Wearing a Seat Belt Matters to Just About Everybody ; Maine Should Allow Police to Pull Motorists Over If Someone Hasn't Buckled Up.

Opponents of a mandatory seat-belt law in Maine - one that allows police to pull a car over when people don't buckle up - can fairly ask the following question: Who does it hurt if I don't fasten my belt other than me?

Let's start with everyone who has an auto insurance policy. Not wearing a belt increases the chances someone will be seriously injured or die in a car crash. Who pays when that happens? Insurance companies. Well, not really insurance companies, they just pass the costs of greater losses onto their customers.

Let's not forget everyone who pays taxes. Responding to an accident where a person is killed or seriously injured takes more police and rescue resources than an accident with only minor injuries.

Let's also not leave out anyone who depends on the person killed or maimed in an accident for lack of a fastened seat belt.

Fastening a seat belt may seem like an individual choice, but it's a choice with consequences for all the rest of us.

Nor is requiring that people buckle up an unreasonable intrusion. We are required to do all sorts of things directly related to safety in exchange for the privilege of driving on the public roadways.

The law tells us when to turn on our lights, our windshield wipers and how fast we can travel. It's not inconsistent that the law also tell us to use the safety equipment that comes with our vehicles.

Maine has a seat-belt law, but people can only be ticketed for failing to buckle up if they've been pulled over for another offense.

That suggests that fastening a seat belt is somehow less important than signaling to turn or obeying traffic lights. In fact, a life can depend on obeying all these rules.

Police should be able to enforce all of them, all the time.

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