Florida Safety Belt Alliance Holds Rally
25 March 1998
Florida Safety Belt Alliance Holds Rally To Boost Belt Use, Support Primary Enforcement LawTALLAHASSEE, Fla., March 24 -- The Florida Safety Belt Alliance, a coalition of more than 200 Florida organizations, will hold a rally in Orlando next week in support of primary safety belt legislation now being debated in the Florida House and Senate. The rally will take place near the emergency room entrance of the Orlando Regional Medical Center on Tuesday, March 31 at 10:00 a.m. The group supports passage of two bills that would make not wearing a safety belt a primary traffic violation in Florida, such as driving with a broken tail light. According to the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, more than 170 lives would be saved and 5,246 serious injuries prevented annually if Florida's safety belt law were strengthened. "This law is critical to keeping children safe, said Marnie George, legislative director for AAA Auto Club South. "Both national and state-by-state data show that when adults aren't belted in automobiles, neither are their children." A study of crash data by the Ford Motor Company shows that adults who don't wear their belts will buckle their children just 30% of the time. "This legislation will change that figure dramatically," said George. "After Louisiana passed a primary safety belt law, child restraint use jumped 78%." "This legislation sends a clear message to law enforcement that saving lives is a priority," said Major Ken Howes, chief spokesman for the Florida Highway Patrol. "Florida's present safety belt law is the only traffic statute that cannot be enforced on its own merits." Under current Florida law, officers cannot ticket someone for not wearing their safety belt unless another traffic violation is witnessed first. Two bills that would make not wearing a safety belt a primary traffic violation are being discussed in legislative committees. House Bill 447 and Senate Bill 242 have garnered bi-partisan support from more than two dozen members of the Legislature, including Representatives Fred Lippman, D.-Ft. Lauderdale and Dennis Jones, R.-Treasure Island, and Senators John Grant, R.-Tampa and Katherine Harris, R.-Sarasota. Currently, only 62% of Floridians wear their safety belts. Other states that have strengthened their laws have seen an increase in belt use of approximately 15%. Additional benefits of a toughened law would be economic savings to Florida of $323 million that would have been spent on services such as fire-rescue and police operations and inpatient hospital care. Medical bills for non-belted crash victims average 50% higher than those for belted victims. These savings will be passed along to Floridians in the form of reduced health care and insurance costs and lower taxes. SOURCE The Florida Safety Belt Alliance