MODOT Pushes Primary Seat Belt Law as Number One Priority

The State Transportation Department says it wants to make headlines in 2007 by changing headlines… Director Pete Rahn says the nearly 100 deaths that make the news are preventable and “utterly senseless.” That’s why he wants to bump the status of the seat belt law from secondary to primary. A primary seatbelt law would mean state law enforcement officers would no longer need to stop motorists for a different traffic violation before issuing a ticket for not buckling up. Rahn says after spending millions of dollars in seat belt campaigns, the number of seat belt users still dropped two percentage points this year to 75 percent. It’s the first time the figure has dropped since 1998.