Bill to toughen state’s seat belt law defeated

By Cy Ryan

Thursday, April 23, 2009 | 4:15 p.m.

CARSON CITY – By a voice vote, the Assembly Committee on Transportation has defeated a bill to toughen Nevada’s auto seat belt law.

Committee Chairman Kelvin Atkinson, D-Las Vegas, called the bill an “emotional” issue for some people and he has allowed extra time for the committee members to consider the measure.

The current law allows a law enforcement officer to issue a ticket for not wearing a seat belt, only if the motorist is stopped for another violation. Senate Bill 116 would permit officers to stop motorists if they saw someone in the vehicle not buckled up.

The Senate had passed the bill by a 12-9 vote.

Assemblyman Pete Goicoechea, R-Eureka, said he supports enforcement of the present seat belt law and believes it will reduce serious deaths and injuries.

Assemblywoman Ellen Spiegel, D-Las Vegas, said the bill would require adding additional law enforcement officers. There was no cost on the bill and no plan to add money to handle the enforcement, she said.

Assemblyman Mark Manendo, D-Las Vegas, said he has received a number of e-mails urging the committee to pass it. He suggested the measure could save lives and save money for taxpayers who foot the bill for those treated for injuries received for not wearing a seat belt in a traffic accident.

Sen. Mike Schneider, D-Las Vegas, told the committee he sponsored the bill because he was concerned about the cost to University Medical Center in Las Vegas. He suggested the committee might amend the bill to apply only to Clark County “as an experimental project.”

Schneider said UMC is shutting down departments “because the cost is so high on these catastrophic accidents.” He added, “It was always a cost bill with me.”

Manendo tried to amend the bill for it to take effect only in Clark County but Atkinson said he would not accept the amendment.

Assemblyman James Hogan, D-Las Vegas, said the primary seat belt law has been in effect in many states for many years and has never been found unconstitutional, as some opponents suggest.

He said he didn’t believe figures that Nevada that 90 or 92 percent of the motorists obey the present law. He said the survey was taken during daytime hours and the compliance may be less than 50 percent at night.

He added the survey counted only the front seat occupants and didn’t take into account “an awful lot of injuries happen to people who go flying from the back seat through the windshield.”

He said the bill would help “reduce the tragic losses we have” as a result of failure to wear seat belts.