Gov. Mark Sanford should be reminded that
politics is the art of the possible, not the perfect. Any primary seat
belt law the General Assembly enacts is better than the secondary law
the state has now.
Responsible legislators have tried for years to pass a bill that
would make failure to wear a seat belt a primary offense, one for which
police could pull drivers over. Under current law, officers must first
stop drivers for another offense before citing them for failing to
buckle up.
Earlier this month, the Senate finally passed a tougher seat bill,
32-11. That is significant for two reasons: One, it suggests
overwhelming support for such a measure; and, two, Sen. Glenn McConnell,
R-Charleston, who almost single-handedly filibustered last year's
seat-belt law to death, was not allowed to do so this year.
The bill now moves to the House. But last week, Sanford decided to
weigh in with some complaints about the bill and, unbelievably, a threat
to veto it if changes aren't made. The governor said he is concerned
that, under the bill passed by the Senate, seat belt offenses would not
be shared with juries weighing fault and compensation in courts or end
up on drivers' records.
"If you don't wear your seat belt and are hurt in an accident, that
strike me as the kind of thing a jury ought to know," Sanford wrote in
an opinion column sent to the state's newspapers Thursday. Sanford went
on to write that, "without these changes, I will not be able to support
this bill."
The governor is nitpicking. The crucial part of any new seat belt law
is to allow police to stop adult drivers who are unbuckled.
Preventing such a bill from passing could, literally, cost lives. A
recent report by the U.S. Department of Transportation estimates that
329,000 lives have been saved since 1960 by seat belts, air bags and
other vehicle safety features. More than half of those lives -- 168,524
-- were saved by seat belts alone.
Another study, released last month by the Insurance Institute for
Highway Safety, estimated that 700 more lives could be saved each year
if more states would tighten their seat-belt laws. The study found that
primary seat belt laws have significantly reduced death rates in states
that have passed them.
Making failure to wear a seat belt a primary offense reinforces the
fact that doing so is against the law. It also makes drivers more
diligent about buckling up when they realize they can be stopped, cited
and fined any time they are spotted not wearing a safety restraint.
In South Carolina, seat belt use is dropping, not going up. Last
year, the state was tied for last in the nation in the rate of seat belt
use, another dubious distinction for a state whose highways are among
the deadliest in the nation. Lawmakers' first priority must be to put a
primary seat belt law on the books now. Later, if necessary, penalties
can be stiffened.
Last year, the governor vetoed dozens of bills for a variety of
reasons. The Legislature then promptly overturned all but a few of those
vetoes.
If Sanford is shortsighted enough to veto a new seat belt bill, we
hope lawmakers are quick to rebuke him.
