Law enforcement to conduct seat belt checks

Local law enforcement will conduct nighttime seat belt checks in the near future. The Washington County Sheriff?s Office, Washington Police Department and the Iowa State Patrol are conducting the checks in conjunction with the Iowa Governor?s Traffic Safety Bureau.

According to a press release from the sheriff?s office and police department, law enforcement will select locations with a high volume of on-coming traffic that is moving slowly or stopped. A spotter officer, who could be in plain clothes, will be placed to look, ?in an unobtrusive way,? according to the press release, into vehicles to determine whether occupants are wearing a seat belt or not.

If the spotter sees somebody not wearing a seat belt, he will radio to the enforcement officers and tell them the color and type of vehicle the subject was driving. The enforcement officers will then stop the violators and may issue citations. They will also be looking for other violations during the stops including drunk driving, drug violations, wanted persons, equipment violations and suspended or revoked licenses.

Washington Police Chief Greg Goodman said law enforcement officers will not pull over a car without a reason. He said they will have to spot the seat belt infraction first, or stop the car for some other violation.

?We will be in a location where we can see and make that determination if the people in the vehicle are wearing seat belts,? he said.

Goodman said law enforcement officers are not necessarily going to search the vehicle they stop. He said officers must have probable cause of illegal activity in order to search the vehicle.

The press release also contained information about traffic fatalities for Iowa and the United States. Traffic fatalities in Iowa totaled 373 in 2009, which was a 64-year low for Iowa. However, traffic deaths rose 5 percent last year to 390 fatalities. There were 30,797 traffic fatalities in the U.S. in 2009, which was a 48-year low.

?It?s still a lot of traffic deaths in one year,? Goodman said. ?Some people may not like to wear their seat belts, but we know from statistic after statistic that seat belts save lives. We know it?s a law that, when enforced, saves injuries and deaths. That?s what we?re here for.?

Goodman said he is pleased when he sees motorists wearing their seat belt, which he said he has seen more of in recent years.

?A lot of people do wear their seat belts,? he said. ?A lot of people also have the thought process, ?We wear it on the highway but not in city.? The reality is, bad accidents happen in the city, too. Get used to wearing a seat belt. It does not take long to buckle up.?

State law requires that anyone sitting in the front seat of a vehicle must wear a seat belt and that anyone under 18 years of age, regardless of where they are sitting, must also wear a seat belt. That law took effective July 1, 2010. The previous law mandated seat belt use in the backseat only for children under 11 years of age.