Florida Legislature 2005 (click for ongoing coverage)

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Tightening the state's seat belt law

A legislator's battle to let police pull over vehicles for seat belt violations finally pays off. But there's a catch.

TALLAHASSEE - For state Rep. Irv Slosberg, it was a happy conclusion to a yearslong crusade inspired by a tragedy. The Legislature on Friday sent Gov. Jeb Bush a bill that would toughen seat belt enforcement in Florida.

Slosberg, a Boca Raton Democrat, lost his 14-year-old daughter, Dori, in a car crash in 1996. The investigation indicated she might have survived if she had been wearing a seat belt.

In 2000, Slosberg was elected to the Florida House. And each legislative session after that saw a Slosberg-written bill that would let police pull over a vehicle and issue a ticket if they saw any occupant not wearing a seat belt.

Failure to wear a seat belt is already a traffic offense in Florida. But it's a "secondary" violation, meaning an officer can't write a seat belt ticket unless the vehicle was pulled over for another, "primary,' offense.

Slosberg wanted to raise the seat belt offense to primary status. He had a compelling argument: Lives would be saved. Fewer people would have to suffer a loss as he did.

But each year, Slosberg's bill wound up in the opposite chamber's discard pile. Senate opponents' main argument was a fear that it would lead to profiling: a tendency to pull over black or Hispanic violators while letting white ones drive on by. It's a practice police are often accused of.

Slosberg also put off some of his fellow lawmakers with a confrontational style. He said last year of then-Senate President Jim King and Sen. Daniel Webster, "the blood is on their hands" for opposing his bill. The remark led U.S. Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta to cancel a news conference with him.

Two things helped Slosberg this year. He was agreeable to a change in a companion bill in the Senate, making it apply only to vehicles in which an occupant under age 18 is seen unbelted. And he had a persuasive ally in the Senate sponsor, Tony Hill, a black Jacksonville Democrat.

"Racial profiling is not what's killing our kids," Hill said in a Senate discussion. "Not wearing a seat belt is what's killing our kids."

Hill's bill addressed profiling fears by including a requirement for the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles to monitor for profiling and report to the governor and Legislature. "The only way we're really going to find out who's profiling is to get this bill passed," Hill said.

The Senate approved the measure last month. And the seat belt provision was inserted into a bill the House passed unanimously Friday, the last day of the legislative session.

"This one will save 200 lives a year, 3,000 debilitating injuries," an excited Slosberg said.

Motor safety advocates praised the measure, although they, like Slosberg, hope for a future one applying to all vehicle occupants, not just minors.

Marnie George, AAA South legislative director, said the Legislature was "beginning to see the importance of wearing safety belts."

A spokesman for the governor said Bush hadn't reviewed the bill.

The other traffic law changes are mostly technical. Among them are a requirement for background checks for hazardous material drivers and additional penalties for people at fault in some crashes to provide more money for trauma centers.

[Last modified May 7, 2005, 01:01:10]