All it took was a few federal dollars to convince the Florida Legislature to change its collective mind. After failing for seven consecutive sessions, lawmakers this year passed a mandatory seat belt law. It went into effect July 1.
As a consequence, the state will get $35 million from Washington for road construction.
At present, less than 80 percent of the Florida population buckles up, according to state statistics. Now everybody faces a traffic ticket for not using a seat belt. The National Transportation Safety Board estimates if the usage rate jumps to 90 percent, an additional 175 lives would be saved each year. – and the decline in injuries would exceed 6,000 on an annual basis.
In Sarasota County, the ticket costs $99 if an officer spots an unbelted driver or passenger. Before the citation could be issued only if the car was stopped for another reason. The fine is roughly the same for all other Florida counties.
The statistics are compelling. Of 2,013 people last year killed in vehicle crashes, 1,301 were not wearing seat belts. Of the 110 children below the age of 17, 72 percent were not using safety equipment.
An NTSB study from 1998 to 2007 found more than 60 percent of people killed in highway crashes were unrestrained. "Enactment and enforcement of this law will save lives," NTSB Acting Chairman Mark Rosenker said in May when the legislature passed the bill.
Research shows that when the adult in a car is unbuckled, 70 percent of the children in the vehicle will not be buckled in, either.
A 2008 study by the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration rated Florida 35th in the nation for seat belt use, with 79.1 percent of its drivers using belts.
The national average is 83 percent.
A public relations campaign called "Click It or Ticket Florida" measured seat belt usage by demographics. It reported 85.8 percent of white drivers and passengers used belts, compared with 80.7 percent of Hispanics and 70.5 percent of African-Americans. Women use seat belts more frequently than men.
July 19th 2009 - 10:29PM