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Florida Safety Belt Alliance Holds Rally

25 March 1998

Florida Safety Belt Alliance Holds Rally To Boost Belt Use, Support Primary Enforcement Law

    TALLAHASSEE, Fla., March 24 -- The Florida Safety Belt
Alliance, a coalition of more than 200 Florida organizations, will hold a
rally in Orlando next week in support of primary safety belt legislation now
being debated in the Florida House and Senate.
    The rally will take place near the emergency room entrance of the Orlando
Regional Medical Center on Tuesday, March 31 at 10:00 a.m.
    The group supports passage of two bills that would make not wearing a
safety belt a primary traffic violation in Florida, such as driving with a
broken tail light. According to the Florida Department of Highway Safety and
Motor Vehicles, more than 170 lives would be saved and 5,246 serious injuries
prevented annually if Florida's safety belt law were strengthened.
    "This law is critical to keeping children safe, said Marnie George,
legislative director for AAA Auto Club South. "Both national and
state-by-state data show that when adults aren't belted in automobiles,
neither are their children."
    A study of crash data by the Ford Motor Company shows that adults who
don't wear their belts will buckle their children just 30% of the time.
    "This legislation will change that figure dramatically," said George.
"After Louisiana passed a primary safety belt law, child restraint use jumped
78%."
    "This legislation sends a clear message to law enforcement that saving
lives is a priority," said Major Ken Howes, chief spokesman for the Florida
Highway Patrol. "Florida's present safety belt law is the only traffic statute
that cannot be enforced on its own merits."
    Under current Florida law, officers cannot ticket someone for not wearing
their safety belt unless another traffic violation is witnessed first.
    Two bills that would make not wearing a safety belt a primary traffic
violation are being discussed in legislative committees. House Bill 447 and
Senate Bill 242 have garnered bi-partisan support from more than two dozen
members of the Legislature, including Representatives  Fred Lippman, D.-Ft.
Lauderdale and Dennis Jones,
R.-Treasure Island, and Senators John Grant, R.-Tampa and Katherine Harris,
R.-Sarasota.
    Currently, only 62% of Floridians wear their safety belts. Other states
that have strengthened their laws have seen an increase in belt use of
approximately 15%.
    Additional benefits of a toughened law would be economic savings to
Florida of $323 million that would have been spent on services such as
fire-rescue and police operations and inpatient hospital care.  Medical bills
for non-belted crash victims average 50% higher than those for belted victims.
These savings will be passed along to Floridians in the form of reduced health
care and insurance costs and lower taxes.

SOURCE  The Florida Safety Belt Alliance