Count Rep. Ed Emery, R-Lamar, as one of those who will oppose a law which would allow officers to arrest drivers for not wearing their seatbelt, even absent of any other violations.
According to an article in the Feb. 13 St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Emery said:
"I don't get into a car without putting on my seat belt, but the government doesn't have a right to force people to buckle up," said Rep. Ed Emery, R-Lamar. "It's an education issue, not an enforcement issue."
Proponents of the bill offered a different thought:
The cost of treating an unbuckled person injured in an accident, including $10 million a year in Medicaid statewide, make primary seat belt laws needed, said Dr. Douglas Schuerer, director of trauma at Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis. "Society, the hospital, the victim's family, they all pay when someone who isn't wearing their seat belt gets injured," Schuerer said.
I'd go along with the bill, but in the event that someone suffers personal injuries while unbelted I think their insurance should be released from liability.
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