Not buckling up could get you fined,
starting this week.
South Carolina's new seat belt law takes effect Friday, giving
officers the authority to stop a car simply because someone inside is
not wearing a seat belt. The penalty: 25 bucks.
The old law allowed officers to ticket a driver for not buckling up
only if the car had been stopped for another violation.
Area police say they plan to take a measured approach, meaning
officers will make stops routinely but won't do any sting operations or
surprise crackdowns.
"As time goes on, we'll get used to that being the law," Rock Hill
Police Chief John Gregory said.
COMMON QUESTIONS
Q. Will a violation appear on my permanent driving record, and
will there be points involved?
No. It also will not be reported to your insurance company.
Q. How can police tell whether I'm wearing a seat belt?
Officers admit it can be difficult to see inside a car. But it's
possible, particularly when traffic is stopped at intersections and when
children are standing or moving around in their seats. Some officers
have their own ways of checking.
"Most people have a tendency to lean toward the inside of the car,"
said Sgt. Chris Blevins of the York County Sheriff's Office. "You can
see the seat belt come across. It's kind of a technique that we pick
up."
Q. Why was the law approved?
This year is a prime example. South Carolina is on track to break the
state's all-time highway death toll record should fatalities continue at
current rates. Of the 787 motor vehicle occupants who have died this
year on state highways, 544 were not wearing seat belts.
Locally, 27 people have died in York County, 16 in Chester County and
21 in Lancaster County. Of those, nearly 75 percent of the victims
weren't wearing seat belts, according to the S.C. Highway Patrol.
Studies show that using a seat belt reduces the risk of dying in a
vehicle collision by 50 percent.
Q. Who's responsible for children?
Drivers are responsible only for passengers ages 17 or younger.
However, drivers are not responsible if those passengers have driver's
licenses or permits of their own. In those cases, the passengers will be
ticketed.
Q: What if the officer and driver disagree about whether the belt
was buckled?
Officers are not supposed to stop drivers unless they have a clear
and unobstructed view of a violation. However, drivers can admit or deny
the violation, enter a plea of nolo contendere -- meaning "no contest"
-- or be tried before either a judge or a jury.
OTHER STATES
• 21 states have seat belt laws like the one about to take effect in
South Carolina.
• New Hampshire is the only U.S. state with no seat belt law.
• The national seat belt usage rate has risen to 80 percent since
1994, but the United States still lags behind other industrialized
nations, whose average rates are more than 90 percent. In South
Carolina, the average is 70 percent.
• Fines for not wearing a seat belt range from $5 in Idaho to $75 in
Oregon. The most common fine is $20 to $25.
A SUPPORTER'S VIEW
Sally Sutphin of York was on her way to work one morning in January
when another driver fell asleep at the wheel and slammed into her Toyota
Camry on S.C. 5 Bypass.
Both of Sutphin's legs were broken, and she has been confined to a
wheelchair since the wreck. Had she not been wearing a seat belt, she
said, the outcome could've been much worse.
"I probably would've died in that accident," said Sutphin, 33, a
mother of two. "There's a lot of people who don't think about it. It
takes a second to put it on. That one second could save your life."
