Pretext for police stops

Latest seat-belt proposal would threaten our liberty

Published February 5, 2007 at midnight

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'We're just committed to trying to save lives," said Sen. Peter Groff, D-Denver, on Thursday as he announced the introduction of Senate Bill 151, which would make the failure to wear seat belts a primary traffic offense.

Who could oppose any measure with such noble goals? Rep. Morgan Carroll, D-Aurora, for one. She must once again try to convince a majority of her colleagues that the bill would endanger essential liberties and invite harassment by the police.

We agree. And we applaud Carroll's commitment, and her passion. Because she's going to need plenty of both to beat back her opposition once again.

Bills like SB 151 have regularly been introduced in the legislature since 1999. And none has become law, though last year's attempt came perilously close: Both houses passed different versions, and the final bill died on a tie vote in the House in May.

As in the past, mainly Democrats back the measure. And with more of them in the legislature this year than last, there may be enough support for proponents of a primary seat belt law to prevail.

Every state other than New Hampshire mandates seat belt use by drivers and front-seat passengers. The rate of seat belt use has soared since mandates have taken effect; it's gone from 58 percent in 1994 to 81 percent last year. Colorado's belted rate is just below the national average, at 79 percent.

But the gains leveled off nationally in 2003, which has safety advocates clamoring for even tougher enforcement.

Boosting the penalty to a primary offense, which is the law in 25 states and the District of Columbia, would let police stop motorists who apparently aren't buckled up but are not obviously violating other traffic laws.

Even in primary-offense states, belt use varies; it's as low as 74 percent in Tennessee. And in seven states where seat belt laws are secondary offenses - including Arizona, Nevada and Utah in the Mountain West - residents buckle up more often than the national average, with rates reaching 95 percent.

Proponents say SB 151 could save as many as 70 lives a year, or about one-sixth of the state's traffic fatalities. Perhaps. But there would be a trade-off in terms of liberty.

It's just not possible, in many cases, for police to know for sure that a driver is not wearing a seat belt. That being the case, police will have a pretext to stop just about anyone. And as night follows day, check points and random stops to monitor motorists will follow this legislation. That violates the spirit of the Fourth Amendment, which bans unreasonable searches and seizures by the government.

Moreover, every patrol hour dedicated to enforcing stricter seat belt laws is one hour lost tracking speeders, watching for drunken drivers, or catching motorists who run red lights.

Compliance could improve through better public education, or by hiking the fines (which are now as low as $15) for driving beltless while breaking other traffic laws. We'd greatly prefer either to anything that weakens our already tenuous freedoms.

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