The American Trucking Assns. (ATA) today has asked the governors of 25 states to adopt primary seatbelt laws in their respective states. Such a rule allows police officers to issue citations to motorists failing to wear their safety belt while operating a motor vehicle.
ATA has supported a universal primary safety belt policy after learning that truck drivers have only a 48% usage rate, according to a recent DOT survey.
“We are very concerned that the safety belt usage rate of truck drivers falls well short of the nationwide average among passenger vehicle drivers,” ATA president & CEO Bill Graves told governors. “As we partner with the USDOT Commercial Motor Vehicle Safety Belt Partnership, we still need strong visible enforcement and education programs out on our highways to promote and enforce safety belt usage.”
