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Missouri, Kansas trail nation in seat-belt use
Both Missouri and Kansas have seat-belt usage rates below the national average, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reported Monday.
Statistics from the federal agency revealed that 77.2 percent of drivers in Missouri wear seat belts. In Kansas, the rate is 75 percent.
Nationwide, belt usage reaches 82 percent.
Neither state has what is known as a primary seat-belt enforcement law. In most secondary enforcement circumstances, traffic officers can only ticket belt-less motorists if they are stopped in regard to another violation or at a traffic checkpoint.
The statistics were released to mark the beginning of the annual "Click It or Ticket" seat-belt enforcement campaign, which runs through June 1.
The campaign this year focuses particular attention on nighttime seat-belt use, which usually has a lower rate than day use. According to the agency: "The consequences of not buckling up are even more tragic among young passenger vehicle occupants. Of the 2,926 16- to 20-year-old passenger vehicle occupants killed in 2006, 68 percent were unrestrained. During the daytime 57 percent of the 16- to 20-year-old occupants killed were not wearing seat belts."
NHTSA Administrator Nicole R. Nason encouraged all people using American roads to buckle up.
“Wearing your seat belt costs you nothing,” she said. “But the cost for not wearing one certainly will. So, don’t risk it with a ticket or worse, your life."
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The reason there might be a law requiring people to buckle up is if you are permanently disabled in some way from an auto accident and you didn't bother to wear your seat belt, the state and the taxpayers will be the ones paying your disability or medical care. Did anyone think of that?! You leave a simple, intelligent decision like this, up to people and they act like children. Refusing to wear a seatbelt because it wrinkles clothes or is uncomfortable. Seriously?! If you want to drive a car there is responsibility that comes with it. Wise up people and act like adults!
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