A state Senate committee unveiled legislation Wednesday that would raise the fines for seat belt violations and require everyone in a passenger vehicle to buckle up.
Senate Bill 226 would raise the fine for not wearing a seat belt from $15 to $75. The fine for adult drivers who allow children age 8 to 17 to go unbuckled would rise from $25 to $125. The bill also would require everyone to buckle up — currently adult passengers riding in rear seats are not required to wear seat belts under Georgia law.
Supporters say the legislation would save lives and taxpayer money wasted on traffic crashes.
"What we're going to do here is save lives," Sen. Randy Robertson, R-Cataula, the bill's sponsor, told the Senate Public Safety Committee on Wednesday. "We're going to save a lot of time and energy in emergency rooms, and also a tremendous amount of time with first responders."
Other senators questioned the proposal to raise fines, and at least one disputed the need for seat belt laws at all.
"I would be OK if we struck the entire seat belt code from Georgia law," said Sen. Tyler Harper, R-Ocilla. "I believe wholeheartedly in personal responsibility and liberty."
Seat belt laws have been a matter of contention in the General Assembly for decades. Lawmakers passed the state’s first seat belt law in 1988, requiring front-seat occupants to buckle up. They made the law a secondary offense — police couldn’t cite people unless they had violated another traffic law.
In 1996 lawmakers made seat belt violations a primary offense. That means police can issue citations if they see drivers and front-seat passengers who are not strapped in. And in 2010 they eliminated an exemption to the law for pickup trucks.
A Senate committee recently recommended legislation requiring everyone in a vehicle to buckle up. And a recent Atlanta Journal-Constitution survey found that 90% of registered voters support such a move.
Robertson’s bill includes the requirement that everyone buckle up. But it goes further by increasing the fines for violations. And it would add another penalty: A violation would cost one point against an offender’s driver’s license. Drivers with 15 points in a 24-month period lose their license.
Traffic safety advocate Bob Dallas, a former director of the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety, spoke in favor of the bill. He said studies show that seat belts save lives.
Dallas said the $15 fine hasn’t been raised since 1988.
“It needs to be, I believe, enough to allow people to realize it means something,” he said.
But Harper questioned the need for seat belt requirements. And several lawmakers expressed concern about raising the fines to a level that’s unaffordable for some people.
Sen. Tonya Anderson, D-Lithonia, who sponsored a separate measure to require everyone to buckle up, Senate Bill 160, called the proposed fines "overbearing." And Senate Majority Leader Mike Dugan, R- Carrollton, said he "would like to have a conversation about modifying the (fine) numbers."
Those conversations will take place in coming days. Sen. John Albers, R-Roswell, the committee chairman, said he expected a vote on the bill Monday.
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