Ohio Gov. DeWine pushes for stricter seat belt laws

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — Governor Mike DeWine wants lawmakers to enact a new seat belt law that could mean more traffic stops for Ohioans.

“Ohio is tenth from the bottom, tenth from the bottom of all states in seat belt use,” DeWine said.

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“One of the ways we can save lives in Ohio by having people wear their seatbelts,” Ohio Department of Public Safety Director Andy Wilson said. “We know the statistics play that out and we know anecdotally that is the truth.”

Right now, not wearing a seatbelt is a secondary offense, meaning if you get pulled over for something like speeding, you can also be ticketed for not being buckled up.

“Troopers are very well trained to detect whether or not somebody is wearing their seatbelt,” Wilson said. “There is 100% effectiveness, when they see that somebody isn’t wearing their seatbelt and they ask that person, the person admits they weren’t wearing their seatbelt.”

Wilson said last year there were 1,200 fatal crashes in the state and 61% of the people killed in those crashes did not have their seatbelt on.

“We know that there would be people who would be walking the earth today who were killed last year had they just taken the time to put that seatbelt on,” Wilson said.

So, DeWine is suggesting a primary seatbelt law to make it so officers can pull you over on the offense of not wearing your seatbelt alone. Enacting the law would be up to lawmakers passing legislation, but leaders at the Ohio Statehouse are already skeptical of the proposed policy.

“I have some trepidation about it,” Senate President Matt Huffman (R-Lima) said. “When the bill was passed that said you could be ticketed as a secondary, the promise was ‘well this will never become a primary offense.’”

This proposal is like the state’s new distracted driving law. Cell phone use while driving used to be a secondary offense, but now you can get pulled over for that alone.

“Some of you probably remember my lack of enthusiasm for the distracted driving bill, its passed because my lack of enthusiasm doesn’t stop legislation,” Huffman said.

Since the law was enacted, Wilson said there has been more than an 8% reduction in distracted driving. That is how they know a law like the seatbelt one would be effective.

“People are still going to not wear their seatbelt, people aren’t going to follow every law, we know that,” Wilson said. “But we know that some people will, and we know that the people who do, or the percentage of people who do, will result in lives saved.”

Wilson said a primary seatbelt law added onto the list of primary offenses would not be “unmanageable” for law enforcement. But Republican leaders said this proposed policy may take it a step too far.

“I was glad to hear about the distracted driving, I support the distracted driving bill,” Speaker of the Ohio House Jason Stephens (R-Kitts Hill) said. “The issue becomes what is how much personal responsibility is required by individuals. So that will probably be how those would be received.”

“Some of it is personal freedom,” Huffman said.

Wilson said they “don’t want to impinge on anybody’s rights,” but just want to make the roads safer.

“I think [saying it is a personal freedom] is based on the false assumption that when somebody dies as a result of not wearing their seatbelt, they’re the only one hurt,” Wilson said. “Even though it’s an individual choice, that choice has ramifications that can impact generations and impact others.”

Huffman said aside from “personal freedom,” he worries about other aspects of the proposed law.

“The folks that tend to get those tickets, those folks that are stopped the most are people who are least able to pay the bill,” Huffman said.

Others said they worry it will be disproportionately enforced, but Wilson said there are ways to ensure that does not happen.

“There’s safeguards you can put into law, so you could have us track statistics, obviously those would be public record, you could see where it is being enforced,” Wilson said.

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House Democrats said last week was the first time they had heard the proposal brought up. They said they have to talk about it more as a caucus.

No bill has been introduced at the Ohio Statehouse to create this law yet.

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