Not wearing a seat belt in Ohio may become a primary offense

COLUMBUS — Ohioans could be pulled over for not wearing a seat belt under a bill backed by the governor.

State Rep. Jon Cross, R-Findlay, has introduced a bill to make not wearing a seat belt a primary offense, meaning police can stop a vehicle if they see it.

Officers must stop a vehicle for another violation before citing a seat belt violation, under current Ohio law.

“You wouldn’t get on a roller coaster at Cedar Point without putting your seat belt on. You shouldn’t get in a car and not put your seat belt on,” Cross said a press conference Wednesday morning.

Gov. Mike DeWine called for a primary seat belt law in his State of the State address April 10. DeWine said Ohio ranks 40th in the country in seat belt use and while the national average of seat belt use is 91%, Ohio’s average is 81%.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that primary seat belt laws led to higher rates of use and fewer crash deaths than secondary laws.

The Ohio State Patrol found that 61% of people who died in a crash in Ohio were not wearing a seat belt.

The law would only apply to drivers and front seat passengers. It would also make failing to strap a child into a car seat or booster seat a primary offense.

Cross compared the bill to the distracted driving law and said enforcement would start with warnings.

Andy Wilson, director of the Ohio Department of Public Safety, said there is currently a $30 fine for the driver and a $20 fine for passengers.

Wilson said Ohio was ninth in the nation for road fatalities in 2022 and the same year had the lowest rates of seat belt use since 2005.

Westerville Police Chief Charles Chandler said the bill will allow troopers, deputies and police officers across the state to be proactive and save lives.

“One of the hardest jobs across the state for a state trooper or deputy or peace officer to do is to deliver the message to a family they’ve lost their loved one,” Chandler said. “As the director said in the first year, it’s estimated that this will probably save 49 lives. That’s 49 less times that a deputy, a trooper, a peace officer has to go notify a family that they lost their loved one.”

Cross said he anticipates it will take some negotiation to get the bill passed.

“I know I’m probably going to take a lot of heat for this and it’s gonna be a little bumpy road,” he said, adding that there may be a generational difference in attitudes toward seat belts.

Cross said negotiations could involve looking at the other primary offense laws on the books and seeing if there are any outdated offenses they could swap for seat belts.

He referred to a chart showing 34 states have primary offense laws for seat belts, according to the Governors Highway Safety Association.

“I think this chart here says a lot for my Republican colleagues who place a lot of value on what happens in Florida, Texas, and Fox News, you know. We have to make good political and economic decisions. It’s not just about what will resonate,” he said.

Cross said he hasn’t asked for cosponsors on the bill yet. It does not have a number or a committee yet.