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Seat-belt law will save lives
Officials should actively enforce the new seat-belt law immediately after it goes into effect next month.

Posted Saturday, November 12, 2005 - 6:00 am


Beginning Dec. 9, our state will take a simple step toward reducing the number of motorists killed on our dangerous roads. A new seat-belt law goes into effect. It will encourage more motorists to buckle up or face a fine.

The potential fine is small, only $25. If another passenger is not wearing a seat belt, he or she also may be fined. Fines cannot total more than $50 per car. But this seat-belt law is likely to work for two reasons:

  • People don't like the inconvenience of being stopped.

  • People don't like to be fined any amount of money, even if it's only $25.

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    The new law will simply allow police to pull over drivers for not wearing a seat belt. Before the new law, drivers could be ticketed for not wearing a seat belt only if they were pulled over for another violation.

    State law enforcement officers have been visiting churches and communities and working on announcements to be broadcast over radio and TV. Appropriately, they're focusing on getting the word out in minority communities, where seat-belt usage is lowest.

    They want all South Carolinians to know that the new law will be enforced. There will be no grace period.

    The determination of state officials to begin ticketing right away comes as good news. This law has a very serious purpose: saving more lives on the road. The sooner and more aggressively it's enforced, the better.

    The General Assembly approved the stronger seat-belt law several months ago after years of dithering and wasteful political obstruction.

    Spurred by the law, seat-belt usage in the state should almost immediately begin to climb if law enforcement at all levels begin ticketing violators. The belt-usage rate has increased in other states that have adopted a tougher seat-belt law.

    As it stands, South Carolina has one of the lowest seat-belt usage rates in the nation. South Carolina is one of only four states in the nation with a belt-use rate at 70 percent or lower.

    It's not hard to see a clear connection between those low usage rates and the high rate of fatalities -- third highest in the nation -- on South Carolina roads. About 1,000 people die every year in car accidents in South Carolina. And almost 75 percent of them were not wearing seat belts.

    The new seat-belt law won't be a cure-all. The state has other factors working against it, including 30,000 miles of secondary and largely rural roads that are narrow, winding and don't have shoulders. They leave little room for driver inattention or mistakes.

    In addition, state lawmakers are beginning to add to the trooper ranks, but the state Highway Patrol remains sorely understaffed -- a situation that gives free rein to too many reckless and drunken drivers on our roads.

    The new seat-belt law will save lives, but only if it's actively enforced.