State is buckling down on drivers

Cy Ryan and Mary Manning

Tuesday, May 13, 2003 | 9:36 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- If the commercials don't convince you, maybe a ticket will.

That's Nevada's strategy to get more people to wear seat belts. A $150,000 television and radio advertising program began Monday to encourage motorists to use their seat belts. And the state Office of Traffic Safety is warning that starting May 19 all motorists who are pulled over and are not wearing a seat belt will be cited.

"There will be no exceptions and no excuses," said Traci Filippi of the safety office.

An estimated 383,000 drivers in Nevada fail to wear their seat belts each day, and about half the motorists who die in motor vehicle crashes in Nevada would have survived if they had been wearing seat belts, Chuck Abbot, Office of Traffic Safety chief, said.

Seat belt tickets carry a $25 fine. For those who do not put their children 5 years old or younger and weighing less than 40 pounds in child safety seats, the penalty is stiffer -- from $65 to $95 depending on the jurisdiction within the Las Vegas Valley.

Failing to secure a child in a safety seat is a primary offense, meaning police or Nevada Highway Patrol troopers can stop a car or van with an unrestrained child.

Nevada is one of 31 states that do not allow officers to pull over drivers just for failing to wear a seat belt. A bill to change that was heard in the Senate Finance Committee on May 5, but no additional action has been taken on it, Filippi said.

Seat belt usage in Nevada in May 2002 was 76.4 percent although that has dropped to 73.7 percent as of April, officials said.