Wear your safety belt or risk being stopped by an officer

July 2, 2009

Wisconsin adopts primary safety belt enforcement to save lives and prevent injuries

Law enforcement officers in Wisconsin may now stop and ticket drivers and passengers who are not wearing safety belts even if the officers do not observe another traffic or vehicle equipment violation.  The state budget, signed recently by Governor Jim Doyle, strengthens Wisconsin’s mandatory safety belt law by adopting what is known as primary enforcement.

“The state’s safety belt law, which has been in effect since 1987, will now be enforced just like any other traffic safety law. Previously, officers had to stop motorists for another violation before they could issue a safety belt citation. With the change to primary enforcement, officers only need to observe an unbuckled driver or passenger in order to stop the vehicle and ticket the offender,” says Wisconsin State Patrol Superintendent David Collins.  “Although primary enforcement will be a valuable tool for officers, we’re not striving to write more tickets. Our goal is to save lives and prevent injuries by increasing voluntary compliance with the safety belt law. Unfortunately, too many people believe that a violent crash will never happen to them, so they don’t fasten their safety belt. However, with primary enforcement, more people may voluntarily make buckling up a habit simply to avoid the risk of being stopped and ticketed.”

Currently, Wisconsin’s safety belt use rate is approximately 74 percent, which is one of the lowest in the nation (44th out of 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico) and well below the national average of 83 percent.

Studies by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) show that when states upgrade to primary enforcement, their safety belt use rate typically increases about 10 percent.  In Wisconsin, a 10 percent increase in safety belt use would save about 44 lives and prevent 650 injuries each year.

A 10 percent increase in safety belt use would also save state residents about $147 million annually in traffic crash costs, according to NHTSA. Motorists who are hurt or killed in traffic crashes because they were not buckled create significant economic losses, such as medical expenses and lost worker productivity. The rest of society indirectly or directly pays for nearly 75% of these economic losses through higher medical and vehicle insurance premiums, workers compensation, taxes, and other public funding, according to the National Transportation Safety Board.

The change to primary enforcement does not increase the cost of a safety belt citation, which is still $10 with no demerit points assessed on a driver’s license.

By enacting primary enforcement, Wisconsin is eligible to receive at least $15.2 million in federal funding for an array of traffic safety improvements including traffic control devices, pavement and shoulder widening, traffic calming, and highway signage.

Although the federal funding will be welcome, the real benefit to Wisconsin will be measured in lives saved and injuries prevented, Collins insists.

“Consistent safety belt use is the most effective protection against being ejected from a vehicle during a crash or thrown around violently inside it and possibly hitting another vehicle occupant,” he says. “Whether you’re going down the street or across the state, you need to buckle up every time you drive or ride in a vehicle, so we can ultimately reduce the number of preventable traffic deaths to Zero in Wisconsin.”

For more information, contact:
Don Hagen, WisDOT Transportation Safety Programs
(608) 267-7520, donald.hagen@dot.wi.gov