? I mean, all of those things mentioned could be used to bring on an unnecessary death. And those things(especially alcohol, tobacco, and poor eating habits) by far account for the majority of the “taxpayer’s responsibility” when it comes to people not being able to pay their medical bills. They don’t ban those things because they can regulate it and make money. Same thing with seat belts. The state’s main interest is never “saving lives”...it’s keeping the money flowing so they can continue to add spending to the budget, and keep bleeding hearts that are so worried about saving people from themselves feeling warm and fuzzy. “I buckle my seat belt, so everyone else should too!“. Seat belt use is common sense, but if you don’t have any or choose to ignore it, that should be their “choice”. We do have the “right to choose”, right? Oh, only when it comes to that other thing where human life is ended irresponsibly! Sorry, I always get that mixed up!
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Posted by ( Nathan ) on May 29, 2008 at 2:14 pm
For all you people who complain about a “nanny state” when the government passes legislation requiring safety measures like using seatbelts and motorcycle helmets, just keep in mind who foots the bill when someone not using his seatbelt gets in a car crash and can’t pay his subsequent medical bills. That’s right, the good taxpayers of his state. People like you and me. The state has an actual economic benefit to requiring seat belt use; it’d be nice if the idiots in the House of Delegates who consistently derail this legislation would wake up to that fact.
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Posted by ( NAReader2 ) on May 29, 2008 at 12:56 pm
Robert, I was not aware that driving was a basic freedom.
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Posted by ( RobertP ) on May 29, 2008 at 9:56 am
Sure, and we would all be safer if we never left our padded cells.
Seat belts may be a great idea, but government has no business mandating their use.
Seat belt laws are a pander to the insurance industry and yet another way for our government and our law enforcement to intrude in our lives and take away our basic freedoms. These laws are an absolute misuse of government power and show the disdain our public “servants” ave for our most important American possession, our liberty.
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Posted by ( LynchburgRes ) on May 29, 2008 at 6:59 am
“The Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles reports that of the 749 people killed in traffic accidents in Virginia last year, 60 percent were not wearing seat belts.“
I myself am an avid seatbelt user. However when I see statistics like this, I cringe. What this is saying is that of the people who died in traffic accidentls last year, 40%, almost half of them were wearing seat belts already. Which means to me that if you wear seat belts, you are only hedging your bets by about 10%.
Perhaps this is why the House wouldn’t accept it. There are already enough laws governing my every move througout the day. I don’t need another one.
There are myriad other reasons that there are fewer highway deaths besides just buckling up. There are “crumple zones” in vehicles that cushion the impact. There are always better tire designs coming out and now underway are collision avoidance systems. Not to mention computer controlled anti-lock breaking mechanisms and more vigilience by the police of getting drunk drivers off the road.
Now as a parting statement, hedge your bets and use your seat belts. Not using them is like playing Russian Roulette with a 10 shot revolver.
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