Today, not wearing a seat belt becomes more dangerous to motorists, or at least to their wallets.
Police in Florida can now pull over drivers solely for not wearing their seat belts, as the infraction has been bumped up to a primary offense, which carries a $104 fine.
Previously a person could only get a ticket for not wearing a seat belt if they were already pulled over for another traffic violation. Now not wearing a seat belt is a primary offense, and a driver can also get ticketed if the front-seat passenger is without a seat belt.
"Now officers can take action then and there, instead of having to pull them over for speeding or some other traffic violation first," said Lt. Tim Frith, Florida Highway Patrol spokesman.
"The whole intent of going from second to primary [offense] is to save lives," Frith said.
The law will increase the number of seat belt wearers, which will in turn increase the number of crash survivors, he said.
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the law will save 124 lives, prevent 1,733 serious injuries and save $408 million in associated costs each year.
Frith said death rates are higher in traffic fatalities for people between 16 and 24 years old.
"We could impact that age group just by changing the behavior of motorists, so they know they have to buckle their seat belt," Frith said. "[This law] will make it turn into second nature."
