Mandatory “Click It or Ticket!”: Is It Really Too Much to Ask?
Automobile accidents. No one enjoys thinking about them. Sometimes, seat belts supposedly mitigate their potentially injurious and fatal side effects. Nine out of ten passengers wear them while riding in a vehicle (IIHS). Anne Teigen of the National Conference of State Legislatures writes that in thirty-four states and Washington, D.C., which are primary-enforcement territories, a police officer can ticket the culprits, not just the driver, just for not wearing seat belts (Teigen, Occupant Protection). Meanwhile, in the other states, where secondary enforcement is practiced, a police officer can only ticket the culprits if he or she pulled the driver over for something else. …show more content…
For example, if a car rear-ends the driver in front, and the driver and the shotgun passenger are wearing appropriate restraints but the backseat passengers are not, the lack of restraint can cause the front-seat passengers to hit the dashboard or the headrest as the back passengers lurch forward rather than back against the seat because they are not wearing the seat belt. This can also apply if a car gets T-boned: the possibly unbuckled passengers on the side could bang into the doors quite forcibly or into the “Malcolm in the Middle,” therefore causing even more injuries. This also can apply to big rig drivers. An Oklahoma law now in place requires that drivers of big rigs must be belted, in addition to the mandatory primary enforcement. As one of the deputy directors of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stated, “…[U]sing a seat belt is the single most effective intervention to prevent injury or death in a motor vehicle crash,” and later stated that “one in three truck driver fatalities occurred because they were not wearing seat belts, which could have prevented almost forty percent of the traffic deaths” (Cosgrove). In addition to all of this, some passengers still do not wear seat belts when riding in cars. Some common excuses passengers give for not wearing seat belts include: short distances, wearing one is uncomfortable, and other passengers have said that they do …show more content…
“Buckling down: Oklahoma Seat-Belt Law Change Saves Truckers ' Lives, Trooper Says.” The Daily Oklahoman, 10 Mar. 2015, Newspaper Source, search.ebscohost.com.libdb.ppcc.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nfh&an=2w62015920459&site=ehost-live.
“Safety Belts.” Q&As, Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, June 2016, www.iihs.org/iihs/topics/t/safety-belts/qanda.
Teigen, Anne. “Occupant Protection: Safety (Seat) Belts and Child Passengers.” National Conference of State Legislatures, 3 Mar. 2016, www.ncsl.org/research/transportation/occupant-protection-safety-belts-and-child-passen.aspx.
---. “State Seat Belt Laws.” NCSL.org, National Conference of State Legislatures, 22 Apr. 2010, www.ncsl.org/research/health/state-seat-belt-laws.aspx.
Thomson, Gus. “Meadow Vista Woman Dies in Solo Car Crash.” Auburn Journal, 27 Oct. 2015, www.auburnjournal.com/article/10/26/15/meadow-vista-woman-dies-solo-car-crash.
Tison, Julie, and Allan F. Williams. Analyzing the First Years of the Click It or Ticket Mobilizations. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 2010, Analyzing the First Years of the Click It or Ticket Mobilizations,
Automobile accidents. No one enjoys thinking about them. Sometimes, seat belts supposedly mitigate their potentially injurious and fatal side effects. Nine out of ten passengers wear them while riding in a vehicle (IIHS). Anne Teigen of the National Conference of State Legislatures writes that in thirty-four states and Washington, D.C., which are primary-enforcement territories, a police officer can ticket the culprits, not just the driver, just for not wearing seat belts (Teigen, Occupant Protection). Meanwhile, in the other states, where secondary enforcement is practiced, a police officer can only ticket the culprits if he or she pulled the driver over for something else. …show more content…
For example, if a car rear-ends the driver in front, and the driver and the shotgun passenger are wearing appropriate restraints but the backseat passengers are not, the lack of restraint can cause the front-seat passengers to hit the dashboard or the headrest as the back passengers lurch forward rather than back against the seat because they are not wearing the seat belt. This can also apply if a car gets T-boned: the possibly unbuckled passengers on the side could bang into the doors quite forcibly or into the “Malcolm in the Middle,” therefore causing even more injuries. This also can apply to big rig drivers. An Oklahoma law now in place requires that drivers of big rigs must be belted, in addition to the mandatory primary enforcement. As one of the deputy directors of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stated, “…[U]sing a seat belt is the single most effective intervention to prevent injury or death in a motor vehicle crash,” and later stated that “one in three truck driver fatalities occurred because they were not wearing seat belts, which could have prevented almost forty percent of the traffic deaths” (Cosgrove). In addition to all of this, some passengers still do not wear seat belts when riding in cars. Some common excuses passengers give for not wearing seat belts include: short distances, wearing one is uncomfortable, and other passengers have said that they do …show more content…
“Buckling down: Oklahoma Seat-Belt Law Change Saves Truckers ' Lives, Trooper Says.” The Daily Oklahoman, 10 Mar. 2015, Newspaper Source, search.ebscohost.com.libdb.ppcc.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nfh&an=2w62015920459&site=ehost-live.
“Safety Belts.” Q&As, Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, June 2016, www.iihs.org/iihs/topics/t/safety-belts/qanda.
Teigen, Anne. “Occupant Protection: Safety (Seat) Belts and Child Passengers.” National Conference of State Legislatures, 3 Mar. 2016, www.ncsl.org/research/transportation/occupant-protection-safety-belts-and-child-passen.aspx.
---. “State Seat Belt Laws.” NCSL.org, National Conference of State Legislatures, 22 Apr. 2010, www.ncsl.org/research/health/state-seat-belt-laws.aspx.
Thomson, Gus. “Meadow Vista Woman Dies in Solo Car Crash.” Auburn Journal, 27 Oct. 2015, www.auburnjournal.com/article/10/26/15/meadow-vista-woman-dies-solo-car-crash.
Tison, Julie, and Allan F. Williams. Analyzing the First Years of the Click It or Ticket Mobilizations. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 2010, Analyzing the First Years of the Click It or Ticket Mobilizations,