Wearing a seat belt has now become mandatory in North Dakota and anyone spotted not wearing one can be pulled over for a seat belt violation.
Laws in North Dakota had previously specified wearing a seat belt as ‘secondary enforcement,’ meaning front-seat occupants could only be cited for not wearing a seat belt if they had a previous traffic infraction. Now, it is a ‘primary enforcement’ law that specifies all vehicle occupants must wear a seat belt regardless of where they are sitting. Those found to be in violation of the law can be fined $20.
Data from the North Dakota Department of Transportation reveals that 69% of all crash fatalities recorded in the state last year involved occupants where a seat belt was not used.
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“One of the arguments is people always say we should have personal choice, but we regulate a lot of things in our society, and that’s just part of living in a modern society, is there’s going to be rules, and seat belts are proven, time and time again, that’s the one thing people can do that will make a difference in a crash,” Burleigh County Sheriff Kelly Leben told The Bismark Tribune.
There are 34 other U.S. states that have primary seat belt laws for front seat occupants and of these, 17 states have primary enforcement for all occupants. Surprisingly, there remain 14 states with secondary laws for adult front seat occupants and 10 U.S. states that do not have laws enforcing the use of rear seat belts. That’s quite staggering given that there are dozens of countries around the world that have enforced seat belt use for all vehicle occupants for decades, with some enforcement laws dating back to the 1970s.
