By AP/KWMU
Jefferson City, MO. – The head of Missouri's Transportation Department said Monday he'll push lawmakers to change the state's seat belt law next year.
Right now, officers can only issue tickets for seat belt violations if they've pulled you over for something else first. MODOT chief Pete Rahn wants a so-called primary seat belt law enacted, so officers can stop you soley for failing to wear a seat belt.
Rahn says Missouri has done all it can to promote seat belt use through public education campaigns. He estimates a primary seat belt law would prevent 90 highway deaths and one-thousand serious injuries each year. The proposal has been offered for several years and failed to pass the Legislature.
Senate Transportation Committee chairman Bill Stouffer (R-Napton) said Monday it's up to the House to pass the measure. If that happens, he would offer it in the Senate, which has passed tougher seat belt enforcement in recent years.
In 2005, a primary seat belt law failed in the House 91-69.
Rahn also criticized opponents who say seat belt usage should be a matter of personal choice. "It's not a choice to the loved ones who have to deal with the consequences of a fatality from not wearing a seat belt," he said, while also noting an annual study that found Missourians' seat belt use dropped this year from 77% to 75%.
Sen. Stouffer said he has seen seat belt use as a personal choice, but was swayed to support the tougher law after seeing data that indicates if parents don't use seat belts, their children don't, either.
"Those kids don't have a choice," he said. "They do become projectiles in the car."