Bill would let police stop drivers for seat belt violations

Published 9:00 pm Saturday, February 9, 2002

By Paul Queary

Associated Press

OLYMPIA — Police could pull motorists over for failure to wear a seat belt if a bill narrowly passed by the Senate becomes law.

Failing to wear a seat belt is currently a secondary offense. That means motorists can only be ticketed if they are pulled over for something else first.

Sen. Mary Margaret Haugen, the Senate Transportation Committee chairwoman and the bill’s sponsor, said Friday it would prevent deaths and crippling injuries by increasing the percentage of people who wear seat belts. Haugen said her late sister-in-law was paralyzed by an accident in which she wasn’t belted in.

"She spent 15 years as a quadriplegic because one morning she didn’t put on her seat belt," said Haugen, D-Camano Island. The woman’s young daughter wasn’t badly hurt in the accident because she had buckled up, Haugen said.

Haugen introduced the bill at the request of the Washington Traffic Safety Commission.

Seat belt usage in the 17 other states that have made similar changes has increased by an average of 17 percent, said Steve Lind, deputy director of the commission.

Lind said Washington, which already has a relatively high seat belt usage rate of about 81 percent, would likely see a smaller increase.

"We think that we can very easily get to 90 percent and maybe even to 94 or 95 percent," Lind said. That would translate to at least 36 fewer deaths and 900 fewer injuries annually, he said.

The change could also pay off for the state budget, Lind said. Preliminary results of a study by the Harborview Injury Prevention and Research Center in Seattle indicate the change would save the state between $7 million and $8 million in Medicaid costs.

"We think that’s just the tip of the iceberg," said Lind, who figures the state will also save money on lawsuits and aid to families that lose breadwinners in accidents.

Senate Bill 5782 passed 25-23, with an unusual mixture of conservative Republicans and liberal Democrats voting no to protest increased intrusion into motorists’ lives.

"I feel tremendously guilty if I do not strap up immediately," said Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Welles, D-Seattle, one of the Legislature’s most liberal members. "I also do not like the idea of a law enforcement officer pulling me over because I’m not wearing a seat belt."

Kohl-Welles was joined by some of the Senate’s most conservative members, who denounced the bill as an attempt to have the government babysit everyone.

"We’re going to turn this country into a gigantic feed lot where everybody gets their shots, everybody gets their horns clipped off and whatever else it takes to make us nice cows," said Sen. Harold Hochstatter, R-Moses Lake.

The bill now moves to the House, where a similar bill has been gaining support, Lind said.

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