Stop filibuster, save S.C. lives

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be allowed to thwart a strong

seat-belt law that could save lives.

Senate President Pro Tem Glenn McConnell should end his misguided filibuster against a tougher seat- belt law. While McConnell and a few other senators continue to indulge in an ideological rant at the Statehouse, people are dying on South Carolina's dangerous roads.

It's not quite tantamount to Nero fiddling while Rome burns, but it comes close. Certainly McConnell and the other seat-belt opponents seem appallingly disengaged from the real issue: a tougher seat-belt law most likely would save lives in South Carolina.

The Senate remains deadlocked as McConnell and a few others employ heavy-handed parliamentary maneuvers to stall a vote on the seat-belt bill. Their goal really is to thwart democracy because a majority of the Senate clearly supports a stronger seat-belt law.

This would be an appropriate time for Gov. Mark Sanford to step in and demonstrate that he can be a voice of reason. He should remind senators that South Carolina has the nation's third-highest rate of driving fatalities — and that a stronger seat-belt law could help erase that disgraceful distinction.

McConnell, a Charleston Republican, says a tougher law would be an assault on our liberties. That's nonsense. Driving a car is not a constitutional right but rather a privilege granted by the state, which can set rules to protect the safety of drivers and passengers.

McConnell and a few other senators may believe that motorists have the right to be foolish and reject the seat belts that could save their own lives. But as a new ad campaign (www.noexcusesc.com) supported by a number of pro-safety groups graphically points out, the issue is not only one of personal liberty. In an accident, an unbuckled passenger becomes a dangerous missile that can take out more responsible passengers.

About 70 percent of the 1,000 people who die on South Carolina roads every year were not buckled up. It's unconscionable for McConnell or any other senator to imagine that those lives were an acceptable price to pay for the supposed right of disregarding a seat belt.

In addition to preventing injuries and deaths, South Carolina also could get $11 million more in federal highway money next year if the state passes a strong seat-belt law. That's money that could be put to good use repairing crumbling and dangerous roads.

South Carolina needs a primary seat-belt law that would allow law enforcement officers to stop and ticket a driver and other occupants for not wearing seat belts. Currently, officers cannot stop and ticket an adult driver for not wearing a seat belt unless the driver is speeding or breaking another law.

A tougher seat-belt law, to be effective, also must be backed up by aggressive enforcement. State lawmakers must begin to adequately fund the state Highway Patrol.

If McConnell doesn't end his filibuster of the seat-belt bill, lawmakers should set aside senatorial courtesy and vote to end McConnell's filibuster for him. With lives at stake on this issue, state leaders should make sure common sense prevails over narrow ideology.