ATA wants states to step-up seatbelt laws

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — The head of the largest trucking group in the U.S. has asked the governors of 25 states to push for adoption of primary safety belt laws.

Such regulations, already in force in the other remaining states, would allow police officers to stop and issue traffic citations to motorists failing to wear their safety belt while operating a vehicle.

Speaking at the 2005 International Truck and Bus Safety and Security Symposium in Alexandria, Va, Bill Graves, president and CEO of the American Trucking Associations, said states with primary laws have safety belt usage rates about ten percentage points better than states with secondary enforcement laws.

ATA wants states to crack down
on drivers who don’t buckle up

A recent U.S. Department of Transportation survey cited truck drivers with just a 48 percent safety belt usage rate — the lowest among highway users.

“We are very concerned that the safety belt usage rate of truck drivers falls well short of the nationwide average among passenger vehicle drivers,” Graves told the governors. “… Motor carriers and their professional truck drivers are committed to operating safely and saving lives on our highways, but we obviously have some work to do within our own industry.”

Graves said ATA has also asked U.S. Secretary of Transportation Norman Y. Mineta to allow the states to increase the amount of federal truck safety funds spent on non-truck traffic enforcement.

Graves also said the states’ increased focus of Motor Carrier Safety Assistance Program funds on traffic violations and unsafe operating behaviors of passenger vehicle drivers in and around trucks will reduce truck-involved crashes. “Additionally”, he continued, “greater focus on this part of the problem will serve to promote public awareness of safe driving habits around large trucks”.