Senate Defeats Effort to Add Seat Belt Measure to Multi-Billion Dollar Transportation Bill

2/11/2004

From: Adam Vogt of Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, 202-408-1711 ext. 20 or avogt@saferoads.org http://www.saferoads.org

WASHINGTON, Feb. 11 -- Missing an opportunity to save tens of thousands of lives, the U.S. Senate defeated an effort by Sen. John Warner (R-Va.) and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) to attach an amendment encouraging states to enact primary enforcement seat belt laws to S. 1072, the Senate's six- year, $318 billion transportation measure.

The Warner-Clinton measure, titled the National Highway Safety Act of 2003, would have resulted in Congress withholding two percent of federal highway funding to states that failed to comply within three years, rising to four percent in subsequent years. The amendment was rejected on a tabling motion by a vote of 57-41 (See list of Warner/Clinton supporters below. "No" vote was a vote to support Warner/Clinton on the procedural vote.).

"This vote is a setback today for families across this nation," said Judith Lee Stone, president of Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety. "For five consecutive years the number of motor vehicle occupants killed on our roads has increased. This measure offered a chance to curb those increases and dramatically reduce highway deaths and injuries.

"There is no better way to increase seat belt use than to enact a primary enforcement seat belt law. This simple measure would have given every state the incentive it needs to pass a primary enforcement law, raise seat belt use rates and, most importantly, save lives. We are disappointed, but not deterred by this setback. We will continue to work with a broad, bipartisan coalition of leaders and advocates to see this law enacted this year."

A primary enforcement seat belt law allows law enforcement officers to issue a citation any time they observe an unbelted motorist. Under a weaker secondary enforcement law, officers may issue a seat belt citation only if the officer has stopped the vehicle for another traffic violation.

Today, only 20 states (Ala., Calif., Conn., Del., Ga., Hawaii, Ill., Ind., Iowa, La., Md, Mich., N.J., N.M., N.Y., N.C., Okla., Ore., Texas, Wash.) and the District of Columbia have a primary enforcement seat belt law, despite research showing that such a law raises a state's seat belt use rate by 10-15 percentage points.

According to the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), seat belts save 13,000 lives each year, but 7,000 people die because they do not use seat belts. In 2001, 73 percent of restrained passengers involved in fatal crashes survived, compared to 44 percent of unrestrained occupants. The deaths and injuries that result from non-use of seat belts cost society an estimated $26 billion annually in medical care, lost productivity and other injury-related costs.

The National Highway Safety Act of 2003 was supported by over 130 national, state and local groups representing consumer, health, safety, medical and child advocacy organizations, the insurance industry, the auto industry, law enforcement, African- American mayors and state legislators, and drunk driving victims.

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Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety (www.saferoads.org) is an alliance of consumer, health, law enforcement and safety groups and insurance companies and agents working together to make America's roads safer. Founded in 1989, Advocates encourages the adoption of federal and state laws, policies and programs that save lives and reduce injuries.

NAYs -- 41

Akaka (D-Hawaii)

Bayh (D-Ind.)

Biden (D-Del.)

Bingaman (D-N.M.)

Boxer (D-Calif.)

Breaux (D-La.)

Cantwell (D-Wash.)

Carper (D-Del.)

Chafee (R-R.I.)

Clinton (D-N.Y.)

Corzine (D-N.J.)

Dayton (D-Minn.)

DeWine (R-Ohio)

Dodd (D-Conn.)

Dole (R-N.C.)

Durbin (D-Ill.)

Feinstein (D-Calif.)

Fitzgerald (R-Ill.)

Frist (R-Tenn.)

Hollings (D-S.C.)

Inouye (D-Hawaii)

Kennedy (D-Mass.)

Landrieu (D-La.)

Lautenberg (D-N.J.)

Levin (D-Mich.)

Lieberman (D-Conn.)

Lincoln (D-Ark.)

McCain (R-Ariz.)

Mikulski (D-Md.)

Murray (D-Wash.)

Nelson (D-Fla.)

Pryor (D-Ark.)

Reed (D-R.I.)

Sarbanes (D-Md.)

Schumer (D-N.Y.)

Sessions (R-Ala.)

Shelby (R-Ala.)

Smith (R-Ore.)

Stabenow (D-Mich.)

Warner (R-Va.)

Wyden (D-Ore.)