(Columbia) Feb. 3, 2005 - The South Carolina Senate
has passed a tougher seat belt law allowing police to
stop adult drivers who are not wearing seat belts.
The 32-to-11 vote Wednesday afternoon came after
hours of debate. The bill now goes to the House, where a
similar measure passed last year.
If the bill becomes law, drivers could be stopped
just for not wearing seat belts. Currently, officers
must have another reason to pull a driver over before
issuing a seat belt ticket. The fine for not wearing a
seat belt would be $25 for drivers and passengers.
The same legislation stalled for weeks in the Senate
last year, and caused lawmakers to change their rules
for this session.
When USC sophomore Jonathan Hillyard gets ready to go
somewhere he buckles up. Most of the time, "If I'm not
in a hurry, I make an effort to buckle my seat belt but
you know, sometimes you just get in the car and go. I'll
catch myself forgetting every once in a while."
For Eau Claire teacher Akil Ross, it's a question of
being a role model for his students, "The first thing is
do is buckle up, because I'm a teacher and I know the
importance of it. Every year we get an incident where
children who are not wearing their seat belts, we lose
them or they get seriously injured due to car
accidents."
Pickens Senator Larry Martin says attitudes about
seat belts are changing too, "I think the perception of
seat belts today is much different than it was a
generation ago. And It's time to move on. We can't
afford to lose the highway money to the state in this
bill. We desperately need that for our highways. And I
think it will improve the mortality rate on our
highways."
On this vote, a "yes" vote was a vote to give final
approval to bill that lets police stop adult drivers who
are not wearing seat belts and a "no" vote was to stop
passage. Voting "yes" were 17 Democrats and 15
Republicans. Voting "no" were 1 Democrat and 10
Republicans. Not voting were 2 Democrats and 1
Republicans.
Democrats Voting
Yes
Anderson,
Greenville; Drummond, Ninety Six; Elliott, North Myrtle
Beach; Hutto, Orangeburg; Jackson, Hopkins; Land,
Manning; Leventis, Sumter; Lourie, Columbia; Malloy,
Hartsville; Matthews, Bowman; McGill, Kingstree;
Patterson, Columbia; Reese, Boiling Springs; Setzler,
West Columbia; Sheheen, Camden; Short, Chester;
Williams, Marion.
Republicans Voting
Yes
Cleary, Murrells
Inlet; Courson, Columbia; Cromer, Prosperity; Fair,
Greenville; Gregory, Lancaster; Hayes, Rock Hill;
Leatherman, Florence; Martin, Pickens; O'Dell, Ware
Shoals; Rankin, Myrtle Beach; Richardson, Hilton Head
Island; Ritchie, Spartanburg; Ryberg, Aiken; Smith,
Greer; Thomas, Fountain
Inn.
Democrats
Voting No
Pinckney,
Ridgeland.
Republicans Voting
No
Alexander,
Walhalla; Bryant, Anderson; Campsen, Isle of Palms;
Grooms, Bonneau; Knotts, West Columbia; McConnell,
Charleston; Mescher, Pinopolis; Peeler, Gaffney; Scott,
Summerville; Verdin,
Laurens.
Those Not
Voting
Democrats:
Ford, Charleston; Moore,
Clearwater.
Republicans: Hawkins, Spartanburg.
Reported by Jack
Kuenzie
Updated 9:05am by BrettWitt
