Wanted: Stronger seat-belt law Groups push state to revisit safety issue

Arizona needs laws allowing police to pull people over for not wearing seat belts and requiring drivers to secure children in safety seats up to age 8, leaders of government and private groups said last week.

Members of the Governor’s Traffic Safety Advisory Council turned the outside of the State Capitol into an accident scene, with firefighters staging mock rescues, to promote their vision for making Arizona’s roads safer.

A Green Valley man was killed Thursday on Interstate 19 in an accident, and his 9-year-old daughter was injured. Both were not wearing seat belts, police say.

Under the current law, police can cite drivers and passengers for failing to wear seat belts only if they are pulled over for another violation. Arizona and Nevada are the only Western states that don’t allow police to pull drivers over simply for not strapping in, said Richard Fimbres, director of the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety.

“A primary seat belt law is key,” Fimbres said in an interview.

“We have a lot of work to do. Sixty-one percent of people killed in accidents were not buckled up,” said Linda Gorman, a spokeswoman for AAA Arizona, which sponsored the event.

Meanwhile, the current law requires children to be in safety seats through age 4. Members of the council advocate broadening that requirement by mandating booster seats until a child is 8.

Safety seats can decrease the risk of child fatalities by 60 percent, Gorman said.

Other council members include the Arizona Department of Transportation and Department of Public Safety. Those agencies and the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety also want lawmakers to uphold and enhance laws against driving under the influence and distracted driving.

“We want to have responsible drivers, and that can be about just the simple things, like wearing a seat belt or not talking on the phone _ but just focus on driving,” said Michael Hegarty, deputy director of the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety. “The car is not the place to do that. Save those things for somewhere else besides behind the wheel of a moving vehicle.”

Last year, the city of Phoenix passed an ordinance against driving while texting. Roger Vanderpool, director of DPS, said that’s a good idea.

“There is no way that you can text and pay 100 percent attention to your driving,” Vanderpool said in an interview.

He said he’s optimistic that strict new DUI laws will make roads safer.

“It’s still a little early on to see what the impact will be, but I think that it will be dramatic,” Vanderpool said. “It will happen and we will see, I think, good benefits.”

Noting that 45 percent of crashes involve alcohol, Victor Mendez, director of the Arizona Department of Transportation, said that there is still considerable work to do.

“We need the support of the public,” Mendez said. “We are all out there driving, and if we’re fighting against 45 percent, someone is just not getting the message.”

Cronkite News Service is an intensive professional experience for advanced print and broadcast students in Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication.