The prospect of Memorial Day traffic prompted several Minnesota communities to launch "Click it or Ticket" campaigns to encourage more seat-belt use. The idea is for highway patrol and other law enforcers to step up efforts this weekend to catch and ticket those who fail to buckle up.
The challenge for law enforcement officers is that the seat-belt law is not a stand-alone violation. In other words, an unbuckled seat belt is not an offense on its own so law enforcers need another reason to stop and ticket a driver. Thankfully, because of the efforts of the Legislature and governor, that's about to change.
By midsummer, seat-belt safety laws will have more enforcement teeth. Following years of foot-dragging, the state is poised to adopt a primary seat-belt law.
Under current statutes, a safety belt must be worn by the driver, front-seat passengers and any passengers under age 11 in a vehicle's back seat. The new law eliminates the exemption for back-seat passengers, so everyone in a vehicle must buckle up. The new statute will give police the authority to pull over and ticket motorists solely because they or their passengers fail to wear seat belts. And a violation would carry a $25 fine. Minnesota, once a leader in laws aimed at promoting safety on its roads, will finally join about two dozen other states where failure to wear a seat belt is a primary offense.
In another practical boost for auto passenger safety, lawmakers gave a green light to the supplemental child safety -- or booster seat -- law. Also beginning July 1, drivers will be required to use booster seats for children 4 to 8 years old who are shorter than 4 feet, 9 inches tall. Why? Because state Department of Public Safety statistics show that youngsters using only a seat belt -- but not a booster seat -- are two-and-a-half times more likely to be injured than those using a booster seat.
Other studies show that booster-seat use can lower the risk of injury to children by more than half.
Despite those dangers, too many adults give up the booster seat or any child restraint at all after age 4, thinking that's when the law lets them off the hook. Yet some national surveys show that as many as 70 percent of kids between 4 and 8 ride in vehicles either without a safety belt at all or in a poorly fitted booster or other child seat.
Because car crashes are the leading cause of death for children, requiring that they be safely strapped in can keep more kids alive.
