Drivers soon may have to order all the occupants of their vehicles to buckle up, regardless of their age or where they’re sitting. Coming to a full stop, instead of doing the rolling yield, when a driver encounters a pedestrian in a crosswalk, also could become a regular part of the driving life in Jersey. Both are topics of bills that could come before the Legislature today, the last voting session before a new governor and Legislature take office. Both bills were released by the Senate Transportation Committee Thursday for a vote by the full Senate. The Assembly passed the seat-belt bill in February 2008, and the pedestrian bill was approved last May.
But one motorist group believes the pedestrian bill may create more confusion at the crosswalk than it clears up.
Highway safety officials have lobbied for the seat-belt requirement as a way to reduce the incidence of unbelted passengers being injured in collisions.
“Only 32 percent of adults use seat belts (when they’re passengers), and they put themselves and everyone else at risk,” said Pam Fischer, state Division of Highway Traffic Safety Director, who predicted the bills will pass. “I think they’re going to make it; they’ll give us more leverage in the effort to make it safer.”
Unbuckled passengers will get a year’s grace period and a warning from police before they start writing tickets, which would carry a $25 fine. A summons would be issued to the unbelted passenger, not to the driver, Fischer said.
“We lost 259 people who were unbelted in the back seat in 2008. It could save as many as 200 lives if people wear seat belts,” Fischer said. “There is a societal cost, medical bills are 50 percent higher than for unbelted passengers.”
Seat belts also keep passengers inside the “safety cage” of a vehicle’s passenger compartment, work in conjunction with air bags to reduce injuries and spread the force of a crash over the strongest parts of the human body, Fischer said.
“There is nothing more effective in a crash than seat belts; there is tons of science behind this,” she said. Read full story in APP.
Even though people should be following these rules just by using their common sense, it’s about time they put it into law.
We have enough laws about seat belts. People should use their own discretion. Sometimes there are more passengers than seat belts. Does that mean we won’t be able to transport 4 back seat passengers instead of only 3, even if there’s room for one more?
As far stop signs. I’m in full agreement that one must come to a complete stop and not go past the stop sign quickly and then stop. Here on Forest Ave.and other streets, I never know what a driver’s intentions are about stopping at stop signs.They zoom past a stop sign and then stop, looking as if they weren’t going to stop. Sometimes they don’t stop when turning a corner, which is also dangerous. How did these drivers ever get their licenses?