Road Map to Safety

By Judith Lee Stone

As American families take to the roads this summer, they will be faced with a patchwork quilt of seat belt laws enforced differently from state to state. Twenty-nine states still do not allow police to ticket those who refuse to buckle up unless they are cited for another traffic violation first. In those states, with secondary, not primary enforcement laws, usage rates are much lower, leading to more unnecessary deaths and injuries.

If those same families fly to their destinations, U.S. aviation rules say the plane can’t take off until their belts are fastened. In 2004, 428 people died in airline crashes, the safest year in a decade. In 2003, one hundred times that number were killed on our nation’s highways.

Last January, I attended a lunch honoring legislative sponsors of Tennessee’s new primary enforcement law, the only state to adopt such a law in 2004. Officials of Meharry Medical College and State Farm Insurance Company, deeply involved in lobbying for the bill, sponsored the event. At the rate of one law a year, it will be 2030 before we have uniformity on this most crucial of state highway safety laws.

“Nearly every state that has passed primary enforcement has cut death and injury significantly ... Yet, today less than half the states have enacted such laws. To paraphrase President Reagan when he signed the 21 Minimum Drinking Age Act nearly 20 years ago, this problem is bigger than the individual States. It’s a truly national problem, and it touches all our lives. With the problem so clear and the proven solution at hand, we have no misgivings about taking this common-sense step. It [S.1993] will help rally state legislators to save our lives across the country.”

Sen. John Warner, R-Va.

“I have often turned to Advocates for its expertise and advice on how Congress can best address highway safety matters. Throughout the years, I have had the privilege of working with the board members and staff of Advocates on many important issues affecting highway safety. Advocates has been an invaluable resource to me, and to the committee.”

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.
Chair
Commerce, Science & Transportation Committee

Too many state legislators and other elected officials throughout the nation believe that stronger belt laws are a symbol of excessive government intrusion. Sound data to argue the opposite view is readily available, but all politics is local and these laws have been hard to pass.

When you know that an additional 9,200 fatalities and 143,000 serious injuries could be prevented each year if all passengers were to wear their seat belts, and that each and every year nearly 43,000 people die and three million more are injured in these tragic crashes, the opposition view doesn’t make much sense. Most teens who die in car crashes are unbelted, and small children are more likely to ride unrestrained if their parents are unbuckled.

If the death and injury numbers are too overwhelming, think about the fact that these crashes cost the nation $231 billion annually, with 50 percent estimated by the federal government to be paid by private insurers. By any definition, this is a costly public health epidemic, and there are proven vaccines in better laws and regulations.

By joining with others like the Meharry-State Farm Alliance, Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety (Advocates) develops game plans to advance winning arguments in state legislatures and Congress on a wide range of lifesaving policy issues, including effective seat belt laws.

Insurance companies provide financial support, and non-insurance members contribute “sweat equity.” Both sides of the board of directors create an annual action program and lend expertise to implement it.

For 15 years, Advocates has lobbied for more uniformly safe vehicle design, better impaired driving laws, more truck safety, teen driving improvements, stronger seat belt and child safety policies, and safer roadway environments, among other issues. Support is bipartisan, and the campaigns to improve highway and auto safety involve individuals and families directly and personally affected by motor vehicle crash losses.

Advocates’ public opinion polls conducted regularly by Lou Harris show strong support for these issues. The American public seems firm in its conviction that any reasonable and effective safety proposal deserves positive action on the part of legislators, governors and other officials. They are also clear that they like their insurance companies out front on these issues.

The unfinished safety agenda looms large. At this writing, in addition to 29 states still needing primary enforcement seat belt laws:

30 states lack an all-rider motorcycle helmet law.
22 states lack a booster seat law and 20 states need to improve existing laws.
Every state has serious deficiencies in teen driver laws.
Many states lack basic drunk driving laws.
The federal government needs to issue/upgrade overdue safety standards to prevent rollover, roof crush, side impact, occupant ejection and provide better consumer information.
Large trucks are over-represented in crashes. Important improvements are needed to advance the safety of motor carriers.

There is a place in the debate for any insurance company – large, medium or small. And nothing is more satisfying than knowing, at the end of the day, you have made a major contribution to the safety and health of thousands of people in your community and nationwide.

Judith Lee Stone is the president of the Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety. For more information, visit www.saferoads.org or call (202) 408-1711.

Posted: Wednesday, June 01, 2005 12:00:00 AM. Modified: Wednesday, September 07, 2005 2:19:16 PM.

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