Seat Belt Ticket: Does it Affect Insurance Rates?

Buckle up for safety, young lady.

I don't know about insurance rates but I would hate to see something really terrible and entirely preventable happen to you.

I don't know the real answer to your question, but I could see the insurance company reasoning like this:
Insuree drives without a seatbelt -> higher likelihood of serious injury or death in an accident -> greater risk of high medical payout for insurer -> good excuse to raise your rate

Well it wasn't me that got busted. It was my brother. He is still on my parents insurance and they are going nuts.

In that case....

What kind of frikken idiot drives without wearing a seat belt!?

If I were his parent I'd be having a conniption fit too but I wouldn't worry so much about insurance rates because the knucklehead wouldn't be driving for a long long time.

It seems that Michigan drivers were given warnings about a seatblet crackdown. It also appears that insurance rates nor points are affected.


Not buckling up? Click It or Ticket program returns

May 16, 2005

BY FRANK WITSIL
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER


With the Farmington Hills police department as a backdrop, the head of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is set to announce today the start of a $26-million national advertising and law enforcement campaign to get motorists -- particularly those in pickup trucks -- to buckle up.

Those who don't could face fines; in Michigan, it's a $65 ticket.

They also could prevent states from getting millions in funding, if Congress passes a proposed transportation bill that ties rates of seat-belt use to federal highway dollars.

In Michigan, more than 500 police agencies in 53 counties will be participating in the so-called Click It or Ticket campaign May 23-June 5, the state's Office of Highway Safety Planning spokeswoman Anne Readett said Friday. In some areas, signs on well-traveled roads designated as enforcement zones will warn motorists where officers will be issuing tickets.

Today's announcement by NHTSA administrator Dr. Jeff Runge is being made in Michigan, outside Washington for the first time, because the state ranks as one of the top for seat-belt use, NHTSA spokesman Rae Tyson said Friday. Last year, 90.5% of motorists in the state were using seat belts, he said. The national average was 80%.

"Michigan is in some rare company," Tyson said.

Only five other states -- Arizona, Hawaii, Washington, Oregon and California -- also had rates of 90% or higher.

The rates, Tyson said, are calculated scientifically using trained spotters who count the number of motorists in a given area who are wearing seat belts; that number is generalized to the rest of the state. In the past few years, the methodology has been refined and provides reliable data, he said.

The seat-belt campaign, which began nationally in 1997 with 1,000 police agencies, will this year include $26 million in national and state ads warning people to wear their seat belts and a coordinated effort by more than 12,000 agencies with hundreds of thousands of police officers on the lookout for the silhouette of a shoulder strap.

The national advertisements will target pickup truck occupants. Even though studies indicate that seat belts reduce the risk of serious injury or death in a pickup crash as much as 15% more than in a car, pickup occupants are buckling up 10% less than people who ride in cars and SUVs, according to NHTSA.

Michigan police issued 33,966 citations during a similar two-week campaign last year, Readett said. The tickets issued during the Click It or Ticket campaign do not give drivers points on their driving record, but the fine is intended to be a strong reminder.

Since 1996, seat-belt use nationally has increased 19%.

Readett credits the state law passed in 2000 that allows police to pull over and ticket drivers who are not wearing seat belts, regardless of whether they are in violation of other traffic laws, and the high-visibility enforcement of the law for Michigan's high rate of belt use.

This year, NHTSA officials said, the Bush administration has endorsed a bill that would give additional highway funding to states that have laws that allow police to pull over and ticket drivers who are not belted, and who have usage rates of 90% or higher. If the bill passes, Michigan could gain an additional $14.3 million.

Additional funding, as much as $500,000 for this year's campaign, came from insurance companies and automakers, said Phil Haseltine, executive director of the Air Bag & Seat Belt Safety Campaign.

NHTSA officials say aggressive ticketing of motorists who don't buckle up and advertising campaigns that remind them of the penalties has increased the number of people using seat belts nationwide. The agency estimates that if everyone wore seat belts, 6,000 deaths could be prevented annually.

"Many agencies have had to expand their workloads to do this," said Farmington Hills Police Chief William Dwyer, who is scheduled to be among other local law-enforcement heads at the announcement today. "But we'll continue to do the work because we know stepped-up law enforcement of this saves lives."


SOURCE

Well the thing is, he was putting it on while driving out of the bank driveway. And they busted him. You are suppose to have it on before turning the ignition or putting into gear or something like that.

If it doesn't it should...you should be charged with attempted suicide and then given the death penalty....

I think seatbelt laws for anyone over 18 is stupid. Wanna kill yoursel? Go for it.

Bella, it is my understanding that a traffic cop cannot stop an individual for not wearing a seat belt. He may only add that to the citation if one is stopped for another offense. I don't know if this applies only to Florida law.

Incidentally, this was the first of the laws that opened the door to government telling us how to run our personal lives and decisions.

If I remember the story correctly, he was going through a seat belt enforcement area...with nice reminder signs to Buckle Up! I don't know but I told him to fight it.

Sorry to jump in, but about the 13th paragraph on my post addressed this...


Michigan is among a dozen or so states that have the seatbelt law as a primary law.

Same as we have in Ontario, Canada. Except, we lose demerit points and the fines are much higher.

Ah, Intrepid. I didn't read all of your message. Sorry, buddy. Letty needs to pay better attention.

Big brother at its finest...

My daughter was given a ticket in the HS parking lot as she attempted to get out of the car. Apparently the driver stopped, she took off her seatbelt to get out, then he moved a little. That's BS.

Stupid big brother revenueing cop crap.

cj, it's the insurance companies. Big lobby, you know.

Are you saying the insurers take a cut of the revenue stream?

At least here, you must be on a road as designated under the Highway Traffic act. We don't get tickets in parking lots.

No, no, cj. (I don't guess they do), but actuary shows that seat belts save lives, and I'm not certain of that either; ergo, they lobby so that they won't have to pay. Same here in Florida with home owners, etc.

What I really don't understand is....It is mandatory for private vehicles to have seat belts. Yet, school buses are not required to have seat belts. Given the nature of the extemely bumpy rides, you would think that they would be needed just to keep the tykes in their seats.

Do school buses in the U.S. have seat belts?

I got ejected from a vehicle once and if I'd been wearing a seatbelt I'd be dead as the car was crushed.

I was lucky though, and wear a seatbelt today and insist my passengers do also. It also helps hold me to the seat as I still drive like a mutherfckr.