The Virginian-Pilot
©
RICHMOND
Two bills that would require greater use of seat belt by Virginians, and penalize those who don’t, passed the Senate Transportation committee today.
One would make failure to wear a safety belt while sitting in a vehicle’s front seats a primary offense, meaning a police officer could stop a motorist solely for not buckling-up.
At present, driving without a seat belt in the front seat is a secondary offense for which a citation can be issued only if a traffic stop is made for another reason.
Senate Majority Leader Richard Saslaw sponsored the legislation, SB1161.
The other bill, Fairfax Democratic Sen. George Barker’s SB1502, would require all occupants of a vehicle to wear seat belts.
Under current law, individuals older than 16 riding in a vehicle’s rear passenger seats are not required to wear safety restraints; seat belts are required for front seat occupants of any age.
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brain dead
Plenty of stats out there: your brain/spine injury costs me $. Support the new regs.
I think it would be a good
I think it would be a good thing. That way, when I get in a wreck because I was eating, drinking, talking on the phone, text messaging, messing with my radio, messing with my gps, putting on makeup, reading the fine print on those historical marker signs, having a dog sit in my lap, etc., I will not get thrown out the window. Right?
As long as the only place an alcoholic can buy a bottle of alcohol is in a state run ABC store, I will never believe they are looking out for my best interests. This is about money; How much more can they get.
Work on the budget and not this junk!
Work on the budget and not this junk!
This is rediculous
I wish these tax dollar leaches would quit trying to play nanny and concentrate on more important issues. This crap wouldn't even be an issue if people would learn how to pay attention and drive. But nope the humane race is dumber than most (gotta get there first and oh gotta call Trudy to find out what flavor toothpaste she used this morning or my favorite is when I see idiots reading the paper) spending 6 hours a day on the highways of Hampton roads you see a lot idiotic behavior.
Always wondered
Why there are no seat belts on school buses.
I wouldn't be so sure about that.
The feds have been talking for years about making it harder for states to get federal transportation funds if they don't make mandatory driver seatbelt laws a primary offense (meaning that you can be stopped for it; now they only charge a driver for being unbelted if they happen to stop you for another infraction). Many states are way ahead of Virginia in adopting stricter seatbelt laws rather than risk losing federal transportation funds.
Do or Do Not...Up To You!
Drivers should be free to decide to wear a seat belt or not.
Try it again.
Don't sweat the bill, it hasn't passed the last few years. Sucks getting old.
Don't sweat it!
The bill won't pass, it hasn't the past the last few years.
Some info missing.
Some statistics would have been nice. I am a very strong advocate of seat belt usage. It seems not a week goes by that we don't read about another idiot riding in a car getting involve in an accident and being thrown from the car and either severely injured or killed. I'd like to know the stats on how many people died due to not wearing a seat belt in VA last year. I'd like to know how many tickets were written for failure to wear seat belts, both without and with being involved in accidents. The reason I ask this is increasing the offense status is not necessary if it's not being enforced to start out with. I don't think you can legislate common sense. This is just an effort of the GA to make us think they are doing something. Their efforts could be put to better use. This most likely won't be posted as I'm on Pilots black list for disagreeing with them.