I can't imagine a legislator who would say they're not concerned about West Virginians' safety, but when it comes to passing laws which could restrict certain activities, delegates and senators can become a little nervous. This year, I'm encouraged by what appears to be a movement toward adopting two or three important safety measures, each of which could go a long way in protecting our state's children and the motoring public in general.
The House Judiciary Committee, on which I serve, recently voted in favor of legislation regarding seatbelt use. The bill would make failure to wear a seatbelt a primary offense. Current law only allows police officers to cite drivers for failure to wear a seatbelt if the driver is first pulled over for another moving violation. This bill would permit officers to pull over vehicles for a seatbelt violation alone. The legislation would also prevent children from riding in the back of pickups or in open spaces of vehicles, although exceptions would be made for parades and farm use.
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, if West Virginia could raise its seatbelt usage rate from the current 53.3 percent to 70 percent, we would save 53 lives every year, prevent nearly 4,000 injuries and save $245 million in related costs.
I believed the original bill contained some confusing language that created an unnecessary restriction regarding where in a car older children would be permitted to ride, and I offered an amendment to eliminate that language. The original version would have required children old enough to be out of car seats and able to use seatbelts to ride on the backseat. Although some might argue that would optimal from a safety standpoint, I felt the language went too far, and the committee agreed.
But the seatbelt bill, which had been up for third and final reading before the full House of Delegates, was pulled at the last minute and sent back to the Judiciary Committee. Apparently, there's momentum to lower the legal blood alcohol content while driving from .10 to .08, so the House leadership has asked the committee to consider meshing the seatbelt bill with the DUI bill to create a package of traffic regulations.
While there is there a compelling safety reason to adopt this, if West Virginia doesn't lower the legal limit, the state also stands to lose a total of almost $24 million out of the state Department of Transportation's budget over a four-year period. Some legislators maintain that penalties for violations must be also be restructured so the state isn't simply incarcerating more and more people, but rather also enhancing treatment programs.
I can't report that the House and Senate have yet come to an agreement on all-terrain vehicle legislation, but the Senate version of the bill is moving more closely toward the one which passed the House. About a week ago, the Senate Transportation Committee adopted a bill which was similar to the House's in that it still required that children under the age of 18 wear helmets, but it included so many exceptions that the helmet requirement was almost moot. That bill has since been reworked in the Senate Judiciary Committee to mandate helmets for riders under age 18, the exceptions being for farm or commercial use.
The Senate version still includes a provision that would allow ATV riders to travel up to 25 miles along the berm of highways, whereas the House bill would only allow riders to travel briefly along a berm, such as in order to get from one trail to another. That may remain a point of contention. But an aspect of both bills which I consider valuable is that county commissions and city councils would have the authority to enact stronger restrictions.