Stricter seat belt bill back on table

Police could stop unbuckled drivers

By Matt Viser, Globe Staff  |  January 2, 2006

House leaders plan to take up legislation this month to strengthen the state's seat belt laws by allowing police officers to stop drivers solely because they aren't wearing a seat belt. Massachusetts ranked 49th in seat belt compliance, slightly ahead of Mississippi, in a recent survey.

Under current state law, police are allowed to ticket drivers for failing to buckle up only if they have first been pulled over for another offense, such as speeding or an expired license tag. The bill, which has stalled twice since 2001 on rare tie votes in the House, would make the failure to use seat belts a ''primary offense" and allow police to stop drivers for a seat belt infractioneven if they aren't breaking any other laws.

Critics say the law would erode personal freedoms, and that it could lead to racial profiling. Proponents, including Governor Mitt Romney, say the law would increase safety, cut back on medical costs, and ultimately reduce auto insurance rates. It would also bring more federal transportation funds into the state.

''It's very simple: It's a matter of life and death," said Representative Ruth B. Balser, a Newton Democrat and a cosponsor of the bill. ''It's been demonstrated when people don't wear seat belts, there are more fatalities. So if more people wear seat belts, the roads will be safer."

House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi also supports the bill and will probably bring it to the floor during the third week of this month, his spokeswoman Kimberly Haberlin said yesterday.

Representative James H. Fagan, a Democrat from Taunton who has led past fights against a primary seat belt law, said the legislation would be an invasion of privacy and would chip away at people's Constitutional rights.

''Do I think that people should wear seat belts? Absolutely," Fagan said yesterday from a cellphone in his car -- where he was wearing his seat belt, he said. ''But do I think we should give police officers the ability to stop people based on the suspicion that they're not wearing a seat belt? Absolutely not. People are intelligent enough to make that decision on their own, and they don't need Big Brother or the government coming in and enforcing the decisions in their lives."

Twenty-two states, as well as Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia, have primary seat belt laws; Connecticut is the only state in New England to have one. Twenty-seven states have secondary laws like the one in Massachusetts. New Hampshire is the only state with no seat belt law covering motorists over 17.

Although seat belt use in Massachusetts has risen from 50 percent to 64.8 percent over the last five years, it is still far below the national average of 82 percent, according to data based on observational surveys and released in October by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The Bay State is 49th in the nation in seat belt compliance. By contrast, the study found 60.8 percent of residents surveyed in Mississippi wearing seat belts; in Hawaii, which had the highest average, 95.3 percent of residents were buckled.

At the same time, Massachusetts touts the lowest number of driving-related fatalities: There were 7.42 deaths per 100,000 residents in 2004, the lowest in the nation, according to federal data.

Tickets for not wearing a seat belt carry a $25 fine, but unlike tickets for speeding or drunken driving, they don't go on a driver's record or affect insurance rates. The proposed law wouldn't change those provisions.

According to a study by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, 124 lives -- or 7 percent of those who died in driving-related deaths -- could have been saved from 1996 to 2003 if Massachusetts had a primary seat belt law.

Passing the legislation could also help the Bay State reap more federal dollars. Legislation signed into law by President Bush in August steers $498 million in federal transportation funds to states that either adopt a primary law or reach 85 percent seat belt use or higher for two years.

Seat belt regulation has been a persistent issue in Massachusetts. In 1985, legislators passed a law requiring drivers to wear seat belts, but it was repealed the next year by voters on a referendum. The Legislature again passed a seat belt law in 1994, and that time it survived a ballot challenge.

In recent years, doctors and transportation safety advocates have argued for a stronger law. But their efforts have been stifled on Beacon Hill.

In 2001 and 2003, the Legislature debated similar bills, but both times the legislation died in the House after rare tie votes. The 2003 vote elicited last-minute drama and emotional debate, with some legislators railing against the erosion of civil liberties and others telling stories of constituents who died because they were not wearing seat belts.

The Senate generally has been more supportive, approving the measure by a voice vote in 2001 before it failed in the House.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts also opposed the measure, contending it would provide police officers with too much discretion and would potentially allow racial profiling. Carol Rose, the ACLU's executive director, could not be reached yesterday for comment.