Bill might make seatbelts mandatory
Buckling up might not be an option for Missouri residents if a new bill passes.
Published Feb. 16, 2007
Fasten your seatbelt. If a bill in the Missouri General Assembly is signed into law, not doing so might soon be a crime.
The bill, sponsored by Rep. Neal St. Onge, R-Ellisville, would require all passengers in a car or truck to wear a seatbelt. It would also allow police officers to pull a driver over for simply not wearing a seat belt.
"I just am really interested in trying to save some lives and prevent some serious injuries," St. Onge said.
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 60 percent of people killed in car crashes in 2001 were not wearing a seat belt.
St. Onge said these statistics are "staggering."
MU police Capt. Brian Weimer said the department's job is to enforce laws like this that keep people safe.
"A job of a police department is to enforce the laws that other people make, and there have been studies that show that wearing a seat belt makes it less likely that you'll be seriously injured in an accident," he said. "So the police are going to do what we can to keep people safe."
Currently, drivers can be ticketed for not wearing a seatbelt, but only after being pulled over for another offense.
The bill passed committee on Tuesday by a vote of 8-1. Rep. Brian Munzlinger, R-Williamstown, voted against the bill, saying he thought the bill would cause too much government intervention.
"I believe in wearing a seatbelt, my family wears seatbelts, but I don't think we need more government intrusion in people's lives," he said.
Munzlinger said in a survey his office conducted, 68 percent of his constituents were against a bill like this one.
He said with his committee vote, he was "simply representing (his) constituents."
Although Munzlinger said the bill violates people's freedom to make personal choices, St. Onge said the decision not to wear a seatbelt affects everyone.
"They say, well, it's a personal freedom issue, and by not wearing a seat belt I'm not hurting anyone but myself," he said. "But statistics show that if you are unbelted in a crash, your medical bills are going to cost 55 percent more than if you are wearing a seatbelt. That translates into higher insurance for all of us."
St. Onge said similar bills have been introduced in the past, but none have ever passed the House of Representatives before.
Nonetheless, he is confident that this bill will pass.
"There's been an intense grassroots effort to get this thing passed through last summer and in the fall," he said. "The weather was bad Tuesday morning but the hearing room was full and we had two hours of testimony. I think this is the year, and the effort has been strong."
Weimer said he didn't think MU police would see an increase in their workload if the bill passes.
"The officers now do a lot of traffic enforcement in addition to calls, so I don't know how much of a workload it would add," he said.
